There is NOTHING humane about them, from their theology to their punishments ...

Grossly inhumane ...

It is describing behavior, not an unchangeable carachteristic of people. I'm not sure if we are suddenly concerned about the feelings of the people of Barbary.

Savage would also be an accurate description of these animals.

But there are some that would like to shut us up by calling us racists for pointing out how barbaric and savage the members of ISIS are.

It's hard to lose the "bad people are bad" argument. What's the counterargument? That people that do bad things aren't all bad people? I guess that can be true for some crimes, but mass slaugher of innocents isn't one of them.

Have you referred to that as barbaric?

The things we did in the Middle East in the last 15 years make me ashamed to be an American.

"Barbarian" is a term so historically removed from its initial target as to be rendered fairly inert. I, for instance, am directly descended from a people the ancient Romans described as a barbarians. But we've had 1,800 years to deal with Rome's stigma; a few of which were spent sacking Rome, but I digress...

The simple fact is the term "Barbarian" doesn't really conjure specific racial imagery. It carries no connotations of non-white peoples or non-western culture. Quite the contrary, it is descriptive of white peoples, and certain European cultures more specifically, particularly those of Celtic and Germanic origin. In effect, a white man calling ISIS "barbaric" is referencing and criticizing his own ancestry. Go figure.

"Savage", though, is another story. This word was routinely deployed against Indigenous peoples by colonial powers, and still carries with it particularly racial overtones.

[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=teal]The context implies a person who is uncivilized or warlike.

Further, historically the term barbarian has been used to describe the people of northern europe such as the vandals, angel, saxons, and vikings.

The movie Conan the barbarian, for example, stars a big white guy as the barbarian.

Going back to its greek or roman origins it simply meant anyone who was not Greek or Roman. [/font]

A 90's cartoon.

What is the problem? That I would offend them?

I think that it is an apt description. I don't think that "barbarian" is racist in the least. Nor is "brutes" or "savages" or "uncivilized". But I still consider them terrorists, because I am sure that they are doing what they are doing to shock, disgust and terrorize us.

Or s/he wouldn't be hanging around and taking a shit in the A&A sandbox.

about why it is racist, so I am not worried about my use of the word. I, for one, will continue to see the ISIS terrorists as barbaric. And I think that it about the kindest thing that I can say about them. If we get any more worried about the words we can and cannot use, we will have to just use warm and fuzzy terms, like kittens and puppies.

Neither is "Muslim"...since that is not a race.

If people were saying "all brown people are barbarians", it would be racist, obviously. But what is being said is rather , "these people who are murderous assholes are barbarians"


I don't care if the people committing atrocities are brown, white, green or silver. I will call them barbarians by their acts, not their colour or ethnicity.

It seems so obvious to me that I have to wonder if the person making the "racism" claims is deliberately being obtuse or just a grade-A moron.

It's possible in this instance that the poster we speak of is Arabic by descent, but they claim to be atheist, not muslim. Yet they take offence on behalf of Muslims.

Another person once took offence at a reference to a worm on a hook (which was clearly a reference to bait in the context of the conversation) as homophobic on behalf of another poster.

A male poster took offence to the term "hissy fit" as misogynistic on behalf of a woman. (everyone I know I'M thought it was from hissing cats, but I have not researched the etymology of the phrase, personally)

I know of white girls that got offended on behalf of black girls at a music video, because apparently only black girls are allowed to celebrate big beautiful bodies.

The perpetually offended will not be satisfied. Ever. Because they will always find something new to twist into something hateful so they can tilt against a new windmill of outrage.

This perhaps may be incoherent. I've had a glass or two of wine.

It was a very cogent summary of The Perpetually Offended on Behalf of Others. That always baffles me and I'm running into it more and more.

In my personal worthless opinion, that's a form of "-ism" itself. I'm just not smart enough to come up with a snappy term for it.

It denies people agency, I guess is one way to say it. If I said something in here offensive to women, gays or minorities, I'm pretty sure they'd let me know about it. I would WANT them to let me know.

What I don't want, or need, is some goddam self-appointed mouthpiece jumping into the conversation. And keyboard-screaming that I'm a misogynist shitlord or something.

Men claiming to speak for women always reminds me of the Xian Fundamentalists. I know that's a Bad Thought, but there it is.

bar·bar·ic bärˈberik/
adjective adjective: barbaric
1. savagely cruel; exceedingly brutal.
"he had carried out barbaric acts in the name of war"

How is it racist to say that these acts are savagely cruel and exceedingly brutal?

Because they happen to be Islamic?

Fuck that, man. That's just stretching at this point. ANYONE who claims that you are racist because you say that they are barbaric should be banned from the site. What the fuck do they want you to call it? An English Garden Party? "Bad"? "Rude"? What adjective would THEY use to describe these heinous acts?

Whatever... ignore them, EOrC.

I just hate willfully ignorant trolling haters in A&A. If I still smoked pot I'd be a stoned motherfucker right now...

And our latest neighborhood cop will probably barge in to complain about this thread any minute now. Also to give us another superfluous lesson in Racism 101.

Speaking of which...here's an interesting article on racism in Egypt from Al-Ahram in Cairo, 2002. Let's see somebody plot this on their Axes Of Privilege - black Americans visiting Egypt are treated very well, because they are assumed to be rich. While black African visitors are treated like crap, because they're suspected to be poor:

But I'm sure he'll be along to educate us here real soon.

Just don't bring out a dictionary!

How about Muslim Barbarians? Is that off the mark ? I mean it does separate them from Non-Muslim Barbarians...and Non-barbarian Muslims.

"Barbarian" doesn't imply race, it implies behavior.

If the shoe fits...