question to fellow Asian shooters

[Correia]

My name is pronounced Korea, but since I'm a 6'5" white guy, not really worried about it.

On a serious note, see my signature line. Geraldo Rivera picked the first asian with a gun from VT, that he could find on the internet, and then told the world that he was the shooter. The innocent man was slandered, had death threats against him, and will have a stigma attached to his name for the rest of his life.

The guy that got slammed is one of us, and ARFcomer, and could just have easily been any one of us.

The link in my sig is about how we're taking action. I would suggest you guys join in.

 

[RyanM]

Ya think it would be any easier on you if you didn't present yourself as a bloodthirsty racist yourself

Actually, pretty much all the local white (and black, and hispanic) people I know agree with me that this is a backwards white trash town. So you can stick that in your pipe and smoke it, too.

 

[Eleven Mike]

An Asian guy said "white trash"? As a white guy, color me not in the least offended.

"White trash" is an insult to minorities, not to whites. The implication of the term is that if you are some other color, we expect you to be trash. But if you are white and "trashy," well, that deserves some special term all its own.

 

[22LongRifle]

We have a few Asians at my gun club, being next to SIU. They were called up and TOLD to be out there this weekend!

One lone nut doesn't make a whole race!

Jerry

 

[Molon Labe]

My wife is Chinese. I'll ask her.










She said the guy was a nut. She also said that anyone who tries to confiscate her AR will get the bullets first.

 

[joab]

"haole" simply means "white person" (there may be a more complicated history but that's what it means in everyday use). It doesn't carry any negative or insulting implication. In fact the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that way a few years ago.

Well at least now I know that that the group that called me that as they were kicking my ass had the blessing of the Hawaiian supreme court

An Asian guy said "white trash"? As a white guy, color me not in the least offended.

Actually an Asian guy railing against racism uses a racist term while threatening to shoot racist.
If that doesn't offend you then perhaps you are in PC mode

The implication of the term is that if you are some other color, we expect you to be trash. But if you are white and "trashy,"

No it is one of the new terms of endearment certain groups have chosen for whites these days

And your logic follows the "there are black people and there are..." line of thinking

You cannot reject racism while embracing it

 

[Glockfan.45]

As a caucasian male I don't find myself the least bit offended by the term "white trash" and grant my permision for people of all races to use the term freely. I have used it many times to describe certian people myself, if the shoe fits. We as a society get far to hung up on words today.

 

[Beetle Bailey]

"White trash" is an insult to minorities, not to whites. The implication of the term is that if you are some other color, we expect you to be trash. But if you are white and "trashy," well, that deserves some special term all its own.

I've never used the term, but I believe historically that Eleven Mike is correct. It's a term whites used to describe other whites believed to be inferior. It's a way of creating sub-groups and establishing a hierarchy. Other groups have picked it up and now use it as well, but that doesn't mean it wasn't born out of the structure of white supremacy. But I digress.

With regards to Geraldo Rivera, I don't think he has much of a career left to destroy, but it looks like I'm gonna have to ask that he be held accountable for his irresponsible actions.

I'm kinda curious though, about the cowards who sent Chiang those death threats. . . Did they have the decency to apologize to him when they realized their mistake? Maybe send him a bag of oranges to make it up to him?

 

[RyanM]

So somehow, describing this place accurately, using a common colloquialism, makes me a racist?

How about "this is a town with mostly white people who dropped out of high school, are unemployed at least 50% of the year, blow the majority of their welfare check on cigarettes and booze, and has domestic abuse rates that are through the roof."

Last time I checked, in everyday American English, "white trash" refers to people like that, not to white people in general. If you want to place yourself and all other white people under the "white trash" label, go ahead. But that makes you the anti-white racist.

 

[Eleven Mike]

Actually an Asian guy railing against racism uses a racist term while threatening to shoot racist.
If that doesn't offend you then perhaps you are in PC mode

The implication of the term is that if you are some other color, we expect you to be trash. But if you are white and "trashy,"
No it is one of the new terms of endearment certain groups have chosen for whites these days

And your logic follows the "there are black people and there are..." line of thinking

You cannot reject racism while embracing it

I'm confused. At what point am I embracing racism? And why am I the one in PC mode, if you are the one who is offended? Doesn't that seem backwards to you?

Can anyone help me here?

Actually, "white trash" is offensive for its slur of non-whites, but I do not take it as an insult to me, unless directed to me personally.

