How did we get here? If Woke is waning, if the house of cards is about to fall, is it time to look back and dissect what happened from Mr. Loury's and Mr. McWhorter's points-of-view? How did it happen? The good and the bad. What patterns in the US democratic experiment pointed to this movement? Can we look back to anti-slavery sentiment in the 1830s? The Granger movement in the 1870s? The Populists? The Progressives? The Palmer Raids? McCarthyism? 1960s Counter-Culture? And if and when can it happen again? Or was it unique, something new?
Perhaps we must recognize that movements like this will last: 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years.... We recognize that battles against irrational excesses take time. That logic doesn't always counter effectively. That no one can predict how or when the dam will break. That an Eisenhower realizes it's more counterproductive to battle McCarthy than to let it run its course. That one random day America wakes up to a comment by a lawyer Joseph Welch who utters the simple words "Have you no decency" which takes hold and helps solidify the downfall of McCarthy.
This week it was Glenn’s word choice that brought a smile to my face (and to John’s) when he said it: suzerainty. He was using the term loosely, but it was still fun to hear it. And to see John smile when he heard it.
Past time to rehabilitate Mark Twain and many other gifted writers.
I was taught the meaning and usage of many words in my youth. They all had their place. Idiot was a term of science and had a defined meaning but it was not to be used as a perjorative. Same went for many other words, including nigger. Let's stop infantilizing people.
It is a special kind of profanity (particularly in this society). We all know that as well.
In fairness, Black people are not the only cohort to (hypocritically) use a slur playfully with one another. Girlfriends call each other b****** all the time, and there’s a comedian who does a bit about a similar phenomenon within the Indigenous community.
But there is something extraordinary about the taboos surrounding the so-called n-word. Case in point, the most popular music genre in the Western world is (arguably) hip-hop, where we hear the word constantly. How do you police that?
Do I expect nonBlack 20-somethings to bleep themselves every time their favorite jam comes on, even if they are the only person within a 10-mile radius?
No, I don't. It bothers me enough to see them censor themselves in a TikTok lip-sync video. It is such an indicator of how far we have gone off the rails.
As recently as 15 years ago, the version without the "hard -er" was (seemingly) tolerated in private circles, and as John pointed out, back in Norman Lear's All in the Family days, the "hard -er" version was acceptable in popular media (and Norman Lear was as woke as anybody back in the day).
For some reason, times changed. But I am not so sure it was progress.
But Glenn's point about being tolerated and patted on the head hit home. Indeed, it is like we are playing a silly game to preserve a false and nebulous peace.
I hasten to add this: I know people, Black and White, who refuse to use or tolerate others use of the word outside of an educational context. I can respect that 100%.
I am okay with consistency in principles. But rampant inconsistency needs to take a seat.
The comedian David Sedaris has a really funny piece about how he and his husband of many years have decided to call themselves "straight" because they are so sick of having the term for gay people change so constantly, where what's polite one year is an insult a couple of years later. The changes get made without their involvement or consent, and they object, so now they are straight!
I’ve used the word in creative endeavors but I always get bashful about sharing or submitting anything remotely touching this subject. If people weren’t so stupid about it, I wouldn’t feel the need to go there, but here we are.
I grew up in the South just around the Civil Rights Era. I was taught by my parents to never, ever use that word. I will use the utmost foul language at times, but can't bring myself to say it, even when referencing it in literature or music.
Years ago, I noted, "That we seem to spend more time discussing, worrying over, and dissecting the N-word than all other racial slurs combined might itself be a message." I agree on the performative nature of this whole debate. In full disclosure, in my home and particularly in conversation with my son, we use, "Nigga" all the time. Likely, only Chris Rock or Dave Chappelle use it more and/or enjoy it as much.
Thank you for this. “It’s repugnant to hurl a racial epithet in order to demean someone, but there’s nothing wrong with uttering an epithet for the purposes of illustration or analysis.”
An equally good clip from Coleman Hughes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB7fChcEyd8
In 1946, Martin Luther King Jr quit his summer job after a white foreman called him nigger. Was King Woke?
https://books.google.com/books?id=TU_hEAAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PT40&dq=King,+Jr.,+quits+his+job+as+a+laborer+at+the+Atlanta+Railway+Express+Company+when+a+white+foreman+calls+him+%E2%80%9Cnigger.%E2%80%9D&hl=en&source=gb_mobile_entity
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-quits-job-atlanta-railway-express-company
MLK called Andrew Young L’il Nigger
https://www.cnn.com/2014/01/19/us/king-speeches-never-heard/index.html
I’m laughing at the Conservatives who pout about Blacks objecting to whites using the term.
