A "Nigger" Blackout?

Hey, good to see that no one is using Kramergate as an excuse for supercharged political correctness.

Black leaders today challenged the entertainment industry, including rappers, to stop use of the racial slur that Michael Richards uttered in his tirade.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson and others said they will meet with TV networks, film companies and musicians to discuss the "n-word."

"We want to give our ancestors a present," Jackson said at a news conference. "Dignity over degradation."
…
At the press conference, comedian Paul Mooney said he has used the "n-word" numerous times during stand-up performances but will no longer do so after watching Richards' rant.

This actually shouldn't make much of a difference for Mooney - like he did on milquetoast TV appearences, he'll start subbing "negro" for "nigger."

Early morning fun - imagine the velocity at which Chris Rock's eyes spin when he spots this headline.

Comments

[Mr. Nice Guy]

This is brilliant. Once this word becomes completely forbidden, then hundreds of years of racial hostility will finally come to an end. We will finally all "just get along".

And think about it... once we banish this word forever, then other hurtful words will follow. I can finally walk down the street and not be called a "cracker", or "bobo", or the grandaddy of them all "honky"... or the dreaded modified "honky lips".

[ed]

We're halfway there. The concept of "hate speech" has opened the door to outright prohibition of certain words. If it weren't for that nuisance of a First Amendment...

[martin]

Banning the n-word? Hardly. I don't see government in the act, for once.

[Anonymous Niggard]

"We want to give our ancestors a present," Jackson said at a news conference. "Dignity over degradation."

Screw their descendants. They're not getting anything.

[Geoff]

The chances of this kind of deliberate language engineering actually working are less than zero. There's a normal sociological phenomenon of oppressed groups adopting derogatory terms for themselves as badges of honor. In the nineteenth century Eastern European Jews referred to themselves as 'yid', and of course gay men have adopted 'queer' and politically active lesbians use 'dyke'.
What is fascinating is that taboo words dealing with excrement and sexual activity are rapidly losing their taboo status (except for the FCC, of course), but this word has become so toxic that it has taken on the attributes of a magic incantation--people really think it does actual harm when it's uttered. You can't get away with saying 'it's just sound waves, for God's sake!'

[joe]

Uh, yeah, Dave. Not wanting the word "nigger" flying around is pretty much the same as spelling "woman" with a y.

Supercharged political correctness. That's it exactly.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

joe:

Shut up!!! Fifty years ago we'd had you upside down with a zoning map up your a**!!!

You can talk, you can talk, you can talk!!! You're brave now, mfer!!

Throw his ass out, he's a planner. HE'S A PLANNER! HE'S A PLANNER (oh my God)!! HE'S A PLANNER! LOOK, A PLANNER!!!

Oooooooooh! Ooooooooooooooh!

[highnumber]

Jackson had an op-ed piece in today's Sun-Times. He wants to make "nigger" illegal:

Our forefathers created the First Amendment to ensure a robust public debate and to prohibit the government from making laws to squelch political speech, even speech critical of our leaders. But obscenity has never enjoyed that protection, nor should it. Yelling "fire" in a crowded theater does not have protection. Similarly, hate speech -- like that wielded by Richards -- has and should be illegal.

Awfully uppity, eh?

Joke! It's a joke!

[de stijl]

Ol' Dirty Bastard is spinning in his grave.

[sr2]

Nigga puhlease!

(sorry, had to be done!)

[Mr. Nice Guy]

highnumber:

I always had a low opinion of Jesse Jackass, but after reading his little essay I'm convinced that the man is a total parasite.

Nowhere in his piece does he, looking within, examine the crime problem in the black community, and how at least some of it may, just a little, have nothing to do with whitey. No. Everything is white racism, racism, racism.

Of course, without racial animosity, the man wouldn't be making a fortune. So I guess all he's doing is singing for his meal.

[LBJ]

"Nigger" is just "negro" pronounced with southern dialect. Are y'all havin' a war on southern dialect now?

[lunchstealer]

Are y'all havin' a war on southern dialect now?

If we do, are y'all gonna break out the nucular weapons?

[P Brooks]

Didn't Lenny Bruce cover this about fifty years ago?

[Crusader Rabbit]

Paul Rodriguez, bless his heart, has come out against the ban. And he's really funny, too! (Remember that Mexican soul food restaurant, Casa Yo Mama?)

[jf]

Just wondering, has anyone seen this lost episode of Seinfeld?