 

[Daemon688]

Well, as a student and Asian as well I still carry everywhere (just not on campus ). The day of the shooting I stopped off at several gun stores to browse. Two days after the shooting I bought an M4gery. So no, this shooting isn't going to stop me from doing my normal stuff. As far as being treated differently? Haven't had that at all. Although at work I got the bad joke "He was your brother wasn't he".

On prior occassions I've had people ask me "Why do you have so many guns? Are you going to go shoot people". I've also had the comments "You're going to be the next school shooter aren't you?". Of course I would think that these are normal comments gun owners hear if they ever talk about them around non-gun owners. In the society we live in today, gun owners are instantly the bad guys.

 

[Eleven Mike]

I don't usually come into contact with Asians in my day-to-day. But today I happened to be in a part of town where I saw two or three young Asian men. Perhaps it was this thread that affected my reaction, but for whatever reason, I did think about the VT shooting when I saw each one.

However, there was no fear, suspicion, or desire for revenge. I just remembered what had happened.

 

[Robert Hairless]

Mike, we all need you and other Asian firearms owners to stand up and behave normally--neither confrontationally nor submissively or apologetically--but like people of worth and dignity. Rational people know, without need for convincing, that the shooter at Virginia Tech was a tormented person who lost his way in life. Race, religion, national origin, and culture had nothing to do with his actions except as he himself made them factors.

That might sound insensitive and a lot to ask, but it really isn't. The U.S.A. has thrived because of its various peoples, not in spite of them. This country is the one in the world smart enough to know that we're all enriched by every generation of immigrants. That doesn't mean we're always smart enough to know it all the time. We lose our way too. But we find it again sooner or later.

Many of us have faced angry bigotry and some of us still do. It's not good. But we do not merely endure. We prevail.

Don't hide or cower. We need you to not do that.

 

[QuestionEverything]

Well, that's NPR. They think America is a festering sore of thinly-disguised bigotry. Much like this guy does:

I wonder if anyone will write articles about "Sudden Kamikaze Syndrome?" Of course, kamikaze is a Japanese word, not a Korean one, but I wouldn't expect the writer of such an article to have much appreciation for such things...

Why would you wonder that? Outside of some White Power blog, who writes stuff like that?

Some guy who wrote an article about "Sudden Jihad Syndrome" among Muslims that got posted here a little while ago.

More on topic, I don't think that any backlash against Asians is remotely likely. I think most Americans see them as being honest and industrious, and don't see Cho as being representative of Asians as a whole. The Korean media is taking it really hard, though. I think I heard that the Korean ambassador to the US pledged to fast for 32 days as atonement.

 

[lurkersince03]

No. Still carry concealed. Still rock the black suit and white shirt. Still giving people long, hard looks if they're staring my way. Still quiet and otherwise vapid ( except when I emote online ). Don't think that'll change at all, simply because that's me.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=239555&page=6

I'm half South Korean if it matters.

 

[Eleven Mike]

Some guy who wrote an article about "Sudden Jihad Syndrome" among Muslims that got posted here a little while ago.

That "some guy" was not making the sort of ignorant, racist remarks of which you speak. He was talking about adherents to a religion, specifically those of a particular sect that he seems to have studied. He was talking about a group of people that has been carrying on a sustained war against us for years, not about one isolated Korean who went stark raving mad.

Religion and race are not similar characteristics. One is a matter of physical heritage. The other is a matter of chosen lifestyle and belief.

 

[joab]

So somehow, describing this place accurately, using a common colloquialism, makes me a racist?

So would referring to the poor black section of town as "****** town" be equally non - racist? That was a common colloquialism in the south for many years and still is in many places.
Does "everybody else does it" excuse it

At what point am I embracing racism?

At what point did you become the only person in this conversation?

And why am I the one in PC mode, if you are the one who is offended?

That question makes absolutely no sense on an adult level.
Is it PC to be offended by racist terms? Or is it PC to excuse them from non whites?

White men especially southern white men are one of if not the last group that can be demeaned with impunity, it's still racism (by the new definition of racism)

I've never used the term, but I believe historically that Eleven Mike is correct

. Does the historic origins of a slur excuse the modern use of it ?
The word ****** is simply a mispronunciation of Negro does that make any better when it is used as a descriptive when the speaker is so intellectually challenged he can't think past his bigotry?

I still think there is some disturbing irony when someone uses racial slurs to explain that he intends to shoot racists and is not called out for it on a forum calling itself The High Road

A by the way crashresidue my first girlfriend was from Waipahu my wifes family comes from there via Vietnam when they use the term Haulie it certainly did carry negative and insulting implications, Hawaiian Supreme Court decision or not.
Wanna guess what the southern states supreme courts thought about a certain word not that long ago.

