Ethnic

~ Clarissa

I find it extremely bizarre when people refer to Marco Rubio as “ethnic.” They probably don’t think they are being jerk wads of massive proportions but they are. In their minds, Rubio’s ethnicity is somehow qualitatively different from that of Jeb Bush or John McCain.

By the way, is Carly Fiorina considered “ethnic”? Is Bernie Sanders? Am I?

Or is the ethnic thing reserved for the cases when one needs to point out that even lily-white Hispanics are “not really white”?

Unknown's avatar

Published by Clarissa

15 thoughts on “Ethnic”

  1. “Or is the ethnic thing reserved for the cases when one needs to point out that even lily-white Hispanics are “not really white”?”

    Yes.

    Like

    Reply

      1. This definition has been adopted by businesses, too. Search for ‘Ethnic food’ on Yelp. By the time you finish typing ‘Eth’ it’ll auto complete it for you.

        These are the results in my area:

        Like

        Reply

  2. The definition of “white” has changed or has been “adjusted” many times in 20th Century America.
    There was a time Italian, Irish and many European Jewish immigrants were not considered “white” as demonstrated by the overt discrimination/racism against them in the early 1900’s.

    Like

    Reply

  3. The article that you linked to refers to Rubio as “ethnic” for the obvious reason that he’s Hispanic, which the U.S. government considers an ethnic group in its census reports.

    The article also makes it clear that Rubio supporters consider this “ethnic” label an advantage (presumably because it will appeal to Hispanic voters whom the Republican Party needs to win a national election).

    Ted Cruz could also be considered “ethnic” since he’s part Cuban, but the only people applying this term to him are some angry liberal Hispanics who consider him and Rubio to be “ethnic traitors” (!) because they’re Republicans.
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/12/21/ethnic-treason-how-far-is-too-far-when-attacking-marco-rubio-and-ted-cruz/

    Like

    Reply

      1. It depends if they are Catholic Irish (aka, Taigs) or Protestant Irish (aka, Prods) One group is ethnic, the other, not. I will not divulge which is which ’cause I don’t want my house bombed by the IRA.

        Like

        Reply

  5. Bernie Sanders is Jewish. Have you heard anyone refer to him as “ethnic”?
    Bill O’Reilly is of Irish descent, and brags about it on-air frequently. I’ve never heard “ethnic” among the printable terms thrown at him.

    If you look “white” in the U.S. today, you can pretty much call yourself what you want. “White” people from specific backgrounds often use the term “heritage” rather than “ethnicity” to describe their lineage .

    I THINK my ancestors were mainly British with a few Cherokee Indians added to the mix. So am I simply “white”? — or “white of British heritage with some Native American ancestry”? I don’t think Cherokees are considered “ethnic.” (And I don’t really care who my long-dead ancestors were , anyway.)

    How did you self-label when the 2015 U.S. government census takers came to your house last year?

    Like

    Reply

  6. We are all the same species, Homo Sapiens. We originated in Africa. This is scientific fact. People can be interested in the geographical place some members of their families once lived in, the food they ate, the culture, but there’s no logical, let alone biological reason to classify others as different, hence ‘ethnic’. The rest is racist crap.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment