As for the allusion to imperialism, it seemed like a bit of a sweeping statement to make, the one about people being 'told' that they 'should' be offended and therefore they are. It is as far as I know, quite a difficult task to brainwash a mass of people to believe in something like that. Especially, in the current omnipotent culture of globalisation, wherein people despite different ethnic backgrounds want to blend imperceptibly, acutely aware, that it is in the blending, that belonging, imaginary or otherwise, can blossom. When such is the urge, it is extremely difficult to sustain a feeling of being offended, unless the stimulus is offensive in the first place.
I don't think it requires anything approaching brainwashing, per se. "Brainwashing" is a bit of a broad term, in any case, but the transference of opinions can happen by many means. However, close and continual contact over a long period of time can make silly ideas seem reasonable. Nor do I think that choosing to be offended is the only thing that happens. Rather, I think it is the case for a great many who have been schooled and coached in a particular way. For example, most of the asians I know majored in engineering and the hard sciences. None (of this number) has any problem with being refered to as an oriental. Not one. The only one I personally knew who *was* offended by it was a humanities major who had taken some kind of class at Berkeley wherein he learned the evilness of it all. The vast majority of the asians I know aren't even aware they're supposed to offended at it - and one of them is extremely pissed off that a other asians get to determine that he's an asian instead of an oriental. This brings up another point, as I mentioned previously, of some vocal minority getting to decide what everyone else gets called. It also brings up the point that innumerable times members of group X have to continually correct their usage of the term Y ..."Y, er, I mean Y-prime." It seems pretty clear that offense in these cases is contrived - when the offendee has to keep reminding himself that he's supposed to be offended.
And again there are the cases where the language is just plain stupid - as in "people of color." Others are allowed to use this term to their heart's content. (Some people actually *do* have the good manners not to go around correcting others.) That's not to say that I should be compelled to use a term which I myself find repugnant.
Surely, most people would agree that the infamous N-word is impolite at best, though I find the use of the "N-word" instead of just saying the word, while stupid, is just one of the cases where I'll accept the herd's view over good sense (Not everything's worth arguing about - with a proviso - those blacks who use it frequently in front of whites should not be surprised when those same whites use the term.) Same for words like Pickaninny, and many other racial epithets.
This view has nothing whatever to do with imperialism. And there is not just a single impulse to blend in. There are conflicting impulses to blend in AND ALSO to stand apart as an individual and as a member of a subgroup - particularly when one senses distinct advantage in that membership (moral superiority, etc).
k