Racism is racism no matter who the target is
I am not so naive to believe that there is not a little racism in all of us but don't whine about it while using racist terms (by the new definition of racism)
Either reject it or embrace it either way is more honest than what I have seen here

 

[Eleven Mike]

At what point did you become the only person in this conversation?

You wrote the remark as if in response to me.


We note that "PC" means whatever people want it to mean, these days. Such people have short memories. To be PC is to be thin-skinned, wanting to be offended. I have failed to be thus. Notice that the Asians in this thread are not getting their backs up about what offenses may come. The one being offended is joab. Thus, he is the PC party.

joab, you are trying to be White Al Sharpton, finding offenses where they don't exist or aren't worth noting. Why not be more like the minorities who overcome racism by not giving it their time?

The word ****** is simply a mispronunciation of Negro

So, you recognize that "******" is not inherently offensive, but is made so because of the way it is used?

Then recognize that "white trash" is not a slur on white-ness, as it is not normally meant in a way that insults the white race, but merely the people at hand that happen to be "trashy," whatever that means.

As I have tried to explain, the races that are slurred by "white trash" are non-whites. The term implies that, even though this group of people are white, and therefore better than other races, they still somehow manage to be trash.

Is it PC to be offended by racist terms?

It is when the offense is so slight that it may as well have been ignored.

Or is it PC to excuse them from non whites?

PC dictates that no slight offense should be excused. If the PC person can find something to be offended by, so much the better. I, on the other hand, would just let some offenses go.

 

[Chui]

What the Hell?

"He has a valid point.

If the shooter was black there would likely be less profiling and racism."

Excuse me?

"So, you recognize that "******" is not inherently offensive, but is made so because of the way it is used?"

You don't have the slightest clue to what it is you're talking about, dude...

 

[MikeH]

Went to the range today. Had a good conversation with one of the ROs on the M1 Garand I took out for the first time. Everything was normal, the way it should be.

 

[Beetle Bailey]

Quote:
I've never used the term, but I believe historically that Eleven Mike is correct

. Does the historic origins of a slur excuse the modern use of it ?
The word ****** is simply a mispronunciation of Negro does that make any better when it is used as a descriptive when the speaker is so intellectually challenged he can't think past his bigotry?

No and No. Show me where I suggest these things and I will apologize to you and everyone on this forum. I posted that to respond to your post which I will quote below:

Quote:
The implication of the term is that if you are some other color, we expect you to be trash. But if you are white and "trashy,"

No it is one of the new terms of endearment certain groups have chosen for whites these days

When you use the word "No" you are saying Eleven Mike is wrong in his statement. You then present an alternative understanding. Actually you are both right.

I still think there is some disturbing irony when someone uses racial slurs to explain that he intends to shoot racists and is not called out for it on a forum calling itself The High Road

I agree. My earlier post was as much for his benefit as for yours. It seemed to me that your initial response should have made the point. I've seen quite a bit of racism on this forum over the years. I don't have the time nor the energy to post a response to each and every one. All I do now is answer only the most intolerable ones, and then only on Mondays. My attitude is, respond to the worst offender and hope everyone else gets the message. If I had a nickel for every time I saw a racist term on this forum. . .

 

[River Wraith]

I don't think there is any racism among gun owners for the most part. We are one big happy family.

 

[Eleven Mike]

You don't have the slightest clue to what it is you're talking about, dude...

Then you can give me a few pointers. Terms like "Black" and its Latin equivalent, "Negro," are no more offensive than "White." Which is to say, they're not offensive at all. If someone mispronounces "Negro," should anyone be offended? It depends on why they're doing it. If they mean it to be disparaging, then it is. Thus, a mispronunciation like "******" is not inherently offensive, but gains its offensive nature only from usage and intent.

Now, what clues am I missing?

 

[Bruddah_Al]

No backlash but a couple guys in the office were jokingly, yelling "Asian man with a gun!" when I stuck my head in the down-room. Then again cops tend to have a dark sense of humor.

 

[Guy B. Meredith]

A bit of gallows humor and irony.

The week before the incident at Virginia Tech I had decided that for the Brady bunch and others who see gun owners as white, redneck Confederate flag carrying, beer drinking, belligerant apes I would point out that probably 30% to 40% of the people I shoot with are pan Asian.

Maybe I'll let that one rest for a while. :banghead: The loop-de-loos can conjure up enough boogy men on their own.