Pope Francis speaks out against racism

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It would be good to voice disapproval of racism too, just as to keep things clear. It’s hard to understand things online sometimes and it helps to clear things up.
 
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ratio1 said:
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Wozza:
gweilo (foreign devil)
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This translation is a gross misunderstanding of the Chinese language. Certainly no one who uses the term gweilo conjures up images of the devil just as if I say Liverpool people only think about the place in UK or the Beatles but not the organ liver in a swimming pool.

So gweilo itself is not racist just as the word “woman” is not sexist because it contains the word man in it.

Gwei can mean ghost. Anyone who dies can become a ghost in Chinese culture. You can have good ghost and bad ghost. There is no concept of the devil, that’s a Christian idea. But the original meaning of the word is probably “foreign” or “extraordinary”. Anything that is not ordinary. Hence gweicai means extraordinary talent (cai means talent) and is used in a positive sense. Lo just means man. So gweilo means a foreign man or a man who is not ordinary (that is not Chinese)
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I’m not translating it literaly. I’m giving the colloquial definition. The fact is that it used to be perjorative (and still can be in some contexts). I’ve seen an English guy threatened with a knife by a local in a Wanchai bar because he was taking liberties with one of the barmaids. What was said to him I have no idea - except for the last word which was obviously meant as an insult: ‘Gweilo’. It was said with some venom. And easily heard, as the place had gone deathly quiet.

I don’t know if the guy spoke Cantonese but you didn’t have to to get the message. Which luckily he did.
 
You can reverse the situation and substitute Chinese and still it would sound derogatory. How’s your example supposed to prove your point?
I know lots of Chinese heritage people who live in Western countries adopting Western values say they are Gweigweidei which just means “a bit Gwei”. Which they are trying to say is they have become westernised. There is no derogatory tone to it.
Even your origin word argument does not hold up if you study linguistics. The word “silly” used to be a positive term meaning innocent. In fact it was even used to describe the Blessed Virgin Mary. Now imagine if I say our Mother of God is silly.
Anyway anyone who studies Chinese and actually knows the language will disagree with you. I can list lots of phrases with the word Gwei in a positive context but I don’t think you’d be interested.
 
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Saint John Paul II:

“In fact, the media often do render courageous service to the truth; but sometimes they function as agents of propaganda and disinformation in the service of narrow interests, national, ethnic, racial, and religious prejudices, material greed and false ideologies of various kinds. It is imperative that the pressures brought to bear on the media to err in such ways be resisted first of all by the men and women of the media themselves, but also by the Church and other concerned groups.”
 
Yeah true. And about this speaking uo against racism, it’s like saying I am not in favor of rampant hunger or drug violence or child abuse. Of course. No one is.
 
Filipinos also look down on mainland Chinese. Filipino Chinese in the Philippines and those staying in Singapore also look down on mainland Chinese. I think that Filipinos are among the most racist, but of course a lot of it is done behind the back, on top of the discrimination against Chinese, is making fun of a particular race or country of origin that’s known for their strong body odor. They also make fun of thr accents of foreigners who speak broken Filipino or none at all. We brag about being the only Catholic country in Asia, but our behavior is nothing to brag about. And yes, Filipinos are also racist against blacks. If you’re white, ah that’s another thing. Whites are put on a pedestal. It’s normal because of thr colonial mentality. Marry a white person and have a mestizo child who can be a cash cow later as a celebrity or model, is acommon mentality here.
 
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Wife.of.Gabriel said:
Totally out of context. What he said was based on the actual statistics in the United States of the demographics of those actually committing acts of Terrorism in our nation and the majority of those crimes are committed by white males.
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Odd, isn’t it, that whenever someone points out the specifics of what Don Lemon was talking about, the post gets flagged to the point of being hidden. Why would anyone (probably several anyones) flag the addition of facts into the conversation? How does that violate CAF guidelines?
 
ratio1 said:
You can reverse the situation and substitute Chinese and still it would sound derogatory. How’s your example supposed to prove your point?
I know lots of Chinese heritage people who live in Western countries adopting Western values say they are Gweigweidei which just means “a bit Gwei”. Which they are trying to say is they have become westernised. There is no derogatory tone to it.
Even your origin word argument does not hold up if you study linguistics. The word “silly” used to be a positive term meaning innocent. In fact it was even used to describe the Blessed Virgin Mary. Now imagine if I say our Mother of God is silly.
Anyway anyone who studies Chinese and actually knows the language will disagree with you. I can list lots of phrases with the word Gwei in a positive context but I don’t think you’d be interested.
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You’re right. I wouldn’t.

In passing, have you been to HK?
 
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No it doesn’t. The answer I’ve already provided with my linguistic reasons but you said you are not interested. You would rather believe an automatic assertion on the article that it has “racist roots” without any reference to any linguistic evidence by that article. Did it examine what the word gwei means? How is the word used in other contexts? I’m trying to be scientific and reasonable here but if you rather believe in sensationalism rather than science then so be it.
 
ratio1 said:
No it doesn’t. The answer I’ve already provided with my linguistic reasons but you said you are not interested. You would rather believe an automatic assertion on the article that it has “racist roots” without any reference to any linguistic evidence by that article. Did it examine what the word gwei means? How is the word used in other contexts? I’m trying to be scientific and reasonable here but if you rather believe in sensationalism rather than science then so be it.
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I think I might go with the fact that I have worked there for a number of years, can speak a little Cantonese, have discussed this with a number of HK born Chinese (I’m godfather to the son of good friend who is Han Chinese) and the matter is being discussed in the manner in which I am addressing it in the journal of choice in HK (sensationalist it ain’t).

But thanks for your linguistic (name removed by moderator)ut.

Joi gin.
 
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And to be consistent I hope you don’t use the words “woman” or “female” because of its sexist origins. In Chinese, the words for male and female and man and woman have no relationship with each other. Whereas in English, woman is obviously defined in terms of man and likewise with female. So English is inherently sexist but not Chinese according to your reasoning.
 
Well Cantonese is my native language. Most of the people you speak to didn’t study linguistics. Certainly they would not be aware of the word origin and etymology. But they would understand the counter examples I have given and I bet you they would agree with me.

Ask them what
衰鬼，鬼才，鬼斧神工 means.
 
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What is Pope Francis supposed to do? Speak up in favor of racism? :roll_eyes:

Why not have a conference on our broken human nature - of which racism is a sub-set?

(I deleted my closing remark, as they are universally snarky)
 
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So what I said before was right.

There are no special qualifications to be a racist. All you have to be is human.
 
ratio1 said:
But they would understand the counter examples I have given and I bet you they would agree with me.
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I’ll bet the guy with the knife wouldn’t. Maybe you could have explained it all to him to prevent a nasty end to the proceedings. Although a discussion on the finer points of Cantonese linguistics might not have been appreciated in the Go Down bar at 2:00am.
 
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