[vanya]

When did it become a crime to be racist? I'm semi-serious here - is it actually a crime to hold racist beliefs? This whole Michael Richards thing is simply unbelievable - we are supposed to believe that because the man, obviously in a fit of frustration and anger, used some insults towards African-Americans that he is somehow an ideological brother of Strom Thurmond and Adolf Hitler? If you define "racism" simplistically as "holding negative stereotypes about people who are of a different ethnic group" than I'm sure that at least 95% of Americans - Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, and native American - hold "racist" beliefs. But hypocrisy never stopped anyone.

[kevrob]

No, LBJ, you have a lazy Surn tongue. The polite pronounciation in Dixie-ish is "nigra." Only white trash transpose the r sound, the same way they do with library/liberry.

Kevin

[R C Dean]

I'm semi-serious here - is it actually a crime to hold racist beliefs?

Yes, it is. Hate crimes laws lard on additional penalties if you committed a crime with hate on your mind. Additional penalties = additional crime, at least in my mind.

Hostile work environment laws also treat certain disfavored forms of expression as civil rights violations.

[Grand Chalupa]

I sincereley wish that every "black leader" would be gassed (or hung from a tree, if you prefer). If I was a social scientist (God forbid) I would come up with a theory that said that successful people see themselves as individuals with unique talents, feelings and abilities while those who play the victims see themselves as some kind of "group" with a bunch of hateful, race baiting, sleezballs as their "spokespeople".

I saw some hispanic comedian saying how that Kramer wouldn't be invited back until he made amends with the black community. How bout letting black individuals decide if they want to buy tickets to the show or not rather than asking Al Sharpton when its ok?

The way black Americans are treated as some primitive tribe with the tribal cheifs coming out and demanding that the offender be sacrificed to the Gods of political correctness and masochistically degrad himself for their enjoyment is the real story here.

I don't think this country is grown up enough to hear that.

[TrickyVic]

I heard an interesting comment on WCBS radio. They played a clip from a Chris Rock special, bleeping out the word nigger. It was word, word, word, bleep, word, bleep, word, word bleep, word, word, bleep, word, bleep.

The person commenting suggested that Richards apologize for using the n-word on a Chris Rock special.

[ed]

The way black Americans are treated as some primitive tribe with the tribal chiefs coming out and demanding that the offender be sacrificed to the Gods of political correctness and masochistically degrad himself for their enjoyment is the real story here. I don't think this country is grown up enough to hear that.

Chalupa takes the prize. I would add that many members of the tribe are there out of choice and do indeed consider themselves black first and individuals second.

[Drew W]

"It took me five years to stop saying 'nigra' and learn to say 'nee-gro.' Then they went and changed it to 'black.' "

--some standup comic I saw nearly 40 years ago, doing an LBJ impression

[Evan!]

Oh, this is just great! So what, pray tell, is the Niggar family going to do now? Just change their name?

[mainstreamman]

From Edge.org

"We're all racists, unconsciously
By Michael Shermer

... The insidiousness of racism is because of the fact that it arises out of the deep recesses of our unconscious. We may be unaware of it, yet it lurks there.

How do we know this? One indication is the Implicit Association Test, developed by Harvard scientists, which asks subjects to pair words and concepts. The more closely associated the words and concepts are, the quicker the response to them will be in the key-pressing sorting task (try it yourself at https://implicit.harvard.
edu/implicit/). ... "

From the IAT:

Race ('Black - White' IAT). This IAT requires the ability to distinguish faces of European and African origin. It indicates that most Americans have an automatic preference for white over black.

[Larry A]

The problem with banning the N-word, of course, is the unintended consequence. The harder they try to censor it, the more racially charged it becomes. Once it's illegal to say it in public the really vile racists will have an "instant riot" tool they can use to cut off dialogue.

OTOH if RJJ et al said, "(F-word) it. From now on that's what we're going to call ourselves." then racists would instantly have to stop using the term.

[Q. Tarantino]

Shit!! Now how in the hell am I gonna rewrite this scene to sound funny?

[Jules, Vincent and Jimmie are drinking coffee in Jimmie's kitchen]
Jules: Mmmm! Goddamn, Jimmie! This is some serious gourmet shit! Usually, me and Vince would be happy with some freeze-dried Taster's Choice, but he springs this serious GOURMET shit on us! What flavor is this?
Jimmie: Knock it off, Jules.
Jules: [pause] What?
Jimmie: I don't need you to tell me how fucking good my coffee is, okay? I'm the one who buys it. I know how good it is. When Bonnie goes shopping she buys SHIT. Me, I buy the gourmet expensive stuff because when I drink it I want to taste it. But you know what's on my mind right now? It AIN'T the coffee in my kitchen, it's the dead nigger in my garage.
Jules: Oh, Jimmie, don't even worry about that...
Jimmie: No, let me ask you a question. When you came pulling in here, did you see a sign out in front of my house that said Dead Nigger Storage?
Jules: Jimmie, you know I ain't seen no...
Jimmie: Did you see a sign out in front of my house that said Dead Nigger Storage?
Jules: [pause] No. I didn't.
Jimmie: You know WHY you didn't see that sign?
Jules: Why?
Jimmie: 'Cause it ain't there, 'cause storing dead niggers ain't my fucking business, that's why!

