RACEBuckingham Palace race row - “victim” has serious financial irregularities at her charity.

submitted by ClassroomPast6178 from unherd.com

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[–]ClassroomPast6178[S] 2 insightful - 3 fun2 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 3 fun -  (3 children)

Well, it’s the context isn’t it. Paki was used by racists to victimise immigrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh (and East Africa - as the largest single influx of Indians was actually British Indians fleeing Uganda and Kenya), “Paki-bashing” was a thing, having it screamed at you from passing cars and vans isn’t exactly a nice experience. In my experience it was screamed at me by the two kids who would beat me up every day at primary school, hard to argue it’s harmless when it is screamed in your face as a fist lands in your stomach.

So, you’ll find that most British people avoid the term, but as context is always key, if a foreigner were to use it as an abbreviation of Pakistani, it would just raise eyebrows here - and if they did it here they may be politely asked not to do so again.

[–]Musky༼⁠ ⁠つ⁠ ⁠◕⁠‿⁠◕⁠ ⁠༽⁠つ 🐈 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

In my experience it was screamed at me by the two kids who would beat me up every day at primary school, hard to argue it’s harmless when it is screamed in your face as a fist lands in your stomach.

Would other invectives be better? They scream Paki as they beat you, the word Paki gets banned, then they scream something else as they beat you, so we ban that word, and so on and so forth.

I am not a fan of policing language, I don't see where the benefit is.

[–]ClassroomPast6178[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Who’s policing language?

Now my favourite comedian, Jerry Sadowitz, regularly uses all those offensive words in his act and he’s both hilarious and successful. Another comedian, Daniel Kitson, has a show where the climax of the show is essentially “Pakiiiiiiii” and it is hilarious. So it always comes back to context.

Edit: changed “whose” to “who’s” because it was bugging the shit out of me.

[–]Musky༼⁠ ⁠つ⁠ ⁠◕⁠‿⁠◕⁠ ⁠༽⁠つ 🐈 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Whose policing language?

It's pretty endemic. Look around, we aren't at the ass end of the internet because we can freely say what we wish just anywhere, we're tapping out code in the airport bathroom, drawing forbidden fish in the dust, extending our index fingers in handshakes, and the possibility of persecution for what you say is real.

Jerry Sadowitz Daniel Kitson

That Jews can say whatever they want doesn't apply to the rest of us.