Re: "The blacks" -- It's Debateable

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Subject: Re: "The blacks"

Author:
Astrid

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Date Posted: 11:34:41 09/26/02 Thu
In reply to: Raisinmom 's message, "Re: "The blacks"" on 18:41:13 09/25/02 Wed

"When you say "the aboriginals," you can only be referring to a particular group of people."

No, it could mean Australians, South Americans, or North American first nations.

But that aside, I think what you are objecting to is gross generalisations. When we're talking about "the blacks who fought for civil rights" we aren't generalising, so that's ok. When we're talking about "blacks in America" it's ok. "The whites in South Africa have lost a great deal of political authority" is ok. Right?

Using the phrase "the blacks" without such references to time or place is a dismissive way of talking about people. I was suggesting to another person that it's like saying "those people" as a way of distancing yourself from them.

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Replies:

Subject	Author	Date
Re: "The blacks"	Raisinmom	12:41:03 09/26/02 Thu