Author Topic: That Interview  (Read 716 times)

mkenuk

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That Interview
« on: March 09, 2021, 11:51:44 AM »
I haven't watched the interview yet, and I probably won't bother.
Enough to read one or two intelligent media reports about what was said and done. They are there if you look hard enough.

I did notice the word colourism being used in The Guardian report. (Presumably that is spelled colorism on the other side of the pond).
It's a new word to me, although the concept is, unfortunately, far too common.

So, before the appropriate letters turn up in a game, is this a word that is known to Chi? Is it common?
I guess if it wasn't before, then it is now.
« Last Edit: March 09, 2021, 12:02:16 PM by mkenuk »

Alan W

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Re: That Interview
« Reply #1 on: March 09, 2021, 01:56:38 PM »
Chi accepts colorism, as a rare word, and always has. Oddly enough, colourism is not currently accepted at all. This probably reflects the fact that the term originated in the US, so the American spelling was probably the only one given in the source dictionaries from several years ago that were used in compiling the list I started with.

Wiktionary defines colorism/colourism as:

Quote
Prejudice or bias against persons on the basis of their skin color or complexion, often among persons of the same racial identification.

As noted in the Guardian article you mentioned, MK, this prejudice can be exhibited by people from the ethnic group concerned or it can be by people who regard themselves as white - e.g. lighter-skinned slaves could work indoors while the darker-skinned had to work in the fields.

The word can also refer to artistic styles, but in relation to skin colour, the OED has a 1964 citation where the word simply meant racism, but the earliest example relating specifically to skin tone was from 1977:

Quote
Racial discrimination in Brazil has been described as 'colorism'; in this case, the lighter one's skin, the higher, socially, they may rise.

The News on the Web corpus shows use of the word, in both spellings, has grown rapidly over the past few years. The majority of occurrences of colorism are from the US, but use of colourism comes from many countries in Africa, South Asia and the Carribean, as well as the UK and Canada.

Probably we should add the colourism spelling to our lexicon.
Alan Walker
Creator of Lexigame websites

pat

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Re: That Interview
« Reply #2 on: March 09, 2021, 07:24:18 PM »
I haven't watched the interview yet, and I probably won't bother.

Even though I would find it hard to care any less than I do about Harry and Meghan, I did watch the interview,  simply in order to understand the press hysteria that was bound to follow it - indeed which even preceded it. It's never a good idea to rush to judgement after hearing only one side of a story and I'm sure that if Oprah Winfrey were to interview a member of 'The Firm' (which of course won't happen) we'd get a different point of view.

Without a doubt, though, Meghan suffered hideous abuse by the UK gutter press simply for having skin of a different colour and having the temerity to marry a member of the royal family. Two things she said, if they're true, shocked me: the racist comment by an unfortunately unidentified member of the royal family about the 'darkness' of her baby's skin, and the fact that family members are expected to curtsy to the queen even in private, which is ridiculous beyond belief. The sooner we get rid of the lot of them the better. It will happen one day. Although compared to royal families in some countries, ours is relatively harmless. I'm thinking of the princesses of the UAE, and people over there in Thailand, Mike, where even criticizing the royal family will get you a prison sentence. Good job that's not the case over here - I'd never see the light of day again!




« Last Edit: March 09, 2021, 07:40:02 PM by pat »

mkenuk

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Re: That Interview
« Reply #3 on: March 09, 2021, 10:39:12 PM »
You are right about the severity of the Thai lese-majeste laws, which can. of course, be used by the government as a way of silencing political opposition to themselves.

As for the UK gutter-press, I rather think their abuse of Meghan started as soon as they realised that she was not some fairy-tale bimbo princess who would sell lots and lots of papers for them.


birdy

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Re: That Interview
« Reply #4 on: April 24, 2021, 03:35:38 PM »
I've never heard the term "colorism" though I am certainly aware of the concept. I remember a very light-skinned Jamaican colleague speaking about the attitude, and that he criticized fellow Jamaicans for denigrating those darker than themselves.

Unfortunately, it seems to be a human characteristic to divide people into "us" and "them," and to assert their superiority over the "other."