With taste he says…
https://youtu.be/A_GhH6EndV4?si=aTcvSUdxHu7G40VH
How did we get here? If Woke is waning, if the house of cards is about to fall, is it time to look back and dissect what happened from Mr. Loury's and Mr. McWhorter's points-of-view? How did it happen? The good and the bad. What patterns in the US democratic experiment pointed to this movement? Can we look back to anti-slavery sentiment in the 1830s? The Granger movement in the 1870s? The Populists? The Progressives? The Palmer Raids? McCarthyism? 1960s Counter-Culture? And if and when can it happen again? Or was it unique, something new?
Perhaps we must recognize that movements like this will last: 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years.... We recognize that battles against irrational excesses take time. That logic doesn't always counter effectively. That no one can predict how or when the dam will break. That an Eisenhower realizes it's more counterproductive to battle McCarthy than to let it run its course. That one random day America wakes up to a comment by a lawyer Joseph Welch who utters the simple words "Have you no decency" which takes hold and helps solidify the downfall of McCarthy.
Suzerainty? Yikes.
This week it was Glenn’s word choice that brought a smile to my face (and to John’s) when he said it: suzerainty. He was using the term loosely, but it was still fun to hear it. And to see John smile when he heard it.
Thank you gentlemen!
Past time to rehabilitate Mark Twain and many other gifted writers.
I was taught the meaning and usage of many words in my youth. They all had their place. Idiot was a term of science and had a defined meaning but it was not to be used as a perjorative. Same went for many other words, including nigger. Let's stop infantilizing people.
"Time to Get Rid of the N-Word Taboo"
It really is. For all kinds of reasons.
The word is profane. No one argues that it isn't.
It is a special kind of profanity (particularly in this society). We all know that as well.
In fairness, Black people are not the only cohort to (hypocritically) use a slur playfully with one another. Girlfriends call each other b****** all the time, and there’s a comedian who does a bit about a similar phenomenon within the Indigenous community.
But there is something extraordinary about the taboos surrounding the so-called n-word. Case in point, the most popular music genre in the Western world is (arguably) hip-hop, where we hear the word constantly. How do you police that?
Do I expect nonBlack 20-somethings to bleep themselves every time their favorite jam comes on, even if they are the only person within a 10-mile radius?
No, I don't. It bothers me enough to see them censor themselves in a TikTok lip-sync video. It is such an indicator of how far we have gone off the rails.
As recently as 15 years ago, the version without the "hard -er" was (seemingly) tolerated in private circles, and as John pointed out, back in Norman Lear's All in the Family days, the "hard -er" version was acceptable in popular media (and Norman Lear was as woke as anybody back in the day).
For some reason, times changed. But I am not so sure it was progress.
But Glenn's point about being tolerated and patted on the head hit home. Indeed, it is like we are playing a silly game to preserve a false and nebulous peace.
I hasten to add this: I know people, Black and White, who refuse to use or tolerate others use of the word outside of an educational context. I can respect that 100%.
I am okay with consistency in principles. But rampant inconsistency needs to take a seat.
The comedian David Sedaris has a really funny piece about how he and his husband of many years have decided to call themselves "straight" because they are so sick of having the term for gay people change so constantly, where what's polite one year is an insult a couple of years later. The changes get made without their involvement or consent, and they object, so now they are straight!
I’ve used the word in creative endeavors but I always get bashful about sharing or submitting anything remotely touching this subject. If people weren’t so stupid about it, I wouldn’t feel the need to go there, but here we are.
I grew up in the South just around the Civil Rights Era. I was taught by my parents to never, ever use that word. I will use the utmost foul language at times, but can't bring myself to say it, even when referencing it in literature or music.
Years ago, I noted, "That we seem to spend more time discussing, worrying over, and dissecting the N-word than all other racial slurs combined might itself be a message." I agree on the performative nature of this whole debate. In full disclosure, in my home and particularly in conversation with my son, we use, "Nigga" all the time. Likely, only Chris Rock or Dave Chappelle use it more and/or enjoy it as much.
I agree.
It can be rude, crude, vulgar, and out of place.
But let's quit pretending it's like kryptonite.
Thank you for this. “It’s repugnant to hurl a racial epithet in order to demean someone, but there’s nothing wrong with uttering an epithet for the purposes of illustration or analysis.”