“You realise that’s racist mum”

As 90% of the world’s population have brown eyes, the term might have arisen around the rarity of blue eyes against brown. Anything rare is automatically accorded more attention.
But what about that nice song ‘Brown eyed girl”? A compliment yes?

How do you know that the people discussing anti-racism on here have pinky beige skin?

Bit of an assumption, there.

Alegrias The people affected are those with skin that isn't pinky beige. If they were happy with the n word then we would still be using it and why not? but they are not - and with very good reason - But it is not for us to dictate to others what they should be called. We just smugly show our antiracism by discussing these topics in the way we do.

I grew up near Liverpool when dockers had to stand in a pen early in the morning and somehow hope to catch the foreman's eye to get a half days work. Anyone suspected of using 'means' to get picked was a 'blue eyed boy' - it was NOT a compliment. I don't think there was a racist aspect unless it was anti white, implying that the good lookin fella wheedles his way in where the decent man cannot. This system continued until 1967. A recent part of our history.

White trash isn’t very nice and neither is whitey. Or white ghosts as some call white people. Racism isn’t confined to any particular race ,never forget that. It crosses all types.

EllanVannin

If anything was getting out of hand it's this colour business. Total madness !

I agree. Total madness.

Irony is lost on some, isn't it?

By the way - the lunch we just had. It was padron peppers and DH had pata negra with his

Just this!

Alegrias This is a very dispiriting thread. Thank God for the young

Away for lunch, it's more productive than trying to explain racism to the obdurate

Who needs the young when we have the ultra pc oldies on GN trying to stay down with the kids, competing to flash their woke credentials?

As for describing those with a different viewpoint as obdurate? More condescension from one who really doesn’t know better.

It’s worth noting that after that post you had the cheek to accuse someone of being patronising to you. Maybe a little more “do as you would be done by” eh?

Referring to the OP, her son might have added that it’s also sexist! How many women/girls will never be (employer’s name) blue eyed boy?
(Waits for evidence citing number of blue-eyed girls having undergone gender reassignment, who might then achieve the blue-eyed boy status.)

I know fine what the Spanish word for black is Gannygangan, no need to be quite so patronising.

I also know that there is a country in Africa called Niger, and there was something doing the rounds on the internet a while back about a student is the US who wrote that in a form as the country she came from and was told not to be racist. Ridiculous. People showing their ignorance. Its the name of the country, end of, its not racist.

All this faux outrage (my turn to say that) about everyone having blue eyes, can we not call things green any more...etc etc. I don't understand why people don't take the time to understand that calling someone a blue-eyed boy is harking back to the time when blue eyes and fair hair were seen as positive attributes worthy of praise. Blue eyes are not racist, for goodness sake, but associating a primarily caucasian feature with something to be praised is wrong.

Call me one of the PC brigade if you like. I'd rather be that than someone who doesn't care about other peoples' feelings.

By the way - the lunch we just had. It was padron peppers and DH had pata negra with his.

Chestnut

I'm afraid there are over-zealous people in the world as I said, who won't even allow the use of the word 'black' as a name! How about these idiots dealing with real racism instead of getting wound up by nonsense like this.

Absolutely.

This phrase has nothing to do with race, the OD states “a person highly regarded by someone and treated with special favour”. So could apply to each and everyone one of us. Green eyed, brown eyed, hazel eyed.

I'm afraid there are over-zealous people in the world as I said, who won't even allow the use of the word 'black' as a name! How about these idiots dealing with real racism instead of getting wound up by nonsense like this.

Just read a comment on the above article

Now I feel awkward when people ask me where I'm from, which is Negros Occidental, Philippines.

I do have a bit of experience, Alegrias

I have mixed raced, blue eyed GC. So Try telling them that only white people have blue eyes.

You are aware that what the Spanish word for black is I take it?

Should the young be allowed to change that? There are many comments about how wrong it is for people to use the word.

Below is an example of people wading in on a Mexican girl who had the audacity to call her dog, Black. In Spanish.

metro.co.uk/2018/01/22/people-want-spanish-word-black-changed-think-racist-7250021/

Here we go again. Unpicking every word, phrase or deed which could be construed as racist. I think all this is making the topic more divided than ever.

This is a very dispiriting thread. Thank God for the young.

Away for lunch, it's more productive than trying to explain racism to the obdurate.

Those ads for laundry powders which leave your sheets "white than white" weren't referring to the racial qualities of cotton. "Language that equates white as positive/ black as negative should be questioned as they contribute to unconscious bias." but the answer to that questioning can be, "No, this is not racist."

Turning clean bedding into racism would be overkill. Overkill is a bad thing, as it increases inter-racial tensions, it doesn't decrease them (armies carrying out revenge raids also increase the level of violence in a battle situation)

There are, of course, keyboard warriors who welcome and encourage those tensions, presumably because they think all-out warfare will lead to success in forcing the solution they desire. They are wrong, as shown by various attempts at genocide to remove populations considered "undesirable" for one reason or other.

As I understand it Racism is when a person is treated worse, excluded, disadvantaged, harassed, bullied, humiliated or degraded because of their race or ethnicity.
The use of words which denote colour in general like 'black' and 'white' have been taken totally out of context and applied to skin colour. This is ridiculous. They are colours, like green blue and purple. They can be used in all sorts of contexts. Relating skin colour to every mention of those words is the result of people becoming over-zealous in seeking out examples of racism. There are lots of things in the world which are black and white and they have nothing to do with race or skin colour.

MaizieD

If blue eyes aren't a racial characteristic, which it seems that they aren't, then this whole discussion is irrelevant.

I did point this out earlier, but as we know people don’t bother to read all posts, or choose to disregard them.

vegansrock

Some of you are missing the point - no one has said you can’t use descriptive colour words , but that language that equates white as positive/ black as negative should be questioned as they contribute to unconscious bias. Racism exists on many levels, although some of you seem to be denying that it exists at all.

What about Black Friday? Are we to stop using that expression?

Am afraid be can’t get away with anything Anno as the PC brigade have even started to target Shakespeare.....how long before his lines are re-written?
The Globe Theatre are ( even as I type) highlighting any words
Deemed to be offensive, and are doing a ‘workshop’ on it.

Do people think that the Spanish should change their word for black?

If blue eyes aren't a racial characteristic, which it seems that they aren't, then this whole discussion is irrelevant.