Should coon Island be renamed

Mrcaramelchoc

https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/anger-brewing-with-aussie-locals-over-calls-for-coon-island-name-change/7c93f7a4-6d1f-4edb-9a57-54fb28a53fa2

I'm just wondering if after hours thinks it should be renamed. I think it s absolutely pc gone mad.
Coon island forever!

KungPao

Mrcaramelchoc wrote: »

https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/anger-brewing-with-aussie-locals-over-calls-for-coon-island-name-change/7c93f7a4-6d1f-4edb-9a57-54fb28a53fa2

I'm just wondering if after hours thinks it should be renamed. I think it s absolutely pc gone mad.
Coon island forever!

It should be called African American Island, at the very least. Have some respect.

Bobblehats

I actually thought it was infested with raccoons. Was unaware of this term

DerekC16

The only people I see use the word coon these days are blacks, using it to describe other blacks.

Heres one from today on Irish twitter

https://twitter.com/tobeebayb/status/1370029231292358667?s=20

jam_mac_jam

That article is hilarious.

Indigenous activist Stephen Hagen, who led the push for Coon cheese to change its name, has become an ally in Mr Baker's debate.

Coon cheese?

Capt'n Midnight

KungPao wrote: »

It should be called African American Island, at the very least. Have some respect.

The name comes from
Herbert Heaney was a white man who worked in coal mines and came out with coal dust on his face and was nicknamed the ‘raccoon’;


It needs to be renamed. Because it's NOT an island.

Bobblehats

No ‘coon is an island.

GetWithIt

And yet Muff is perfectly ok.

Should the Spanish and other Spanish-speaking countries change their word for black "negra and negro" just because they sound racist to those who don't speak Spanish?

I don't think we should be erasing our history. Instead, we should be educating people about the past, so that we don't end up repeating the same mistakes in the future.

Dublinandy3

DerekC16 wrote: »

The only people I see use the word coon these days are blacks, using it to describe other blacks.

Heres one from today on Irish twitter

https://twitter.com/tobeebayb/status/1370029231292358667?s=20

I’m not defending anyone or saying anything isn’t as bad as it seems but if you go looking at up to 7 year old tweets, maybe older, to try to find something offensive and then you find it, can you be offended at the content and also happy you found what you’re looking for and that’s it’s getting you the social media attention that you want?

I’m not sure it is possible but surely you wouldn’t have a negative emotion fo finding what you have been looking for?

KungPao

Deleted User wrote: »

Should the Spanish and other Spanish-speaking countries change their word for black "negra and negro" just because they sound racist to those who don't speak Spanish?

I don't think we should be erasing our history. Instead, we should be educating people about the past, so that we don't end up repeating the same mistakes in the future.

It's on the list I'm sure, especially in the US and A. Sure, already South Americans can't say Negrito (not offensive) in Europe without being called white supremacists, like worse than Herr Hitler himself.

By the by, in Brazil saying Preto (literally black) is considered offensive to blacks. But Negro (also meaning black, of course) is fine.

Rodin

Does it have a harbour ?

RobertKK

There is a Coon in Kilkenny.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/ie/coon/1080331/weather-forecast/1080331

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

Should the Spanish and other Spanish-speaking countries change their word for black "negra and negro" just because they sound racist to those who don't speak Spanish?

I don't think we should be erasing our history. Instead, we should be educating people about the past, so that we don't end up repeating the same mistakes in the future.

I suppose the thing is that words have different contexts on different cultures. In parts of England, the word knacker refers to a testicle, and anyway, it comes from the word hnagger in Norse — meaning that part of a horse's saddle which you might bang your bollocks off. In ireland, it is a slur.

Almost nobody is asking for a ban on any word, but it should be accepted that certain words, in different contexts, can be truly hurtful and inappropriate. I dont see why that should be hard to grasp, do you, Paddy?

KungPao

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

I suppose the thing is that words have different contexts on different cultures. In parts of England, the word knacker refers to a testicle, and anyway, it comes from the word hnagger in Norse — meaning that part of a horse's saddle which you might bang your bollocks off. In ireland, it is a slur.

