Prince Harry caught on video using a racist slur

[sherby]

what do we think about this one then?

You would think after the nazi thing he would've learnt his lesson no?

lol at my father would never have used such a term.
no, maybe not, but this isn't competitive father liberalness.
my father was extraordinarily liberal in every way. he most certainly was not a racist.
I am talking about that generation, the generation that grew up between the wars.
language has to be seen in (historical) context.

I agree with Pan - i was called Paki a lot growing up despite not being from Pakistan or having any pakistani blood. I was also called, nigger, wog, chinky and blackie. I am from another Asian country. I remember watching the film zulu as a child and having a sick feeling in my stomach going to school because I knew that people were going to make fun of me because of it - and of course people made fun of me afterwards for living in a mud hut and throwing spears. To say that Paki is ok if it's not meant in a racist way or because it means someone from Pakistan is really hurtful and shows a complete lack of compassion for people who may have suffered racial abuse. It;s not the same as calling someone Aussie, Kiwi or Pom, etc. These terms have never been used in a racist way. someone from china for example has never been an Aussie as racist term because it can only refer to people from Australia.

It is 2009 - there is no excuse for it. Never.

None of my grandparents would ever have used the word 'Paki', let alone my parents. They knew decades ago that the word was a cruel insult used only by the hard of thinking.

look, sorry to have to fend off remarks from people who haven't read my post. I didn't say my father would have said paki; he wouldn't. and didn't. but it was certainly common currency in the 1970s and 1980s and it wasn't always used in that offensive context.
by mentioning the historical context, just to clarify, I wasn't defending his use of the term, just making a point that language is about context and in particular responding to this comment:

"By seeker on Tue 13-Jan-09 14:32:30
I think the difference is that Paki has never been anything but offensive"

I don't think that is true. for people born before the seconda world war (my father was born in 1928) the term was not necessarily used in an offensive sense, imo.

(obviously this doesn't apply to Harry.)

no, harpsi, it isn't competitive liberalism of our parents -I was pointing out that the "excuse" of generational aspect is redundant ( as the 'life in the military' argument is) as 'my' father, and just about all of his friends, would have recoiled at use of the word 'paki' because they know of the racist and unpleasant inference, or outright aggressiveness it carries. And they were sensitive to this.

well it isn't an "excuse" it is an attempt to get some people on this thread to look outside the narrow confines of their own experience and try and understand that other views of the world existed and other levels of understanding without blindly labelling those people as "racist".

the point I was responding to was that "paki" was never used as anything but a racist term. to say "well that is no excuse becuase my father bla bla bla" is missing the point, that "other people" might have had different experiences.

it's a bit of a poor sham really, harpsi - and it is you who are avoiding the point -"Paki" is a denigrating term, applied to people of a similar skin hue - always has been, no matter what the intent,even when spoken by 'liberal' white folk - so lets not be avoidant, though it may make some people uncomfortable.
given that only harpsi and I have posted in the last 3 days.....it's goodnight from me...