(June 13, 2015 at 10:49 pm)SnakeOilWarrior Wrote: I've always hated the terms white and Caucasian. My skin tone, even at it's mid-February palest is not white, nor do any of my ancestors come from the Caucus mountain area of Europe. Why the fuck can't we all be members of the human race instead of a bunch of bullshit divisions based on nothing more that the color of our skin?
Two things. First, you are right that no one is literally white. The same is true about black. However, they are both monosyllabic words (short is good) that get to the heart of what many people care about, and that is relative darkness of skin color. They also are neutral words, in that there is no automatic insult attached to them, as "color" words (if you describe your car as "black," that is not an insult; if you describe your car as "white," that also is not an insult; they are just color words). That makes those words useful.
The "bullshit divisions" regarding skin color matter because people care about them, and discriminate based on them. Obviously, they should not, but the reality is, people do judge others based on criteria that are ridiculous and idiotic. Until racism is dead, it will be useful to have words to designate the groups of people who are discriminated against. Very likely, that means that they will be useful as long as humans exist, unless the human race ends up with just one skin color.
Also, a significant amount of discrimination is purely a matter of skin color, which is well-documented and nicely illustrated by "black" people sometimes passing for "white." Basically, a lot of people judge other people by very superficial differences; typically, people do not bother researching someone's family tree to decide whether to be biassed against the person or not (though sometimes people do, it is relatively rare).
To get us back to the title of this thread, "people of color" is a neutral designation meaning anyone who is not white. Since many idiot racists are bigoted against everyone who is not white, it is a useful designation. ("Idiot racist" is a redundant expression, as racism is a form of idiocy.) Of course, "not white" could also be used, though people often do not like negations ("not," "no," "non-," etc.) as parts of labels, as people often prefer positive rather than negative words for things, as there are often bad associations with negatives. (Hence, the anti-abortion people like to call themselves "pro-life," despite the fact that they also tend to be pro-war, pro-death penalty, and even anti-free healthcare for pregnant women. Interestingly, the pro-choice people have a more correct name for themselves, as they are not advocating that every pregnancy be terminated [so they are not "pro-abortion"], but want every pregnant woman to have a choice on whether to have an abortion or not; hence, "pro-choice.") So, that is why "not white" is not the preferred expression, and why "people of color" is the preferred expression.
"A wise man ... proportions his belief to the evidence."
— David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Section X, Part I.