Almost nobody is asking for a ban on any word, but it should be accepted that certain words, in different contexts, can be truly hurtful and inappropriate. I dont see why that should be hard to grasp, do you, Paddy?

Paragraph 2, maybe I'm drunk, and I am, but are you referring to coon or negro (in Romance languages)? Whats the "Paddy" all about?

KungPao

KungPao wrote: »

Paragraph 2, maybe I'm drunk, and I am, but are you referring to coon or negro (in Romance languages)? Whats the "Paddy" all about?

I'm saying it's pointless to defend words, widely deemed to be objectionable, by resorting to their historical roots. Paddy, and even "knacker" aren't themselves offensive words when used in certain contexts. But when someone is saying such a word offensively, well you know it when you see it, don't you?

Bobblehats

Haha we’ll be goon island at this rate

jdon72

Mrcaramelchoc wrote: »

https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/anger-brewing-with-aussie-locals-over-calls-for-coon-island-name-change/7c93f7a4-6d1f-4edb-9a57-54fb28a53fa2

I'm just wondering if after hours thinks it should be renamed. I think it s absolutely pc gone mad.
Coon island forever!

Definitely should be changed - the island is called a racial slur after a man who did black face on it

A Tyrant Named Miltiades!

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

I'm saying it's pointless to defend words, widely deemed to be objectionable, by resorting to their historical roots. Paddy, and even "knacker" aren't themselves offensive words when used in certain contexts. But when someone is saying such a word offensively, well you know it when you see it, don't you?

And paddy was talking about negro in Spanish. Where it isn’t offensive. Means black.

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote: »

And paddy was talking about negro in Spanish. Where it isn’t offensive. Means black.

Yeah, I know what it means, Cervantes. That was part of the point; it's received differently in different circumstances, and that's where common sense, or decency, kicks in.

A Tyrant Named Miltiades!

A Tyrant Named Miltiades! wrote: »

Yeah, I know what it means, Cervantes. That was part of the point; it's received differently in different circumstances, and that's where common sense, or decency, kicks in.

You said when used offensively. Which isn’t the same as the society seeing it as offensive. Anglo society might hear the Spanish for black as offensive, but the Spanish speaker is just saying black.

This is in many ways the opposite of multi culturalism.

Deleted User

Is it possible for changes to be suggested without it being "PC GONE MAD!"?

Deleted User wrote: »

Should the Spanish and other Spanish-speaking countries change their word for black "negra and negro" just because they sound racist to those who don't speak Spanish?

I don't think we should be erasing our history. Instead, we should be educating people about the past, so that we don't end up repeating the same mistakes in the future.

Not even remotely comparable.

Yes I agree. Since the naming here was always offensive then changing isn’t crazy.

Badly Drunk Boy

jdon72 wrote: »

Definitely should be changed - the island is called a racial slur after a man who did black face on it

He didn't 'do' black-face. His face was black due to his working conditions. The people who gave him the name meant it racially alright, but the place was really named after the man (who, fair enough, was named after a racial slur). And does it matter that there was no actual black person involved in this story?

I know it's not the same but there's an small area of my town called Chinatown. That's not a racial slur, obviously, but it also didn't get its name from any Chinese people being there. There was English soldier who decided to stay on here after the forming of the Free State, who used his Cockney rhyming slang in everyday speech, calling people 'me old China' (China plate->mate) so the lane he lived on became Chinatown.

biko

Rename it PC Island.

Quantum Baloney

My girlfriend used to tell me that if I was a creature I would be a coon

Edgware

GetWithIt wrote: »

And yet Muff is perfectly ok.

Of course. Muff from the Irish word Magh.
Its a nice spot. They even have a diving club there.

Quantum Baloney

Edgware wrote: »

Of course. Muff from the Irish word Magh.
Its a nice spot. They even have a diving club there.

and a badminton court

Edgware

Quantum Baloney wrote: »

and a badminton court

Ooooh Matron!