IS RACISM COMMON IN OUR ENGLISH LANGUAGE?
The reading I decided to expand on was titled “Racism in the English Language”. The english language has many phrases and vocabulary that if analyzed well enough, could be considered racist.The article gives specific examples in regards to terminology, symbolism, politics and context from the english language is racist to those around us. In the article, the paragraph most interesting is “Speaking English” for the reason that I can relate to it the most. The examples given brought a common issue to light: Characters in books, and social media, that speak English versus characters of a different race. This paragraph discusses the depiction in movies and children’s books of the third world english speaking …show more content…
Angel costumes were usually white. Black angel costumes were usually labelled “dark angel” or “fallen angel”. If one were to wear an all black angel costume, people would assume they are a “dark angel” or “fallen angel”. It is only natural for children to learn the concept of black as dark, and white as light, and continue to follow that concept while growing up. Growing up, children fear the dark, and they find light comforting. A child will fear what lives under their bed at night, but will not question it throughout the day. At a young age, we condition ourselves to fear the darkness.It is silly to ask ourseleves why now, as adults, we label evil, sinful, gloomy things as black, and pure, happy things as white. As children, we do not relate the colour of things to the colour of people. We learn as children, to associate the dark with scary and the light with comfort. In this paragraph, the idea of labelling things black and white is racist, although, I believe it is a coincidence due to the fact that we grew up associating our feelings in situations with black and …show more content…
Many of the Third World nation people are in fact, bilingual and multicultural, having grown up in their own culture and absorbing the dominant culture, as to the white cultural growing up in their own culture. Instead of referring to the nations as “underdeveloped” or “developing”, they should be referred to as “over-exploited” due to the fact that they suffered under colonialism and neocolonialism. The nation 's described as “underdeveloped” are being described for something not in their control. These nations are their own victim and the responsibility is on them to fix it. “Developed” nations point the finger toward the victim instead of pointing the finger towards the root of all evil, those who benefit from and continue to permit, poverty. I do believe there is racism in the English terminology due to the fact that the English language creates labels that do not correctly describe Third World nations.
Depiction in movies and children’s books of third world people There are children’s books and movies that are culturally diverse. There are characters from all over the world. Asian characters often speak poor English, or have a speech impediment. Native Americans often have stilted English, and use stereotypical Hollywood phrases. The repeated use of the poor language functions to make people watching and reading media characterize the Third World characters
The reading I decided to expand on was titled “Racism in the English Language”. The english language has many phrases and vocabulary that if analyzed well enough, could be considered racist.The article gives specific examples in regards to terminology, symbolism, politics and context from the english language is racist to those around us. In the article, the paragraph most interesting is “Speaking English” for the reason that I can relate to it the most. The examples given brought a common issue to light: Characters in books, and social media, that speak English versus characters of a different race. This paragraph discusses the depiction in movies and children’s books of the third world english speaking …show more content…
Angel costumes were usually white. Black angel costumes were usually labelled “dark angel” or “fallen angel”. If one were to wear an all black angel costume, people would assume they are a “dark angel” or “fallen angel”. It is only natural for children to learn the concept of black as dark, and white as light, and continue to follow that concept while growing up. Growing up, children fear the dark, and they find light comforting. A child will fear what lives under their bed at night, but will not question it throughout the day. At a young age, we condition ourselves to fear the darkness.It is silly to ask ourseleves why now, as adults, we label evil, sinful, gloomy things as black, and pure, happy things as white. As children, we do not relate the colour of things to the colour of people. We learn as children, to associate the dark with scary and the light with comfort. In this paragraph, the idea of labelling things black and white is racist, although, I believe it is a coincidence due to the fact that we grew up associating our feelings in situations with black and …show more content…
Many of the Third World nation people are in fact, bilingual and multicultural, having grown up in their own culture and absorbing the dominant culture, as to the white cultural growing up in their own culture. Instead of referring to the nations as “underdeveloped” or “developing”, they should be referred to as “over-exploited” due to the fact that they suffered under colonialism and neocolonialism. The nation 's described as “underdeveloped” are being described for something not in their control. These nations are their own victim and the responsibility is on them to fix it. “Developed” nations point the finger toward the victim instead of pointing the finger towards the root of all evil, those who benefit from and continue to permit, poverty. I do believe there is racism in the English terminology due to the fact that the English language creates labels that do not correctly describe Third World nations.
Depiction in movies and children’s books of third world people There are children’s books and movies that are culturally diverse. There are characters from all over the world. Asian characters often speak poor English, or have a speech impediment. Native Americans often have stilted English, and use stereotypical Hollywood phrases. The repeated use of the poor language functions to make people watching and reading media characterize the Third World characters