Treating Other People With Respect

cornsail said:
Because two words or word-phrases with the same denotations (literal meaning) can have different connotations.
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It's not that they have the same denotation (the N-word and "people of color" have also the same denotation and drastically different connotations), it's that they are almost literally the same word-phrases, just grammatically reversed. The fact that they have different connotation is exactly the thing that's remarkable and what Corsair 115 was drawing attention on.

As you say about the ridiculousness of phrases like "people of color" that it depends on familiarity, same can be said about the connotations.
 
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I find it more than a little disturbing that "treating people with respect" is such a controversial topic. There's something very wrong on display here.
 
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Cl1mh4224rd said:
I find it more than a little disturbing that "treating people with respect" is such a controversial topic. There's something very wrong on display here.
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Hey just look at Trump. No one would ever accuse him of treating people with respect and that is why he is so popular.
 
TeapotCavalry said:
It's not that they have the same denotation (the N-word and "people of color" have also the same denotation and drastically different connotations), it's that they are almost literally the same word-phrases, just grammatically reversed. The fact that they have different connotation is exactly the thing that's remarkable and what Corsair 115 was drawing attention on.
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Yeah, just one of those quirks of language.. A small change to a word phrase can make a big difference. Sort of like how saying something is "[s-word-for-poo]" tends to mean the opposite of saying something is "the [s-word-for-poo]".
 
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ponderingturtle said:
Hey just look at Trump. No one would ever accuse him of treating people with respect and that is why he is so popular.
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As a person, businessman, and potential politician, do you think he wants to be polite? Is his treating "the Other" with disrespect to his advantage?
 
I think there's a difference between modifying speech so as not to cause offense and modifying speech in order to convey an accepted political outlook. Calling someone fat is just rude. There is usually no need to address a person's size and when necessary, we should try to be as polite as possible.

But "undocumented immigrant," is an attempt to change the perception of people who came to America illegally. It downplays the fact that they are doing something wrong which serves the political purposes of those who want them to receive amnesty. "Illegal alien/immigrant," is the proper term and is not insulting to anyone. The insulting nature of the term was only recently fabricated for political purposes.

That's an illustration of the difference between respect and political correctness in my mind.
 
Cl1mh4224rd said:
I find it more than a little disturbing that "treating people with respect" is such a controversial topic. There's something very wrong on display here.
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I don't think that treating people with respect is controversial (although actually doing so is not very popular on this forum).

What is controversial is the quote in the OP and suggestion by several posters here that being PC is synonymous with treating people with respect.
 
sir drinks-a-lot said:
I don't think that treating people with respect is controversial (although actually doing so is not very popular on this forum).

What is controversial is the quote in the OP and suggestion by several posters here that being PC is synonymous with treating people with respect.
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The problem is the definition of what is PC. Bigots, racists and ******** will declare that anything preventing them from spewing their hate is PC.

I think we should err on the side of respect, even if it prevents someone from being an *******.
 
ponderingturtle said:
Not necessarily. Colored is considered a specific group in many areas.
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I inadvertently wrote it as a singular 'group' rather than the intended 'groups.'


ponderingturtle said:
I remember hearing that a person could be classed as Black in the US, White in Brazil, and Colored (a group distinct from black and white) in south africa. So which is true?
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As this discussion, I think, is North American in context, I am not sure how Brazil or South Africa relates to the matter. Rather different national histories for those countries as compared to the U.S. or Canada.
 
DavidJames said:
The problem is the definition of what is PC. Bigots, racists and ******** will declare that anything preventing them from spewing their hate is PC.
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...and you reflexively call anything preventing you from spewing your hate "bigoted" or "racist". Just because terms are used gratuitously or incorrectly does not mean they are meaningless or that the phenomena they describe do not exist.
 
Upchurch said:
As a person, businessman, and potential politician, do you think he wants to be polite? Is his treating "the Other" with disrespect to his advantage?
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Of course, people like that he isn't PC. That gets him a lot power.

He is the perfect case to show that a lot of people do mean treating people with respect then they talk about being PC. His lack of being PC when he calls them a bimbo or talks about blood coming out of their whatever, is the kind of not being PC that people like.
 
sir drinks-a-lot said:
I don't think that treating people with respect is controversial (although actually doing so is not very popular on this forum).

What is controversial is the quote in the OP and suggestion by several posters here that being PC is synonymous with treating people with respect.
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So the not being PC that Trumps supporters like so much isn't disrespectful?
 
ponderingturtle said:
He is the perfect case to show that a lot of people do mean treating people withOUT respect then they talk about NOT being PC. His lack of being PC when he calls them a bimbo or talks about blood coming out of their whatever, is the kind of not being PC that people like.
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I have taken the liberty to turn your first sentence into a double negative, because I think that leads better into the second.
 
Delete. Blatant misreading of the turtle.
 
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xjx388 said:
<snip> But "undocumented immigrant," is an attempt to change the perception of people who came to America illegally. <snip>
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The above is the basic position for those who don't like the phrase undocumented immigrant. That it's essentially a con job. A political construct. What is that belief based on though? How was it discovered that the use of the words undocumented immigrant began as an attempt to change the perception of people who came to the U.S. illegally? Of course once you have been convinced of that you're going to be pretty hostile to the use of the words. But what is the belief based on? Can anyone say?

This is from a CNN Op-ed piece written by Charles Garcia**:
When you label someone an "illegal alien" or "illegal immigrant" or just plain "illegal," you are effectively saying the individual, as opposed to the actions the person has taken, is unlawful. The terms imply the very existence of an unauthorized migrant in America is criminal.

Migrant workers residing unlawfully in the U.S. are not -- and never have been -- criminals. They are subject to deportation, through a civil administrative procedure that differs from criminal prosecution, and where judges have wide discretion to allow certain foreign nationals to remain here.

Another misconception is that the vast majority of migrant workers currently out of status sneak across our southern border in the middle of the night. Actually, almost half enter the U.S. with a valid tourist or work visa and overstay their allotted time. Link
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** - Charles Garcia is a native-born American businessman who heads a major firm (Sterling Financial Investment Group Inc.) that provides financial services for, primarily, Hispanic investors.
 
Cl1mh4224rd said:
I find it more than a little disturbing that "treating people with respect" is such a controversial topic. There's something very wrong on display here.
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Yet if the word in the OP had been "courtesy" the thread may have got a couple of replies.

Gawdzilla Sama said:
Anybody ever demand to be treated with honor, or reverence?
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Members of Parliament in the British Commonwealth, where their very title is "The Honorable" or "Right Honorable"*.

Priests of the Anglican Church, whose title is "Reverend" as in "deserving reverence".


*does not only apply to Conservative MPs.
 
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