Calling food 'exotic' is xenophobic and reinforces racism

[Black Orchid]

A food critic wants people to stop using the word “exotic” to describe foods because it “reinforces xenophobia and racism.”

In a perspective piece published on Wednesday, Washington Post food critic G. Daniela Galarza argued that the word connotes non-European origins and diminishes other cultures.

“The first problem with the word is that, probably within the past two decades, it has lost its essential meaning,” she wrote. "The second, more crucial problem is that its use, particularly as applied to food, indirectly lengthens the metaphysical distance between one group of humans and another, and, in so doing, reinforces xenophobia and racism."

The English language should adapt more quickly to ostracize words, such as “exotic,” “ethnic,” and “foreign,” to create a more inclusive society, she argued.

“The problem is that it’s a definition that changes based on the user’s perspective,” Galarza said.

The piece cited Chandra D. L. Waring, a professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, who similarly argued that the word “exotic” is often used by white people and simply meant nonwhite.

“I have never heard the word exotic used in reference to something that is white,” Waring said, according to the article. “You know that exotic means ‘other’ or ‘different’ from a dominant-white perspective because no one ever says, ‘I’m going to go on an exotic vacation. I’m going to Lowell, Mass.’ No one ever says, ‘Let’s go to that exotic new restaurant. Let’s go to McDonald’s.’”

Serena J. Rivera, an assistant professor of Portuguese and Spanish at the University of Pittsburgh, agreed, saying that the word was “completely tied to the history of colonialism and slavery.”

“If you are exotic, if you’re automatically an ‘other,’ you’re not one of us. But for someone to make such a judgment, they would need to be in a position of power,” Rivera continued.

Galarza argued that the use of the word usually means non-European, “conjures” images of explorers or hunters, and places the "onus" on nonwhite countries to defend their cuisines.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/washing ... 00781.html

More incoherent ramblings from the loony left always trying to cause division where none should be. Exotic has always been a positive and pretty word but nahh let's cancel it because it is now seen as wacist by an intolerant and loony minority.

If you are offended by the word 'exotic' and see racism and xenophobia in it there is seriously something wrong with you ... not the word. And these idiots are teaching our kids.

We have too many people looking for benign things to be outraged about just to promote more divisiveness and the media facilitates it.

[Black Orchid]

Yet another ridiculous thought bubble from the leftist New York Times. Having a green lawn is also wacist.

Once again, a traditional symbol has become a target of those who attack private property rights and the American way of life. In this case, the symbol is the lawn – those closely-cropped grassy areas that surround most single-family homes. The basis for the attack is very typically environmentalism and racism.

The messenger is an article in The New York Times. Its title is unassuming enough – “The Great American Lawn: How the Dream was Manufactured.” The vehicle is an embedded seven-minute film, produced by David Botti.

The film’s first minute summarizes the environmental concerns:

More water is used to irrigate grass than any other plant in the country.
Americans use millions of pounds of pesticides to keep grass weed- and bug-free.
Lawnmowers pollute the air and cause climate change.
Lawns are environmentally useless.
Later, Mr. Botti makes the link to racism. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson planted large lawns at their estates. These lawns were planted and maintained through the back-breaking labor of enslaved people.

The film furthers the racist narrative by asserting that mechanization made lawns available for the “privileged masses” about the year 1870 with manual lawnmowers. Then it fast-forwards to returning G.I.’s from World War II who settled in the suburbs with green lawns – unless they were black. The narrator condemns “a symbol of an American dream that is recognized by most, but only attainable to some.”

More at the link ... https://www.returntoorder.org/2019/08/w ... cal-crime/

Can these people get anymore ridiculous?

[Bobby]

The politically correct are becoming more silly by the day.