Cowboys and Indians.....offensive?

[mrgrouper]

Yesterday was the teachers strike, so I took my son to Gulliver's World in Warrington. Gulliver's world has hardly been updated since the 1980s, however I like this because it has a retro feel to it and reminds me of when I went there as a child. Most of the signage is from the eighties.
Anyhow there was a couple there who were clearly unimpressed by its dated appearance. We were in the Wild West part of the park and there is a large sign that says Cowboys and Indians. The woman started pointing and said she could not believe in 2016 they would have such a politically incorrect sign.
I was a bit surprised. Is Cowboys and Indians now racist and offensive? It is the first I have heard of this.

"No, it isn't AB. A quick google will answer this question for you. It is the preferred term for many and it is part of the name of many of their organisations - literary awards, physicians, higher education etc. "

Thanks Almondpudding but I really don't need to google it, having lived near a reservation in the States. I'm confident in my knowledge that I would have had my ass handed to me on a plate back in the 1980s if I called any of my high school classmates an Indian.

Is there a way of hiding certain posters? Seriously sick of their pious and sanctimonious posts that pop on anything like this.

op I noticed it a while ago while we visited one near us and it was the caricatures that stuck out for me. Whilst I can see why an 'older' generation might just see it as just games as the information wasn't so freely available with bias, where as I think the tide is turning and new generations can actually see that these people were not ignorant nor indeed needed saving.

Every day is a school day folks! Nobody is perfect!

Thefitfatty why get mad though? Did you not think it was labelled that untill you found out the correct term? Did some one get mad at you? Did you get mad at yourself if you read that you were wrong before?

Unless you are an out an out racist most people like to learn and don't set about purposely trying to offend people.

Unless your the kind of person that gets offended at the thought that other people might get offended by some one not knowing the correct term...

Well I don't think my skin colour is red (quite a lovely tan actually) and I'm not a cannibal. So it was never a matter of someone correcting me as it was me correcting them. I

I used to work with a woman who had no idea what a native American was at all

FYI I'm mi'kmaq and part Inuit. NOT red Indian or Eskimo

Thefit - ok so this effects you directly. Why do you think that a huge percent of the world still use these terms? It's because it was taught in books, school, media, infact I bought a book for dd three years ago and it has Eskimo in there.

Education is key here. You can't expect millions of people just to know - especially if they don't come in to daily contact with any one of this origin and has had this fed to them since school.

Dutch - I'm 57, my children are in their 20s. We all know these terms are offensive. This issue does not affect us directly, but we know it. I don't know why we know, but we just do, so we must have unconsciously learned it, much in the same way as we learned our 2xtables. I honestly cannot remember the last time I saw a book using the term 'Eskimo' or 'Red Indian'. It must have been over 50 years ago for me.

Oh go on, Dutchcourage, name names! You know you want to!

I honestly cannot remember the last time I saw a book using the term 'Eskimo' or 'Red Indian'. It must have been over 50 years ago for me

Sorry - I should clarify, I meant in modern terms, book-wise. I haven't seen these terms used in modern literature.

Seems like most in the thread are reasonably well-informed anyway, but here's quite a good, short video re. 'Indian' Halloween costumes

m.youtube.com/watch?v=frX69E9pkf8

Well thanks for this thread OP, I've learnt a lot today, even if I've been made to feel like a stupid prick.

Umbongo - don't fret it, we all have our day in hell. I've been a prick on other threads

I'm not stupid though

Brilliant video, dybil. I had no idea the beads on the dresses had different important meanings.

There is another video about sports mascots that is really shocking.

I've learnt a lot today

Do you think you should have known what you've learnt today beforehand? That's not a dig BTW. I was just wondering if you are surprised that you did not know what you've learnt.

Umbongo you are not stupid for being unaware of something.

Showing an interest, asking questions and getting involved in a discussion are not the actions of a stupid person.

I'm not stupid though
I know, darling, I know. But sometimes we can all trip up.

Yes, brilliant video dybil Most enlightening with regard to people's feelings. One of the comparisons made - this is not a Viking or Roman outfit, where they no longer exist, this is poking fun at a race of people who are still here (and still downtrodden).

Of course you're not stupid.

I know, darling, I know. But sometimes we can all trip up.

Aarghh - reading that back, it looks patronising - not meant that way at all. I really did mean, we all do trip up sometimes. It was meant kindly.

soren no I don't feel bad for not knowing previously. I've never seen them referenced in films, and it's never been mentioned around me so it's never been a topic of interest.
I know everything there is to know about WW2 on the other hand as I did do that at school and it fascinated me.

But making people feel stupid because you know something that don't is horrible. I have a masters in physics. I don't go into maths threads and make people feel inadequate for not knowing how to do algebra.