Topic: Morality/political correctness question: help

[DTB]

A friend offered to make me a sticker poking fun at the Jeep guys that says "It's a Jaap thing, You wouldnt understand"


Is this offensive to japanese people? Even though I drive a japanese truck?

I think it is really funny.....just dont wanna offend anyone..

What do you guys think?

 

[JanMarie13]

I don't feel it's offensive because it is a fact that it's a Japanese-made truck, and the statement the sticker is trying to make is that the truck is GOOD *because* it is made in Japan.

[GJToyotabug]

i like it if i was japanese i would like it but i'm not

[DTB [OP]]

from wiki:
"Jap is an English abbreviation of the word "Japanese." Today it is regarded as an ethnic slur, though English-speaking countries differ in the degree they consider the term offensive. Japanese Americans have come to find the term controversial or offensive, even when used as an abbreviation. [1] In the past, Jap was not considered primarily offensive; however, after the events of World War II, the term became derogatory.[2]

The official three-letter and two-letter international country codes (ISO 3166) for Japan are JPN and JP, while the international language codes (ISO 639) for Japanese are jpn and ja (not jp).

The first recorded use of Jap was in 1860 to refer to members of the Japanese embassy in the United States. An example of benign usage was the previous naming of Boondocks Road in Jefferson County, Texas, originally named "Jap Road" when it was built in 1905 to honor a popular local rice farmer from Japan.[3]

Later popularized during World War II to describe those of Japanese descent, Jap was then commonly used in newspaper headlines to refer to the Japanese and Imperial Japan. "Jap" became a derogatory term during the war, more so than "Nip."[2]Some in the United States Marine Corps also tried to combine the word "Japs" with "Apes" to create a new description, "Japes", for the Japanese. However, this new word never became popular.[2] Veteran and author Paul Fussell explains the usefulness of the word during the war for creating effective propaganda by saying that "Japs" "was a brisk monosyllable handy for slogans like "Rap the Jap" or "Let's Blast the Jap Clean Off the Map."[2]

In the United States and Canada, the term is now considered derogatory; Webster's Dictionary notes it is "usually disparaging."[4] In the United Kingdom it is considered derogatory, and the Oxford dictionary defines it as offensive.[5]

In 2003, the Japanese deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Yoshiyuki Motomurea, protested the North Korean ambassador's use of the term in retaliation for a Japanese diplomat's use of the term "North Korea" instead of the official name, "Democratic People's Republic of Korea"[6].

In Texas, under pressure from civil rights groups, Jefferson County commissioners in 2004 decided to drop the name "Jap Road" from a 4.3-mile road near the city of Beaumont. Also in adjacent Orange County, "Jap Lane" has also been targeted by civil rights groups.[7] The road was originally named for the contributions of Kichimatsu Kishi and the farming colony he founded.


[edit] Across the world
 
Sign advertising "Jap Rice" in SingaporeIn Singapore[8] and Hong Kong,[9] the term is used freely as a contraction of the adjective "Japanese". The Australian news service Asia Pulse also uses the term[10] In 1970, the Japanese fashion designer Kenzo Takada opened the "Jungle Jap" boutique in Paris.[11]

In Japan itself, most Japanese are apathetic about the term, according to a 2004 study.[1]"

[DTB [OP]]

I think I might have just answered my own question from that excerpt

"In Japan itself, most Japanese are apathetic about the term, according to a 2004 study."

[JanMarie13]

I think I might have just answered my own question from that excerpt

"In Japan itself, most Japanese are apathetic about the term, according to a 2004 study."

  apathetic meaning, they simply just don't really care (for those who may need help with that)


Also, you're being forced to use a special form of the word/abbreviation (Jaap) in order for people to get that it's a pun on Jeep. 

[abnormaltoy]

I doubt any reasonable person, regardless of nation origin, would be offended by that. I wouldn't see it as any different from us being called Yanks.

Besides, if you find the one that is offended by Jaap...tell them it's Swedish and pronounced Jahp. Or you could tell them it stands for Japanese American Alliance for Performance.

I leap at the opportunity to offend the easily offended.

[Richmondo]

I like it a lot.

In this case the context of the word Jap is good, you're praising Japanese engineering, but I can see how it could be offensive to some.

[MissTaco]

I also enjoy it.  Make me one too DTB!!   

[jimbo74]

its like a white guy calling a black guy a nigga......

[solar86yota]

I DONT think "Jap" is a good word to use because of it's hateful meaning. (especially around and during World War II) How about something like "It's a Japanese Engineering thing, You American Engineers just wouldn't understand"

[Toymin8r]

I DONT think "Jap" is a good word to use because of it's hateful meaning. (especially around and during World War II) How about something like "It's a Japanese Engineering thing, You American Engineers just wouldn't understand"

Well i think the overall purpose is to poke fun at the Jeep Thing stickers and By the time you put that whole phrase on a bumper sticker it would be too small to read.

[WHITE_TRASH]

Really, is this seriously being debated on in this day and age???  I though we as a country had transcended the stereotypes of yesteryear and learned that being PC is utter and complete bull crap.  Make me one too, if we spend all our time worrying about hurting someones feelers we won't be living at all....   


