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1. hunter66
   Member Profile

   Why treat everything little thing as "racism"?
   I'm a man of ethnicity, I don't get offended when I am referred to a "foreigner". After all that's what I am.

   Posted 1 year ago #         

2. West Seattle Art Attack
   Member Profile

   Being a foreigner has nothing to do with racism. I am caucasian. If I go to Australia, England, Africa, Thailand, Turkey or Spain to live I would be a foreigner regardless of the color of my skin or those around me. Being called that wouldn't bother me in the least.

   Posted 1 year ago #         

3. JoB
   Member Profile

   as a descriptive term for an individual... identifying someone as a foreigner or citing the color of their skin may not be politically correct.. but in my opinion it is not any more racist than citing hair color or eye color or height or weight or musculature or ... .

   when an identifying characteristic is used to support broad generalities about a group of people.. description often crosses the line into racism.

   Posted 1 year ago #         

4. MargL
   Member Profile

   I think it's the implication that if you call someone a 'foreigner' you are assuming they are foreign from this country and not born here and being someone who was not born here is traditionally looked down upon by racists.

   But we know just because someone has an accent or a notable skin tone doesn't make them 'foreign'.

   Describing someone by their physical characteristics (the older man with dark short hair and skin-tone indicating possible Indian descent) would be different than saying "foreigner".

   Posted 1 year ago #         

5. FullTilt
   Member Profile

   

   I find the band Foreigner offensive on many levels, and would like to suggest a total ban on the song "Cold as Ice".

   Posted 1 year ago #         

6. metrognome
   Member Profile

   as with the use of any other 'neutral' term, it depends on the intent of the person who said it and the context in which it was used. I'm not sure it's 'racist' per se, but if it is used in the context that 'if you're not white, you're not an American,' then yes, it is racist. The term can also be more accurately termed as 'nationalist' if race is not a factor (i.e. someone from France using the term to refer to 'ugly Americans.') Some people use it to complain about non-whites, whether or not the folks being referred were in fact born in another country (setting aside the issue that somewhere along the line, most of us are descended from persons born outside the U.S.) Also, during past immigrations, the term was used to refer to white Europeans, such as the Irish, the Italians, the Germans, etc., especially those with 'foreign sounding' names. This is 'xenophobia,' which is defined as 'deep-rooted antipathy towards foreigners' (Oxford English Dictionary; OED), and 'unreasonable fear or hatred of the unfamiliar, especially people of other races (Webster's).'
   The term can also be used by someone who doesn't mean is as an insult, but really means that they heard or saw something different about you and want to know more.
   As an aside, when I spent a summer in Atlanta as a kid, 'foreigner' was used as a derogatory term by Southerners for a Northern white person; this was probably the year before the major race riots began and anyone without a Southern accent was viewed as a know-it-all Northerner who was in the South to cause trouble and register 'blacks' (that wasn't the term that was actually spoken ...) to vote. That's the only time that term has ever been applied to me (I'm white with no accent ... unless I'm in Georgia.)

   Posted 1 year ago #         

7. metrognome
   Member Profile

   sorry, my computer was so impressed with my eloquence that it posted my above comment twice.

   Posted 1 year ago #         

8. Genesee Hill
   Member Profile

   

   Please don't call my car a foreign car. Even if you hear the tape deck blastin' "Double Vision" by Foreigner.

   Thanks!

   Posted 1 year ago #         

9. HelperMonkey
   Member Profile

   

   I think Foreigners just want to know what love is

   ...and want you to show them. heh heh.

   Posted 1 year ago #         

10. Genesee Hill
    Member Profile

    

    HelperMonkey:

    Good one!

    You "show them the way"...

    Posted 1 year ago #         

11. Smitty
    Member Profile

    Weird.

    Just playing on Pandora.....

    Posted 1 year ago #         

12. redblack
    Member Profile

    

    as a racist, i think helper monkeys are lower life forms.
    .
    just kidding! sort of...
    .
    seriously. homo sapiens is our race. nationality and ethnicity are different from race.
    .
    scientifically speaking, of course.
    .
    a true example of racism would be not tipping your martian bartender because he "ain't from 'round here."

    Posted 1 year ago #         

13. JoB
    Member Profile

    shhh...

    he didn't want them to know he was martian.

    Posted 1 year ago #         

14. tanyar23
    Member Profile

    I agree with Full Tilt.

    Posted 1 year ago #         

15. metrognome
    Member Profile

    it's Urgent that when I'm a Dirty White Boy ready to Crash and Burn because Love Has Taken Its Toll and I'm A Long, Long Way From Home and there is No Hiding Place because I've been Blinded By Science and I'm Hot Blooded (... [with] a fever of one hundred and three) that I have something as Cold As Ice to cool me down so I can enjoy Love On The Telephone with Luanne who is Lowdown and Dirty (even tho she's Seventeen,) but I'm A Prisoner of Love ... wait, That Was Yesterday ... never mind.

    Posted 1 year ago #         

16. WorldCitizen
    Member Profile

    

    No it's not.

    Posted 1 year ago #         

17. HMC Rich
    Member Profile

    

    Head Games. Oooooh Double Vision. Metrognome...You are my Jukebox Hero. You Foreigners need to go Back Where You Belong...oh wait, I married one.

    I am always using a line on my wife from a Fish Called Wanda. "Oh, you English are sooo superior aren't you." although at times I tease her that she is from a third world country too.

    Posted 1 year ago #         

18. Ken
    Member Profile

    

    Long ago (1979) and far away (North Carolina) I moved to a small town in Bladen county where my family had owned property and lived since the 1660's.

    Since I had long hair, rode a motorcycle and had a tame version of the southern accent from exposure to too many books and tv news, I was called a "furriner" and there was no mistaking the meaning.

    Your mileage may vary.

    Posted 1 year ago #         

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