[J.R.]

The Lenny Bruce schtick someone mentioned above (couldn't find a video with the whole bit):

Are there any niggers here tonight? Could you turn on the house lights, please, and could the waiters and waitresses just stop serving, just for a second? And turn off this spot. Now what did he say? "Are there any niggers here tonight?" I know there's one nigger, because I see him back there working. Let's see, there's two niggers. And between those two niggers sits a kike. And there's another kike- that's two kikes and three niggers. And there's a spic. Right? Hmm? There's another spic. Ooh, there's a wop; there's a polack; and, oh, a couple of greaseballs. And there's three lace-curtain Irish micks. And there's one, hip, thick, hunky, funky, boogie. Boogie boogie. Mm-hmm. I got three kikes here, do I hear five kikes? I got five kikes, do I hear six spics, I got six spics, do I hear seven niggers? I got seven niggers. Sold American. I pass with seven niggers, six spics, five micks, four kikes, three guineas, and one wop. Well, I was just trying to make a point, and that is that it's the suppression of the word that gives it the power, the violence, the viciousness. Dig: if President Kennedy would just go on television, and say, "I would like to introduce you to all the niggers in my cabinet," and if he'd just say "nigger nigger nigger nigger nigger" to every nigger he saw, "boogie boogie boogie boogie boogie," "nigger nigger nigger nigger nigger" 'til nigger didn't mean anything anymore, then you could never make some six-year-old black kid cry because somebody called him a nigger at school.

[J sub D]

... The insidiousness of racism is because of the fact that it arises out of the deep recesses of our unconscious. We may be unaware of it, yet it lurks there.

The following is a hypothesis. Racism/tribalism is genetically encoded into the human genome. It had, in the past, a survival or reproductive advantage. Note I said hypothesis, not theory. Please think before you respond. Thank you.

[Evan!]

JR,

the only problem with that is that once "nigger" was watered down enough to no longer be offensive, some other word would take its place. Human nature abhors a vacuum.

[Johncjackson]

Why doesn't anyone just take the reasonable approach and say this word IS considered free Speech, but it would be nice not to use it.

[Isaac Bartram]

Because, Johncjackson, that would be too sensible. And sensible is not the current fashion.

I learned very early that that was not a word that decent people use. In our house I could have said "fuck" at the dinner table and gotten into less trouble.

Private conventions and taboos work much better at maintaining civility than the heavy hand of the law.

[J sub D]

Private conventions and taboos work much better at maintaining civility than the heavy hand of the law.

But if you propose/pass a dumbass law you get to display your moral superiority, just like the idiots who pray in public.

[Mark in Minneapolis]

On live on the Northside in a black neighborhood. And the biggest racists by far are black folk. It's palpable. The young males -- when not shooting each other -- yell raqcial epithats at me at every opportunity. And what the Racial Industrial Complex doesn't tell you is that they learned that hate from their elders. You see a little kid that's only three and give him a smile -- he'll smile back. You give the same smile to kid that's eight -- you get a ghetto glare.

I have seen adult men tell little children, "get outta the way, nigger!". Little children learning to self-hate. And it's all my fault.

[Mark in Minneapolis]

BTW: I spell really shitty.

[highnumber]

The young males -- when not shooting each other -- yell raqcial epithats at me at every opportunity.

Every opportunity? Is that when they aren't stuffing their faces with watermelon?

You see a little kid that's only three and give him a smile -- he'll smile back. You give the same smile to kid that's eight -- you get a ghetto glare.

By eight the child has learned stranger danger.
What are you up to with these kids?

[highnumber]

Co-worker of mine (he's a Reason subscriber) asked if Jackson was also in favor of making the word "hymietown" illegal.

[brian423]

Would Jackson call Salt Lake City Hymentown?

[joe]

Mr. Niceguy,

"Fifty years ago we'd had you upside down with a zoning map up your a**!!!"

Or you could just come by around 11:00 on a Saturday night.

[joe]

Wait a minute, I just thought that, right?

[Grand Chalupa]

On live on the Northside in a black neighborhood. And the biggest racists by far are black folk. It's palpable. The young males -- when not shooting each other -- yell raqcial epithats at me at every opportunity. And what the Racial Industrial Complex doesn't tell you is that they learned that hate from their elders. You see a little kid that's only three and give him a smile -- he'll smile back. You give the same smile to kid that's eight -- you get a ghetto glare.

