I'm cool with getting called a Kraut, by the way. But then, I'm that racist dude, who's also cool with making a gif of a frog hopping over a mountain, or (gasp) calling a red haired dude a g*nger.

SN, this is the time to drop the frog topic. Thanks.

the problem with this is that some people have absolutely insane views of what is racist and what isn't. Ann Coulter would tell you that plenty of stuff we view as racist is NOT racist and others would tell you that very typical speech IS racist. I have heard a Caucasian/white person argue, not for the sake of argument but because they actually believed it, that calling them "white" and not "Caucasian" is racist. With no actual baseline or banned list of terms you're going to have people who think something is ok and others who think it isn't and both sides will usually think they are being more than reasonable with their interpretation of racism.

Dangerous is the lion's lair
Though the lion be not there.

This is a sports forum ffs. How hard can it be to just avoid bringing up race and talk about.. sports?

Glad that thread got locked, that was awful.

Can I make one recommendation though? Change the title. You want to stop all the drama in there, scrap the USA #1 title for starters. It's exactly part of the problem. A few of the euros to get the "joke", and those 4-5 are going to fight it until the USA are eliminated. It's sort of like the people who don't get Lol Canada. Took me 1-2 years, but once you get the culture here, you adjust.

Is this derogatory?:



Not sure I have heard the analogue of the Kruats are coming.

CDL,

I am well aware of your views on "slippery slope" etc. We really do not need a list, and I think what we are trying to accomplish here is pretty clear. Let's all just make the dialogue a lot more civil than it has been.

People being called African American when they are neither African or American find it pretty offensive.

Good post.

There is definitely a collective trolling of USA#1 fans but it's essentially a big joke. Americans love amusing themselves with stuff like this. It's why we have such a MASSIVE array of costumes at world cup games. We have all these unique symbols and enjoy having fun with it. Then once a few posters from other countries (see how easy it was to phrase it in a non-offensive way?) get riled up, then posters have kind of really latched onto it in sort of a group trolling-but-mostly-for-our-own-amusement sort of thing.

Anyways, I really think that if USA#1 fans can do it in a celebratory way with each other, and not in a "contest where we try to prove it is true vs. all other nations" then things will be fine. I also think jokes like "why do you hate freedom" are also clearly tongue in cheek and are fine too, even though to anyone who has been abroad the USA without question is more restrictive in some areas (liquor laws for example) than many other nations.

Yeah, this is a little too PC cop-ish. If the mods want to ban certain words, isn't it easy to just make them ****** like that.

Fair point and not sure the best way to address. Again though, it's intent and context that matters. "the blacks" is not gonna work around here regardless.

This.

Because unlike the French no one has a historical reason to dislike the Germans, so therefore it follows that any slang term referring to Germans is probably going to be neutral if not slightly positive.

'black people' also works, iyam, though is still on the line. though i imagine there has to be some leniency towards people for whom english is a second language.

Yeah but pretty sure Cruizn isn't ESL. And if it is, it's barely so.

Cruizn's first language is definitely American

maybe angels and saints in heaven where u are, but we talking mehicans and murcans and canadians and euros here

As much as I think Cruizn is annoying as heck, and dumb for hating on America where he actually grew up and lives, I'm going to have to defend him on this one. Anyone who thinks the context he used "the blacks" in is racist, that's absurd and PC cop bullcrap. It's obvious his intent was to be comedic. It just wasn't that funny of a joke and too easy of a target for us to laugh at. Don't see the big deal. We can't make racial jokes anymore? Who says?

I grew up in the South so I die a little inside whenever I am called this. Ban all usage retroactively imo

Right now, I say. Is that ok?

I have heavily defended Cruizn so it's not like I'm out to get the guy. But even if it's a joke it's a bad one and a lightning rod for more derails at a time where everyone is understandably passionate about things. So I'm asking that we all, like, talk about sports for a while.

It is hilarious how USA#1 is something people actually spend time arguing against.

It always happens every time some time of forum wide USA sporting event happens though. People either can't or refuse to see that 90% of the stuff is built from a joke or tongue in cheek fun. But it always devolves into a shouting match because what else can you do when someone wants to have a heated argument over the fact that people are saying USA #1!!!1 SOCCERBALL CHAMPS?

The way I see it is that the acceptable term changes every 20 years or so, because the currently acceptable term itself suddenly becomes racist. The real problem comes when those who decide what the new term will be and why the old one was racist are not from the ethnic group in question.

calling someone a frog is offensive and idiotic
a hilarious french frog caricature is comedy

LET'S EXILE COMEDY