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> I had never heard of this before the other day, as I doubt many had. You must be an exception then, because even NBC has joined in on the fear-mongering: So

> I had never heard of this before the other day, as I doubt many had. You must be an exception then, because even NBC has joined in on the fear-mongering: Soon, more than one-third of Americans will live in states where ethnic groups outnumber whites. Such demographic shifts are fueling criticism that the word ‘minority’ is increasingly inaccurate, obsolete or even offensive. - https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna9001157 https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna9001157

codefreeordie 4y ago
> ethnic groups outnumber whites This is interesting phrasing, implying that there are two kinds of people -- people with "ethnic groups" and "whites" which apparently don't have ethnicities?
- cato_the_elder 4y ago
  That's a very common usage: "ethnic: Relating to a population subgroup (within a larger or dominant national or cultural group) with a common national or cultural tradition." (from an online version of the Oxford dictionary: https://web.archive.org/web/20200108002157/https://www.lexico.com/definition/ethnic https://web.archive.org/web/20200108002157/https://www.lexic...)
  - codefreeordie 4y ago
    I'm pretty sure that "Russian" is an ethnic group (and "German" and "Irish" and ...), and yet the "Russian" ethnic group is going to get called "white", so it's weird not to consider whites as having ethnic groups (which any statement that compares the number of "ethnic group" members to the number of "whites" is implicitly doing).
    - cato_the_elder 4y ago
      Right, but my point is that the word has multiple common meanings. Also, to your point, the usage section of the entry encourages using more specific terms: "Ethnic is sometimes used in a euphemistic way to refer to non-white people as a whole, as in a radio station which broadcasts to the ethnic community in Birmingham. Although this usage is quite common, more specific terms such as ‘black’ or ‘Asian’ are preferable."

codefreeordie 4y ago

> ethnic groups outnumber whites This is interesting phrasing, implying that there are two kinds of people -- people with "ethnic groups" and "whites" which apparently don't have ethnicities?

cato_the_elder 4y ago
That's a very common usage: "ethnic: Relating to a population subgroup (within a larger or dominant national or cultural group) with a common national or cultural tradition." (from an online version of the Oxford dictionary: https://web.archive.org/web/20200108002157/https://www.lexico.com/definition/ethnic https://web.archive.org/web/20200108002157/https://www.lexic...)
- codefreeordie 4y ago
  I'm pretty sure that "Russian" is an ethnic group (and "German" and "Irish" and ...), and yet the "Russian" ethnic group is going to get called "white", so it's weird not to consider whites as having ethnic groups (which any statement that compares the number of "ethnic group" members to the number of "whites" is implicitly doing).
  - cato_the_elder 4y ago
    Right, but my point is that the word has multiple common meanings. Also, to your point, the usage section of the entry encourages using more specific terms: "Ethnic is sometimes used in a euphemistic way to refer to non-white people as a whole, as in a radio station which broadcasts to the ethnic community in Birmingham. Although this usage is quite common, more specific terms such as ‘black’ or ‘Asian’ are preferable."