I have seen adult men tell little children, "get outta the way, nigger!". Little children learning to self-hate. And it's all my fault.

But look at the root causes!

And by root causes, I mean stuff white people do/did today/sometime in history.

[joe]

It's true that there is an inherent tribalism in the human psyche - the Sharks the Jets - but it is a mistake to attribute racism, as it has existed in this country since before its founding, entirely to that.

There is something quantitatively different between relations between white and black people and between, say, Irish and Italian kids in Boston's neighborhoods in the early 20th century. There is a history of power relations, institutionalized through the law and a remarkably comprehensive and detailed ideology of race, as well as an astounding amount of institutionalized, socially-endoresed violence, that is present (or that could be present) in relations between white and black people that simply is not, and cannot, be there between other ethnic groups.

Dago. Greaseball. Mick. Wop. None of these words comes remotely close to the power of "nigger."

Yes, that power is "all in our heads," but so is the value of currency, and nobody is going to claim that the value of the American dollar isn't real. There are reasons why the power of the word "nigger" is in our heads; if you want to undo that power, you actually have to do something about those reasons. Just playing dumb, pretending not to know things because you'd rather they not be true, isn't going to change anything, except maybe to make you more easily manipulated by genuine racists.

[H. Lewis Smith]

BOOK CRITICAL OF AFRICAN AMERICANS WHO USE THE N-WORD

Los Angeles, CA., - Author H. Lewis Smith has written a thought provoking, culturally divided book that will not only spark heated conversation, but can also bring about real change. The N-word is often used in the African American community amongst each other and is generally not a problem when spoken by another African American. However, once the word is used by a Caucasian person, it brings on other effects. The question is "who can use the word and why?" Smith believes it is a word that should be BURIED!!!!

The book is written in a manner that all can understand. The points are well-taken and the wording is easy to follow. There are quotes from great people in our history including Martin Luther King, Jr., Harriet Tubman, James Baldwin and many, many others. Smith has mixed history with honesty, love with life, education with effects. This is a great book for educators, parents, managers, professionals, newsmen, and anyone else wanting an in-depth look at the N-word, the effects and the solutions. A MUST READ!!!!

To learn more about Bury that Sucka, please visit http://www.burythatsucka.com

[highnumber]

See, nigga first was used back in the Deep South
Fallin out between the dome of the white man's mouth
It means that we will never grow, you know the word dummy
Other niggas in the community think it's crummy
But I don't, neither does the youth cause we
em-brace adversity it goes right with the race
And being that we use it as a term of endearment
Niggas start to bug to the dome is where the fear went
Now the little shorties say it all of the time
And a whole bunch of niggas throw the word in they rhyme
Yo I start to flinch, as I try not to say it
But my lips is like the oowop as I start to spray it
My lips is like a oowop as I start to spray it

[highnumber]

A Tribe Called Quest gets credit, by the way. "Sucka Nigga"

[Stevo Darkly]

From Edge.org

"We're all racists, unconsciously
By Michael Shermer

... The insidiousness of racism is because of the fact that it arises out of the deep recesses of our unconscious. We may be unaware of it, yet it lurks there.

How do we know this? One indication is the Implicit Association Test, developed by Harvard scientists, which asks subjects to pair words and concepts. The more closely associated the words and concepts are, the quicker the response to them will be in the key-pressing sorting task (try it yourself at https://implicit.harvard.
edu/implicit/). ... "

I have taken this test online a few times, and I am inclined to believe it is a crock of shit. They get you habituated to spatially associate "black" and "white" with left or right, and then associate "good" with the same direction as "white," and "bad" with the same direction as "black." After a couple rounds of this, they suddenly switch the pattern on you, and your reaction is supposed to show how you "really" feel about race.

The first time I took the test, it indicated that I had a bias in favor of European Americans and against African Americans. Surprise. Then, after learning how the test worked, I took it again. Amazingly, not only was I able to completely eradicate my hidden bias against African Americans in the space of a few minutes, but the 2nd time I took it, as well as when I retook it just now, it indicates I actually have a slight bias in favor of African Americans and against European Americans.

Unfortunately for my hip, multicultural, black-man-trapped-in-a-white-man's-body, so-free-of-racial-prejudice-I-actually-hate-whitey-a-little-bit-now bad self-image, I am familiar enough with my nonhidden flaws to fear this result may not be accurate.

[ar-24]

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn ilove it nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn boy i feel better nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

[ar-24]

oh by the way I am no more a racist then Ms.Obama or her Reverend