Well stated, Carl.
Bonnie
----
On Sat, 10 Jun 2017 08:17:33 -0700, Carl Jarvis wrote:
Back in the "really olden days" when Alley Oop crawled out of his
cave, looked at his mate and grunted, "Gunk", she had no idea that he
was calling her a lazy old fat ass female. But then we invented
Words. Bad enough that God created the Heavens and the Earth, but why
did He go forth and invent Language? Once we had Language we took it
and ran. In order to keep others from knowing just what we were
talking about, we made up new words and called our secret code,
French, or German, or Pig Latin. And as we became more and more
"Civilized", we began to react to words as if they were the underlying
cause of all our troubles.
Hey! Has anyone heard the word, Attitudes? So we no longer can say,
"Nigger" out of fear that it will offend someone. But we see no
problem in replacing that, and other derogatory words with, "Black".
Frankly, I have met just as many Black folks as I've met "White"
folks. And even as blah as that is, the real issue is not the color
of a person's skin. If we keep going down that road, we'll never deal
with our prejudices. Saying the "N Word" is the most stupid example
of avoidance that we could devise. When I was a boy, "Negro" was used
freely by both People of Light complexion and People of darker
complexion. Out of respect, we were taught never to say, "Nigger",
because it was most commonly used by hateful, angry "Whites" toward
Negroes. Living in the South End of Seattle, among a mostly Negro
population, by that time referred to as, "Blacks", I never made the
mistake of thinking that just because Blacks used the word among
themselves, that it was okay for me to join in. But to think that
instead I can refer to the "N Word" to show...to show what? It's pure
silliness. I suppose we could begin talking in Letters, replacing
negative words with their first letter. The "U Word" for Ugly. The
"I Word" for Idiot. The "BFA Word" for Big Fat Ass.
And even worse is this attempt to "sanitize" our history. Can't we
admit that we humans are...well, Human? I remember a big push to take
one of the truly great novels off the shelves. When Mark Twain wrote
Huckleberry Finn, he gave us a lasting and vivid word picture of
America as it was in the 1800's, along the Mississippi. Twain showed
us that Jim was so much more than just another Nigger. Jim came to
stand as that Noble Man that lives inside most of us. But no, we have
to get all puffy over that awful "N Word". Well, I've had a belly
full of "FHAH" trying to mess with my head.
FHAH stands for, Fat Headed Ass Holes. Thank you, very much!
Carl Jarvis
On 6/10/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Although I've heard the clip of what he said, my hearing isn't good enough
to actually hear what he said, so I can't even comment on that. But I can
comment on the world's insanity on refusing to use or write the word when
referring to its history and the damage that it's done. I hear people like
Amy Goodman talking about the history of this word, of what it means to
black people, and she says, "the n word", when referring to it because even
saying the word publicly in a historical or educational context is
forbidden. I don't understand why anyone thinks that this prohibition will
help to end racism.
Miriam
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. (photo: The Mercatus Center/George Mason University)
No, Bill Maher Shouldn't Be Fired for Using the N-Word
By Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, The Hollywood Reporter
08 June 17
"Intent is important," writes the NBA great and THR columnist, and the HBO
host's use of the word merely shows poor taste - and it could even raise
awareness of today's race issues.
Political comedian Lenny Bruce, who was often arrested for the provocative
material in his act, once theorized that if everyone used the N-word
matter-of-factly in daily life, it would be robbed of its power to "make a
6-year-old black kid cry" when someone at school used it on him. In a way,
that's exactly what some in the African-American community have done by
using the word freely among themselves when addressing each other. But in
times when hate crimes are on the rise, when we have an administration
actively and gleefully dismantling civil rights gains, and when the word is
being scrawled on LeBron James' home, Lenny Bruce's dream that we could
defuse the word-bomb is still far from a reality.
Which is why Bill Maher's joking use of it on the June 2 edition of Real
Time has caused such a backlash. There are plenty of contexts in which a
white person using the N-word would be appropriate and inoffensive. Maher
used the word once before while appearing on Larry King's CNN show when
commenting on Newt Gingrich's accusation that then-President Obama held a
"Kenyan anti-colonial worldview." Maher responded that "Kenyan, of course,
was code for n-er." In that situation, he was condemning Gingrich's coy
racism with a harshness that was justified and incisive. This time,
however,
was not the same.
No social commentary or political insight. Just bumbling shock in pursuit
of
a lame joke.
The reason the N-word is so volatile is that it carries hundreds of years
of
poisonous baggage. It is associated with how African-Americans were
perceived as less human than whites, and it represents the atrocities
committed as a result. The word evokes kidnapping, rape, mutilation,
humiliation, forced poverty and murder. Even now, it implies a physical
threat. We are sensitive to its use - and have a right to be - because the
effects of that word and all it represents remain a part of our daily
lives.
But we also have the responsibility not to punish every time it is used in
poor taste rather than maliciously, because that muddies the waters
regarding the reason for our outrage. Intent is important. Clearly, Maher's
intention was not to demean blacks. To put it in perspective, compare Maher
with Phil Stair, the public official from Flint, Michigan, who was recently
recorded using the N-word while blaming black people who "don't pay their
bills" for the water crisis facing the city. He has since resigned. A major
difference between people like Maher and people like Stair is that the
public official's bias has a direct and practical effect of the people he
represents. His is a betrayal of the principles the country stands for.
Was Maher insensitive? Absolutely. Inappropriate? Definitely. Smug in
appropriating the word for cheap humor? Check. Yet, there was no malevolent
intent.
Maher is a worthy and incisive voice in political humor who made a mistake
and apologized. Inadvertently, he caused the issue to be debated, raising
awareness and hopefully sensitizing people. I just wish it was for an
insight rather than an insult.
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