On the use of the word "Hispanic". (Mexican, illegal, death)

[SophieLL]

I discover this wonderful forums 2 months ago and have been reading it a lot. Love the diversity of topics that can be discussed here and the very interesting discussions that this forum have to offer, since i started reading, i ve learned a lot!!
However, im kind of shocked, of the incorrect use of the word "Hispanic" by almost everyone in CD. Specially cause people in this forums seems like very educated people and seem to know a lot about several topics.
At the same time, people is still convinced that "Hispanic" is a race . I ve seen it in millions of topic, people are talking about race, and they start giving examples and the say "black, white, asian, hispanic" what?? And the strangest thing is that everyone assume this is correct and they keep talking about other issues.

Hispanic only has to do with the languaje. If you are from a country that speaks Spanish (say Venezuela, Colombia, México, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, etc) then you are Hispanic. It has NOTHING to do with races. Hispanic do not resemble eachother. You probably be shocked if you come to South America and see how Argentinos look like or how Uruguayos look like cause it probably wont fit with the description of an "hispanic" that you have in your head.
When i lived in USA ten years ago and i said i was from "South America" they were shocked that i was pale. I guess you people think Hispanic all look like a dark-skinned Mexican or something?

Why is this? Why is that people that are very educated and intelligent in so many areas seem to make this obvious mistake? Is that something they teach in school there? it has to do with the census data? Its a cultural thing that is seen on tv or newspaper? Why would someone educated think that Hispanic is a race? The craziest thing is that when they see someone who doesnt fit the imaginary of what and Hispanic is, they are shocked! Like the threads talking about the "white blue eyed mexican" or the shock when they see a white celebrity from south america.

I wonder why this is, that people seem to want to continue being uneducated about this matter.

[LuckyGem]

#1. There is no such thing as race.

Americans speak of Hispanic in that way in order to lump all of you native Spanish speakers into one group is all.

Also this subject has been debated to death around here. Next time use the search feature to resurrect an old thread and not create a new one on the same subject which has already been beaten to death.

[Census 2010] Hispanic responses on race give more exact breakdown

[SophieLL]

i did search "Hispanic" with the search tool and a lot of topics appeared. Most of them were titles that were talking about "Hispanic illegals" or saying hispanic was a race. I did not find one that discussed the use of the word and i did not see the one you posted. Maybe only new topics appear?



What do u mean theres no such thing as a race?

[LuckyGem]

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/genographic

California Newsreel - RACE - THE POWER OF AN ILLUSION

There is zero scientific validity to the concept of race. It is a man-made social construct.

Race has nothing to do with anthropology.

[ergohead]

Herpanic!

[70Ford]

Check this out ch'yall...Japanic! • VideoSift: Online Video *Quality Control

[Fred314X]

Originally Posted by SophieLL

Hispanic only has to do with the languaje. If you are from a country that speaks Spanish (say Venezuela, Colombia, México, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, etc) then you are Hispanic. It has NOTHING to do with races.

You are absolutely right...but you're making this observation as an Argentine. Here in the US, people have a strange habit of using words without actually stopping to think about what they mean. "Hispanic" implies a lot more than just a language group in this country. (If you say that's ridiculous, well, I couldn't disagree with you. But that's how it is!)