Oh yea, Prismo beat ya to it about 4-5 years ago...   :flipoff:

[WHITE_TRASH]

its like a white guy calling a black guy a nigga......

Not even close.  Find me a reference for jaap being a slur and I'll fed ex ya a cookie.

[MissTaco]

Not even close.  Find me a reference for jaap being a slur and I'll fed ex ya a cookie.

Will you FedEx me a cookie anyways?  I really like cookies. 

[WHITE_TRASH]

Sure thing if you agree help me in assisting in the DEpussification of the USA.

[abnormaltoy]

Really, is this seriously being debated on in this day and age???  I though we as a country had transcended the stereotypes of yesteryear and learned that being PC is utter and complete bull crap.  Make me one too, if we spend all our time worrying about hurting someones feelers we won't be living at all....   


Oh yea, Prismo beat ya to it about 4-5 years ago...   :flipoff:

I agree completely. PC is nothing but censorship.

I found a funny article in Wikipedia...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offensive_terms_per_nationality

I have been called many of these, but took offense to none. Ethnically I am cracker/hillbilly/hill jack/stump jumper/kike/hymie/mick/hebe/kraut/polack/yid/hun/honky/ofay!   I need to get a gub'mint program started to help me out.

[WHITE_TRASH]

I agree completely. PC is nothing but censorship.

I found a funny article in Wikipedia...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offensive_terms_per_nationality

I have been called many of these, but took offense to none. Ethnically I am cracker/hillbilly/hill jack/stump jumper/kike/hymie/mick/hebe/kraut/polack/yid/hun/honky/ofay!   I need to get a gub'mint program started to help me out.

BWAHAHAHAHAAHA!!!!  I'm a mick too...  The thing that gets me is you'd be hard pressed to find a "white guy" that'd take offense to being called most of those..  Kyke and mick maybe but thats about it...   I'm a cracker and proud of it!

[abnormaltoy]

BWAHAHAHAHAAHA!!!!  I'm a mick too...  The thing that gets me is you'd be hard pressed to find a "white guy" that'd take offense to being called most of those..  Kyke and mick maybe but thats about it...   I'm a cracker and proud of it!

The only group I couldn't find a name for was Scottish...that part of me is just niggardly.

I revel in all my slurisitudes.

[NorCalToy]

who is really gonna come up to you and say "that offends me!" or just put the "aa" upside down or something. idk, i wouldnt worry about it at all. if someone really says somethign splain it to em then takeoff.

[abnormaltoy]

who is really gonna come up to you and say "that offends me!"

Have you ever, or do you now work in an office? You just can't talk "guy talk" anymore...unless you're gay and recounting to your coworkers tales of your exploits. 

Half the stuff we talk about on here would get us fired or sent to a gender/sexual orientation sensitivity class.

[NorCalToy]

Have you ever, or do you now work in an office? You just can't talk "guy talk" anymore...unless you're gay and recounting to your coworkers tales of your exploits. 

Half the stuff we talk about on here would get us fired or sent to a gender/sexual orientation sensitivity class.

nope. im 15. and at my job im the only male in the part of the restaurant that i work and here more stuff tahn i would ever share from the other waitresses. i guess maybe in your area its worse.

btw. i plan on never working an office job ever.

[jimbo74]

Not even close.  Find me a reference for jaap being a slur and I'll fed ex ya a cookie.

actually it is a slur...... denotes connotations from the war... "the only good jap is a dead jap" among others......


i dont need the cookie, im already a fatass.....

[brainlessfool]

I leap at the opportunity to offend the easily offended.

Sir, that offends me!

[jimbo74]

i personally don't really care,  but jap does have negative connotations to it.....

as do: fob, flip, chink, wetback, spic, nigga, and displaying of the rebel confederate flag, et al

[BLACKDOG]

i personally don't really care,  but jap does have negative connotations to it.....

as do: fob, flip, chink, wetback, spic, nigga, and displaying of the rebel confederate flag, et al

I don't believe that flag belongs with that list, but I guess thats not the point.

Is Jap offensive?  could be to some people.  Do I personally care?  No. 

Thats the issue though.  Anything can be offensive, and we're (the conservatives) are supposed to cater to those that are offended, instead of makign them deal with it. 

[abnormaltoy]

It offends me that some people have made a symbol of MY heritage as a Southerner (Confederate Battle Flag) into a racial negative. It's just a convenient item to hang their hate on.

[BLACKDOG]

It offends me that some people have made a symbol of MY heritage as a Southerner (Confederate Battle Flag) into a racial negative. It's just a convenient item to hang their hate on.

[79coyotefrg]

It offends me that some people have made a symbol of MY heritage as a Southerner (Confederate Battle Flag) into a racial negative. It's just a convenient item to hang their hate on.

Amen brother

[Richmondo]

BWAHAHAHAHAAHA!!!!  I'm a mick too...  The thing that gets me is you'd be hard pressed to find a "white guy" that'd take offense to being called most of those..  Kyke and mick maybe but thats about it...   I'm a cracker and proud of it!

I'm going to go ahead and throw Nazi into that list too. I don't mind it if it's being used like the "Soup Nazi." Being called one because I have a buzz cut, blue eyes, and a SUPER German last name does bother me, but once again it depends on the context.