Why the term "Ghetto" enrages me.
By Samanthavv
@Samanthavv (1380)
United States
March 12, 2008 12:03am CST
Alright, this came up on another board and it made me furious. Why do so many people say that they came from the "ghetto?" It really makes me mad that people can use the word so lightly. Do they even know where the term "ghetto" originated from?
It origionated from the communities that Hitler's Nazi regime forced the jews into during World War II. The jews were taken from their homes with little to know belongings, sometimes even seperated from their families, taken from their hometowns and sent miles and miles away to live in gated communities. Communities that wer LOCKED and guarded by Nazi soldiers. They were given rations, that eventually became so small that their rations wouldn't even feed a kitten. They DIED there. And if they didn't die there, they were lied to, and they were taken from there, in cattle cars and sent to death camps. They thought they were going home. And then they slaved away performing meaningless labor while they starved to death, while they watched the mass murder of their friends, relatives and families. They watched their government savely KILL all that they held near and dear to their hearts.
It is completely and utterly direspectful to use a term that originated from someone's pain, suffering, and MURDER to describe our lives. Unless we went through what they did... It it's entire gruesome and grotesque intensity, we have NO RIGHT to use it to describe our own selves. You may have grown up in the slums, or the projects, or the wrong side of the tracks, but you NEVER lived in the ghetto. And if you think you did, you just completely defaced the names of millions of innocent people who DIED in those ghettos. Millions of people who were savagely MURDERED in those concentration camps. If you can continue to use the word, knowing that a GENOCIDE happened in the ghettos, the REAL ghettos, then you have no sense of respect and I pity you.
2 people like this
2 responses
@filmbuff (2909)
• United States
12 Mar 08
I know exactly what you mean, especially being of Jewish descent. What I've noticed is that in general the younger generations (not saying that I'm ancient or anything) have very little concept of what happened before they were born or history in general.
It's as if they are consumed with themselves, and anything that happened before they graced us with their presence is of little important to them. But I digress...
To answer your question, it bothers me too...
1 person likes this
@Samanthavv (1380)
• United States
12 Mar 08
I'm not even Jewish. I'm of German/Dutch decent, but it enrages me that people can make light of so much pain and suffering. That they can loosen the meaning of the word by using it so casually and freely. They think they "suffered" in their little make believe "ghetto?" It may have been rough growing up where they did, but it was nowhere near a real ghetto. And I'm not old either, I'm nineteen. I just seem to be on a different wavelegnth than my peers.
2 people like this
@cherryxiaowan (4)
• China
12 Mar 08
I m Chianess and even though i havent experienced the horrible and darkeness time when Japness Army invade into our homeland and slaughtered thousands of innocent Chinese..thats never forgotable
2 people like this
@filmbuff (2909)
• United States
12 Mar 08
You are on another wavelength and a good one at that.
The term 'ghetto' has evolved (as words do) to mean any type of slum, or poor area. "Ghetto," Definetly has a negative connotation whenever it's used.
The thing is, I try not to let it bother me too much, because when most people use the term they are ignorant of the true meaning of the word. I don't mean 'ignorant' to be an insult either, they just don't know where the word came from and think of Ghetto as "poor area," or "the projects."
Ignorance is bliss as they say...
1 person likes this
@Taskr36 (13963)
• United States
12 Mar 08
As Strongheart explained, the word did not originate with those who suffered during WWII. Even so, you can't expect everyone to know the origins of words and phrases. You yourself didn't even know the origin of the word Ghetto.
Every day I hear people say things that may have historically racial connotations. Seriously, how many times have you heard someone say "Grandfathered in". Do you know where that came from? It came from the south where people refused to let black people vote. The Grandfather Clause said that you could vote if your grandfather had voted. Since the African Americans at the time were all either former slaves, or children of slaves, none of them had grandfathers who had ever had the right to vote. It was used to exempt white people from the bogus "literacy" tests that no human could be expected to pass and even when blacks or native americans did pass them, their rights were still refused.
Do I get upset at people for saying someone was Granfathered in? No, of course not. I'm a history buff, I know these things. It's unrealistic to expect the average Joe to know the meaning and history behind these things.
