Racist kids pissed me off today

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The hell are you even talking about?

I don't think I can compose an answer to this that isn't patronizing, so I'll just say that I don't think what I said was difficult to understand.

Still counts as racist.

rac·ist
noun
1.
a person who believes in racism, the doctrine that a certain human race is superior to any or all others.
adjective
2.
of or like racists or racism: racist policies; racist attitudes.

You really think they would have agreed with the first definition regarding Mexicans? How many Americans think the French are "dirty" because of the stereotypes around their hygiene? If they met a French person, would they recoil, and leave the room? Would they say they don't associate with French people? I doubt it. I believe they're simply ignorant about Mexicans. It's alright. In the end, they're pretty harmless views, easily remedied by more exposure to the outside world.
 
Sucks that you had to deal with that, OP.

The dirt was taking it a bit far. The Mexican stereotype type seems almost acceptable in modern and popular culture, though, doesn't mean it's right but eh, Europeans probably wouldn't know any better.

"Europeans" certainly know better.
 
"because Mexicans are dirty!"
If this isn't racism, then it must be willful ignorance. OP was trying to explain why this was an issue and they just brushed it off like it was no big deal.
See, I wonder if someone would throw a Norwegian stereotype party with fish, bad accents, and death metal and see if they feel the same way.
 
You are way too concerned about the way racism is being used here. The topic is basically that the OP is surprised that people can be ignorant enough to dress up as caricatures of a Mexican. This is made worse because they don't appear to know any Mexicans, which would have hopefully expanded their worldview to make them realize a party like that may not be a good idea. I think the cultural insensitivity at display here overwrites any concern about the way the word 'racism' is used.

For the record, I would call this racist. But I don't like definition arguments since it always clouds up the important points about race/ethnicity topics.

OP was not surprised as much as he was mad and outraged. Given that he didn't take the time to educate any of them out of their ignorance, I think it would have been best for OP to make like a duck and let it roll off his back, rather than simmer in his own juices.

The second definition fits.

The second definition is so generic I almost didn't include it to save space. It's like when you go to look up a word, and to cover their own asses the dictionary people put "of, or relating to the word you just looked up." But it sounds like we'll have to agree to disagree here.
 
"Because Mexicans are dirty" is definitely racist

GAF has a defence force for everything though
pretty much

when people are more outraged at racists being correctly labeled as racist than racism itself
fuLMaVY.gif
 
OP was not surprised as much as he was mad and outraged. Given that he didn't take the time to educate any of them out of their ignorance, I think it would have been best for OP to make like a duck and let it roll off his back, rather than simmer in his own juices.

The worst part is that every time I tried to explain to them that what they were doing is fucked up, they responded by saying that it was all in good fun, or that they weren't trying to be offensive or that it was no big deal etc.

Even if the OP didn't take the time to explain to the kids why their actions were wrong, it doesn't mean that should be used as way of telling someone not to get mad.
 
I don't get it what's racist here? They want to make a Mexican party and drink coronas and tequilas. I don't see a problem here.
 
"Europeans" certainly know better.

I mean as far as the stereotype goes, some kids from Norway are unlikely to have had any other exposure to Mexican culture other than tacos, sombreros, ponchos and tequila. If that's how popular media portrays that part of the world. That's the bigger problem.

As I said, the dirt thing is just downright offensive.
 
im mexican and i dont even understand where the poncho thing comes from. like, thats mostly a south american thing. that word doesnt even have spanish origins and yet i still know assholes who think it comes from Pancho Villa. his name has an A, not an O, idiots.

i would figure the stereotypical mexican image comes from the times of the mexican revolution, given that the depictions often include the use of bandoliers, but i cant find very many ponchos in historical images of that conflict.

like seriously. i challenge you to find some. dudes then look pretty normal for the time.
 
If there's no ill intent, it's not racism, just lack of knowledge. Was I a racist when I repeated things from 1940's Looney Tunes episodes as a kid, not knowing what they meant or the history behind them?

The ill intent is intrinsic to being racist. If you think Mexicans are dirty then what happens when you have to choose between two people and one is considered clean and the other one isn't. There is no such thing as innocent racism.
 
I'd think the term "dirty Mexican" was highly offensive stereotyping, rather than racism, but that's just semantics, (because Mexican isn't a race). Either way, not an appropriate term to use.
 
Aside from the dirt thing, which is obviously racist, these sorts of things can range from perfectly acceptable to outrageously offensive and it's impossible to know without having been there.
 
im mexican and i dont even understand where the poncho thing comes from. like, thats mostly a south american thing. that word doesnt even have spanish origins and yet i still know assholes who think it comes from Pancho Villa. his name has an A, not an O, idiots.

i would figure the stereotypical mexican image comes from the times of the mexican revolution, given that the depictions often include the use of bandoliers, but i cant find very many ponchos in historical images of that conflict.

like seriously. i challenge you to find some. dudes then look pretty normal for the time.



Yeah, i dont know where that pocho stuff comes from, as far as i know that is not mexican, but im from sonora so maybe thats from the south or something i dont know.

I think the best course of action its just to explain the situation and if they dont wanna hear just let it go, at that age there is nothing much you can do.
 
Sounds like something you'd come across here in Sweden as well unfortunately, the University campus here in Umeå is actually pretty ok in this regard but I've heard a lot about the "ethnic" cosplay at Handelshögskolan, Uppsala and especially Lund :I It's weird that the Scandinavian cultures that can be so anxious and self-critical about minor social interactions can be so ignorant and arrogant when it comes to stuff like this.
 
Sounds like the world we live in. If I worried about it all the time id probably have a stroke. Just forget about it OP. No use crying over spilt milk.
 
Yes I did. So if I want to make a Japanese party to eat sushi and drink sake I'll be racist?

If you make the dress code strictly kimonos, karate outfits, and sumo outfits I can consider that racist. If you want to categorize that as culturally insensitive go ahead, as long as you acknowledge that a Japanese person can be uncomfortable seeing their culture relegated to a few bullet points for the sake of a party.

I hope you can at least understand how a comment along the lines of "I smell like fish because all Japanese do!!" is racist.
 
If you make the dress code strictly kimonos, karate outfits, and sumo outfits I can consider that racist. If you want to categorize that as culturally insensitive go ahead, as long as you acknowledge that a Japanese person can be uncomfortable seeing their culture relegated to a few bullet points for the sake of a party.

I hope you can at least understand how a comment along the lines of "I smell like fish because all Japanese do!!" is racist.

Exactly. Using someone's culture for pure entertainment and amusement is not cool. If you want to LEARN about it, that's perfectly fine. But the approach being referenced is extremely inappropriate.
 
Even if they didn't have bad intentions, it's still ignorant and offensive. People defending/excusing that kind of behavior doesn't make things better.
 
I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with having a Mexican themed party.

There's lots of things you could dress up as from Mexican history. Sadly though most people will go for the cheap stereotype.
 
Apparently you have different opinion whats racist and what is not. For me that is not racist, you are over reacting way to much.

Edit: I am not talking about the dirty part, that is obviously not ok, I am talking about dressing and drinking.
 
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