Patricia Rice's article "Linguistic Profiling" is the most interesting piece i have read in this course so far, because I find everything that was said to be very true. No one can honestly say that they do not judge the person that picks up the phone for the very first time not knowing who they are. I honestly do sometimes change up my diction once I hear the ethnicity, because I feel like they would accept me more and I feel as if I would be able to communicate with them better. Though this does show a little prejudice towards non-Caucasian people, but mostly everyone does it which shows that there is still a problem with out social world.
I can connect closely with this article because I have two parents with thick accents who are judged at first. They do not only get judged through phone calls but in everyday life, especially my mom. At cashier lines, people always act a little different and ask me what she is saying with a weird face. Even when we have gotten stopped by police officers, they have taken a different tone with her just cause of her accent. I believe that the prejudice acts that occur daily are absurd. I am biased just because of my family and the discrimination they have had towards them while I was present. Considering that I can talk English with no accent gives me an upper edge on reality. I can honestly say that Baugh's test for linguistic profiling is true, because my mother and I once tested out this certain situation before. When she called, people seemed to be very short with her and abrupt. However, when I called they seemed to respond to me in a better manner that rather upset me, because it was showing racist acts toward my parents.
I absolutely am in complete agreement with Baugh’s theory about linguistic profiling. It is a problem that needs to be resolved soon enough, because by now we should be able to communicate with each other no matter what race without any discrimination.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
This is a great blog and made it very interesting to read especially because you have hands-on experience with it. I agree with how relevant linguistic profiling is in our society today and also agree with Patricia Rice's article. It's definitely a problem with our society and how we are conditioned to view certain people. The sad thing about it is that I often would like to think it will just go away but just like racism, linguistic profiling can go under the dirt but I doubt it will ever truely go away.
It is very frustrating communicating with someone who's accent is either extremely heavy and different from yours. I admit that when I call my phone company I sometimes call until I can get an operator I understand. This could be wrong I would assume, but I have a better piece of mind when I know that I am communicating effectively when I am talking to someone that can affect my bill that I understand. This is only because I was a victim of miscommunication twice and my bill was over 40 dollars too high because the operator asked if I wanted to add something and though I clearly said no thank you, they didn't get that. I don't think I am being racist for I could care less what race is on the phone....as long as we understand each other. I had a really close Indian friend and when we first met I couldn't understand her but after prolonged time with her, I could. If the accent is something I can understand then fine, but when you are calling the phone company to get your bill straight, you don’t have time to break language barriers. So when people are rude to your mom, that is completely acceptable, but if they simply ask you what she’s saying or rather would talk to you, it’s not. I do think that the way they look at your parents is wrong and to change the tone of voice because of their accent is unacceptable, I’m just saying I understand if the person you and your parents are communicating with would rather talk to you...that doesn't excuse rudeness though.
Linguistic profiling is a huge problem in America that is just one more attempt at racism. My question is though how do we stop it? I don't know. It is not fair to say that everyone must speak the same way, but at the same time if they don't they will fall behind. It seems that this is just another way that racism is very apparent in our society
Post a Comment