Is it normal to hate the term "white washed"?

It just seems so ridiculous, am I the only one offended and is it just because i'm white?

Voting Results
33% Normal
Based on 107 votes (35 yes)
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Comments ( 23 )
  • dappled

    Well, the original meaning had nothing to do with people and when it's applied to people now it still has nothing to do with colour, so should we really be looking for intent when none is meant?

    It's like when they tried to change the children's song "Baa Baa Black Sheep" into "Baa Baa Green Sheep" to prevent anyone being offended. Changing it to something quite obviously ridiculous raises questions in people's minds about why it's been changed. It creates an overtone where one didn't previously exist. Political correctness of this type does more harm than good.

    I'd abandon all political correctness and replace it with a single judgement: fairness. In this case, do black sheep exist? Yes. In this case, is the sheep "black" because of a racial slur or is it just a song about a black sheep? It's *just* a song about a black sheep. Is it fair to have a song about a black sheep? Yes.

    We can't censor things just for containing the word black or the word white. Words aren't the problem, context is. And, even then, we're often overly sensitive.

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    • Excuse me for not defining what I meant, I suppose where I live the term "white-washed" is always used in the context of someone who isn't white acting "white". I just never got how people could act white.

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      • dappled

        Ahh, it's not a problem. You should probably discount my answer, though, because I was talking about something else completely. Here a whitewash is either a government cover-up or a high score in sports (like ten nil). Although I didn't say anything, I did wonder why you were so insulted by that. But discovering what it means to you, I agree with you and I don't like the term either.

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    • Idunnowhy

      Look down at neuroneptunians comment

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      • dappled

        Not sure why you were down-voted just for trying to be helpful. I'll never understand how some people choose to use the thumbs.

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  • tori

    For me white-washed means when someone describes what bad thing they did but explains it like it wasn't bad at all, they white-wash the story. To cover it up.
    I grew up with that. Man, things change. Never thought of it being a racist thing. :(

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  • NeuroNeptunian

    I honestly never understood how it is not considered racist for someone to call someone else that.

    For those of you that don't know... "white washed" is the term used to describe someone that is non-white who, yes, yes this is the serious meaning, dresses in clean, maintained attire and not baggy jeans or "ghetto fab" attire, speaks proper English, listens to non-rap/hip-hop, is concerned about things like politics, education or anything other than "gang culture" related things and has a job, or goes to school, or owns a regular car.

    If someone meets most of those conditions and they are non-white, they are considered white washed and I seriously don't understand how it's not racist to imply that speaking Proper English, concern for education and so on is a characteristic exclusive to whites. There's just something so wrong about the usage of the term that I honestly do think less of people that seriously apply it to those that aren't white.

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    • Couman

      Then OP should have made it clear that was the meaning (s)he was talking about. Because it might not be the first thing that comes to mind except for racists and people who have to deal with them.

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  • suckonthis9

    I used the term "whitewashed" in the metaphoric censorship sense recently. I used it to describe the abhorrent behaviour of the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), the Republican and Democratic Parties and the Mainstream Media, in the recent U.S. election, for whitewashing the Third Party Candidates and their supporters.
    I have also used this term for so-called Affirmative Action Programs. Repugnant.
    Next time someone refers to themselves as "white" (no one is really 'white', unless they are an albino), challenge them as to if they know if they know the tribe to which they belong.

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  • bananaface

    I thought white washed had something to do with paint or something like that.:S What does it mean? I don't hear it where I am.

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    • howaminotmyself

      Got me, I've never heard it applied to people. It's always been something you do to fences and occasionally trees.

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    • NeuroNeptunian

      I'm kind of surprised that I am the only one here so far that knows who he is talking about. Man I must have had to deal with some pretty big assholes. I defined it on another post on this topic.

      I have heard it applied to people plenty, wish I hadn't, though =/

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      • bananaface

        Maybe it's mainly used where you are:S? I honestly don't know, I've never heard it, or anything like that. I'm shocked that anyone would say something as ridiculous as that. Baffled!:S

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        • NeuroNeptunian

          Yeah, I really don't understand how it was voted "Not Normal". Damn racists.

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      • dappled

        I didn't have a clue what it meant until you explained it and my answer to this is completely wrong because of that. Weirdly, it got lots of thumbs despite being completely wrong and someone who tried to help me with the actual meaning got thumbed down. IIN, eh?

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  • white trash sounds worse

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  • ccjigsaw

    I don't know what that term means in a racist way. I've heard of white washed jeans?? Anyone care to enlighten me?

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  • Coco-pops

    i personally hate the term "white trash"

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  • NotStrangeBird

    I hate painting.

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  • dirtybirdy

    Ok then

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    • Justsomejerk

      You're stone washed.

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      • dirtybirdy

        Hehe that's very true. So are you!!

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  • Shrunk

    I learned that term on the Cultures& groups section of Yahoo answers (aka angry black-supremacist troll section)
    It doesn't offend me I just find it weird how most of them use it to refer to any black person that doesn't act like a complete retard. Wouldn't Obama be considered ''white washed'' then? It's just ridiculous. I think the opposite is ''unwashed''.

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