red indians, black africans, yellow asians, white europeans,?

Question

why is that offensive ???

Answer 1

I dont think it is..

Answer 2

It is not offensive in itself if read as a mere descriptive fact and I agree it is wonderful to think of the variety in the world.

However, historically people have been judged by this one fact - their beliefs, intelligence, rights, attitudes all generalised under this banner. Therefore, it is not just political correctness but a deep seated pain and resentment that cannot and should not be ignored.

Also, it seems to connote that there are no white africans, black europeans or red asians... it is really an out of date concept now as opposed to being offensive.

We have to train ourselves to see the world differently, to catergorise differently and then we can move on from the past that makes this seem offensive...

Answer 3

I suppose some people may consider the terms redundant and therefore patronising. I can get the 'Red Indian' thing, as this is purely a European concept, given that Cabbot, Huddson et al thought they were in the Spice Islands. If some visitor from, say, China, landed at Dover and thought he was in New York and started to call us all yankees, I'd get pretty hacked off after a while!

Answer 4

'red indians' : they're not red and not from India
'black africans' : I don't find that offensive
'yellow asians' : Who do you mean by yellow? Do you mean orientals? Cos I've never seen a yellow person, unless they have jaundice
'white europeans' : I don't find that offensive

Answer 5

People find it offensive because it pigeon-holes them into a specific category which have stereotypes that they find offensive.
Red Indians drink fire water, black Africans are loud, yellow Asians are smart, white Europeans are bigots. People find that offensive. Also, there are yellow Europeans, black Indians, white Africans and red Asians. So wtf??

Answer 6

It's not that offensive but the truth is native American people is tanned-skinned just like south-east Asian people.The Asians esspecially Orientals(Chinese,Japanese,Koreans etc) is pale yellowish white while europeans has yellow white,reddish white, pale white and hazel pale white.adn yes,Africans are mostly black in natural.You've got it wrong all the way dude.

Answer 7

I have no clue on the white section, no clue why capitalized it the two. The crimson comes from a established touch mistake. Yellow is on the brink of the exterior tone of many Asians, so as that ought to be it. comparable for black, some have a black epidermis tone. For the super majority of folk, none are any of those hues.

Answer 8

Words are offensive due to mental and historical associations.

Spin doctors know this from when we used to have the "Ministry of War", "Ministry of Propaganda" etc

eg "unprovoked attack" is nowadays re-labelled as a "pre-emptive strike"

Applying this to your question, "red indians" was a name given by european immigrants who invaded and almost wiped out the local inhabitants in America. The name "Indian" itself is a misnomer as the local inhabitants are not from India.

Answer 9

I guess because there's really no reason to point out the "color" of someone's skin.
Like, you could just say Native American, instead of red Indian. It's as if you're focusing on the color of someone's skin, instead of on their nationality/heritage - there's a difference.
Also, because racism is still so prevalent, people are sensitive to those kinds of "categories," and rightfully so.
It's tied to a lot of historical problems, like someone else sort of referred to in his/her answer.
Besides, what difference does it make what someone's skin color is anyway? Are you trying to point out where someone is from, or what their skin looks like?
For instance, I don't say, "Pass me the blue cup," unless I'm trying to identify the cup as blue - because it's one of several cups and I need the blue one.
If I just want a cup, or I'm talking about cups in general, there's no reason to say "blue cups"...
The same goes for this...
I don't really know how else to explain it, but I tried.
(I realize that it's also a cultural thing. I heard people say "red Indian" while I was living in Ireland, and I was completely shocked - but it was perfectly normal there.)

Answer 10

well because some people dont like to be classified, we all want to be equal and just being a colour classifies you in what grade or level of person you are. Its the way we have been brainwashed to think

Answer 11

because some people look to be offended.
call me a white son of a hoe and I'll laugh it off, but i haven't had any oppresion or issues againts me, maybe it make people feel like you are devaluing them?
good question, needs to be answered by the people who get offended though, so i'll shut up