Racist slur or army banter? What the soldiers say

[kskiska]

Source: The Guardian

In mess halls and parade squares across the country, Prince Harry's comments were being chewed over yesterday. As they pondered the media furore, some insisted his comments pointed to a wider problem of racism in the armed forces, but others were quick to come to his defence, claiming his critics had little or no understanding of army life.

However, no one with first-hand experience of the British military seemed remotely surprised that the 24-year-old, who is third in line to the throne, had chosen the term Paki to describe a fellow soldier.

Nabs, who spent 11 years in the British army, described the interest in Prince Harry's comments as "pure nonsense".

"When I joined the army my first nickname was 'Private foreign bollocks', and it was a relief when people started calling me that because I knew that it meant I had been accepted," said the 38-year-old British Muslim, whose family originate from Oman.

"It is the sort of thing that is said with good humour among friends and in that context it is something that we can all take it. What counts in the army is that you are good at your job. If you are then you will get a bit of banter but you will also get respect. If you are not any good people will pick on whatever they can, whether that is that you are ginger or Irish or a woman."

(snip)

"I have been called a 'spear chucker' and a black this or that but it didn't worry me in the slightest because it is just a bit of banter that you give and take ... What people should be more concerned about is those people in the army who don't say anything to your face but are seriously racist behind your back. It is when you find yourself getting all the crappy assignments or failing tests that you know you have passed that racism becomes a much more serious problem."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jan/13/military-prince-harry-race-issues

[Number23]

1. ""I have been called a 'spear chucker' and a black this or that but it didn't worry me"

Wow...:wow:

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

2. He's taking it well.

When my dad was in the army (back in the late 50s, early 60s) he called a fellow recruit "boy" out of force of habit. That recruit was African-American. He was not very happy. They wound up becoming good friends after that, though. But my dad learned what things never to say (at least around minorities).

[davidthegnome]

3. What's wrong with calling anyone boy?

Clearly it can be seen as condescending, and in some cases might be intended as such. But if anyone's ego is so fragile as to make a large issue of it, they really need to grow up.

In what way does calling someone "boy" imply a disregard for minorities or racism? That's absurd.

[Libertas1776]

4. ...

In America, the word "boy" has racial connotations regarding black people.
Boy was used by slave owners when addressing their slaves regardless of age. In fact, it was used to degrade full grown men. Imagine some guy calling you boy when your a man.
Even after the end of slavery, the word continued to be used in the Jim Crow era to address black men to make them feel inferior.

Of course, I don't know if the word "boy" has different connotations in Britain, but in America it hurts.

[mac56]

7. I'm stunned.

That is all.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

9. You have got to be kidding

[Lex]

10. Are you KIDDING me?

:wtf:

[LostinVA]

11. OMFG

[conscious evolution]

8. Nabs has a point

Sometimes it is better to be around rascists that wear it on their sleeve then the ones who keep it hidden so they can stab you in the back.
Another point the article made is that,while I don't agree with it,is sometimes a seemingly drogative nickname can signal acceptance into a group. :shrug: A wierd phenomenon,I have,never the less, seem it occur before.I do wonder what a phsychologist or sociaologist would think of it.

[kskiska]

12. Kind of like the Rat Pack treated Sammy Davis, Jr.

and the way Sinatra and Dean Martin called each other "Dago."

[No Elephants]

5. How about Army banter using racist slurs? The two are not mutually

exclusive. This used to pass for good poetry, a paean to the "martyrdom" of the colonist. But, let's not cast stones across the pond.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/Kipling.html

[fasttense]

6. Enlisted personnel do talk trash among themselves.

As long as their fellow enlisted personnel don't mind the sometimes rude and insulting nicknames and don't complain then very little is done. But, and this is a big but, Officers should Not do the same thing. For an officers to pick up on an insulting nickname makes it acceptable and prevents the target of the slur from complaining or taking action. It's as if your boss or teacher has suddenly determined that using offensive comments about you was part of everyone's job description and acceptable.

Some officers, in the mistaken notion that they are all buddies, will use the frequently offensive nicknames but it is a poor officer who does. The officer should set the standard not the lowest common denominator. Prince Harry is a poor officer.

[Smith_3]

13. ....

HARTMAN: If you ladies leave my island, if you survive recruit training ... you will be a weapon, you will be a minister of death, praying for war. But until that day you are pukes! You're the lowest form of life on Earth. You are not even human fucking beings! You are nothing but unorganized grabasstic pieces of amphibian shit! Because I am hard, you will not like me. But the more you hate me, the more you will learn. I am hard, but I am fair! There is no racial bigotry here! I do not look down on niggers, kikes, wops or greasers. Here you are all equally worthless! And my orders are to weed out all non-hackers who do not pack the gear to serve in my beloved Corps! Do you maggots understand that?

RECRUITS: Sir, yes, sir!

:rofl: