• madlian@lemmy.cafe
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    11 hours ago

    Nanook is not inherently a racial slur. It means polar bear or “the master spirit of bear.”

    Their instance is on Eskimo.com, which could be considered insensitive.

    Just don’t watch “Nanook of the North” (1922), although it was some pretty interesting filmmaking for the time, it’s very racist.

    If you feel strongly, the website has a phone number 😅

    • spunow@lemmy.myserv.one
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      9 hours ago

      “Nanook” is a slur for northern indigenous people in the same way “Chan” is a slur for Chinese people. Sure, there might be some members of that demographic with that name, but using the term as a generalization for that demographic is derogatory in intent.

      Using the term “Eskimo” in the instance name is problematic for at least two reasons.

      1. The term itself is considered problematic and derogatory for reasons I don’t have time to go into here, but feel free to research why it’s under fire.

      2. I haven’t checked, but the admins are probably not part of the demographics that the term would refer to, so they’re not “reclaiming a slur” so to speak

      • madlian@lemmy.cafe
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        9 hours ago

        The comparison between “Nanook” and “Chan” is misleading and not linguistically equivalent. “Nanook” originates from Inuit mythology and is not inherently a slur, while “Chan” has been used in explicitly mocking or derogatory ways. It’s important to recognize the context and history behind each term rather than assume they carry the same weight.