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comment by j4d3
j4d3  ·  3121 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Microaggressions and the Rise of Victimhood Culture - The Atlantic

Are more white people going to think twice before sprinkling in some Spanish next time they talk to a brown person? If yes, then this guy’s response was effective. The frame I would use is not (lame-ass whiny) victim versus dignified person as this article’s author would like to do. It is effective versus ineffective.

If complaining that my boss gave me my first negative feedback the very day I announced my pregnancy gets me fired, that is ineffective toward my goal of me (and other women) continuing a career in tech. If it results in him not doing it to the next gal, it’s a win. It’s impossible to predict what will happen, so I’ve kept my mouth shut. I don’t think keeping my mouth shut is “dignified.” I think it can be read as craven.





galen  ·  3121 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    Are more white people going to think twice before sprinkling in some Spanish next time they talk to a brown person? If yes, then this guy’s response was effective. The frame I would use is not (lame-ass whiny) victim versus dignified person as this article’s author would like to do. It is effective versus ineffective.

I'm from Texas. Spanish is part of Texan culture, so even though I'm a white guy, there are Spanish words and phrases sprinkled throughout my vocabulary. That's how I grew up. What's so bad about that?

thenewgreen  ·  3121 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Nothing. Nothing is bad about that. The beautiful thing about language is that nobody owns it. You could walk around using 1/4 french, english, spanish and swahili and there would be nothing wrong with it. -My hat would be off to you for being so lingual!

I'm 1/2 mexican, does that mean I get to use half spanish words when speaking? It's all absurd. I think people both positively and negatively ascribe too much identity with race/ethnicity. I'm proud to be ____ -with the blank being filled with southern, eastern, northern, western, brown, black, white, christian, muslim, buddhist, female, male, tv/ts, tall, short, american.... whatever. Just be proud of YOU, if you're someone worth being proud of. It's your efforts in life that ascribe meaning to you, not these other things, imo.

Anyways, yeah... you don't need a certain level of pigment or need to be from a hispanic cultural background in order to employ spanish words in your speech. Está todo bien!