If we all stop using the language of hate

[lazyriver]

I'm referring to the recent discussions stemming from the ignorance of a washed up ex-sitcom star with a ton of personal issues and no business charging people money to listen to him stand in front of a microphone.

Once again debates begin over a racist word for African Americans. Why? Why do we feel the need to debate and discuss whether or not some people should be "allowed" to use this word and others should not? Nobody should be using the damned word. Period. If all people with brains in their heads would stop using the language of hate, African Americans in the case of this word especially included, the only ones left using the word would be easily identifiable as the least enlightened among us. We could single them out, educate them and try to get them to join us in the 21st century. If they choose to resist, we push them to the fringes of society as second class citizens where they belong.

Instead, our culture embraces this word and other language of hate. Music, movies, stand up 'comedy', television and so on each allow and almost encourage certain people to use it. Here in very rural Maine I hear almost daily children, little white children who have most likely never seen an African American in person, calling each other by this despicable name. "Why?", is a foolish question. These kids worship pop culture as many children do. Hell, pop culture is created for them, marketed and sold to them, and they are ostracized if they aren't a part of it. We could make a lot of progress enlightening white people and all people for that matter if we push this horrible word to the trash bin of history where it belongs instead of using it to sell CD's ringtones and tickets to movies and performances.

The African American entertainers and icons who throw this word around or worse yet, wear it like a badge of honor as they sell millions of CD's to kids (many of whom are white kids), discredit the legacy of great leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. almost as severly as white bigots like our favorite political punching bag, George Macaca Allen. The producers and executives of the large corporations that mass market these entertainers to impressionable kids are just as guilty. They all know that the youth of this country emulate superstar musicians and entertainers. They want to dress like them, dance like them and talk like them. How about giving them something positive to follow?

If we really want to end racism, don't we ALL need to have respect for each other AND ourselves by letting horrible words like the one under discussion die along with the old laws, ignornace, and hatred that spawned them?

[JuniperLea]

1. Someone here called me a FReeper piece of shit

And the post remains...

[mcscajun]

5. Moderators depend on alerts from members.

If you think someone is breaking any of the rules ... please click the "Alert" link on the offending post so the moderators can deal with it.

Thanks. :)

[JuniperLea]

11. I hit alert twice... still there...

I thought name calling was against the rules...

[Vorta]

14. Why do you want it removed? Aren't you better off knowing how that person thinks? nt

[JuniperLea]

16. Live and learn from fools and from sages!

Of course! But I also think it's very important for ALL people to be held accountable for their actions and for ALL people to be made to follow the rules.

[PhenyxReturns]

2. I'm particularly amused by the few posts I've seen...

...where it was said "Black people can't be racists". Gotta love it

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. Where have you seen that?

Hmm?

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

18. A simple link would suffice.

[survivor999]

20. Yup, that is very funny. Double standards.

As if being a bigot had anything to do with skin color.

[BOSSHOG]

3. Interesting story in today's paper

about Michael Richard's performance. Comedian George Rodriquez was in the audience and had this to say to CNN: "once the word comes out of your mouth <and you don't happen to be African-American> you have a whole lot of explaining."

Interesting take on the use of a word which offends.

[undeterred]

6. the word was buried a few weeks ago

One word evokes countless emotions
Burial is a start, but term with a painful past, complicated present not easily erased

The word is a casual greeting for some and yet so offensive to others that they won’t utter it. It’s the n-word, the famous euphemism for an infamous slur, one of the most provocative words in American history.

But there’s a big difference between “a nigger” and a “nigga” — at least, that’s what a group of black freshmen said, as they hung out in the Rock Valley College Student Center.

It’s like a hello: ‘What’s up, my nigga?’ ” explained Brittany Walker, while shooting pool. “But then, white people feel like it’s OK to call us niggers, and that’s when we get offended.”

Senior citizens gathered for a Bible study and luncheon at Booker Washington Center dismissed the distinction.

“I am 84 years old, and I ain’t never liked that word, but you find that we as a people use the word more than anybody,” said Willie D. Ashford, president of the senior group.

http://www.rrstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061021/GO/110210012/1226

[lazyriver]

9. I've heard that changing the 'er' to an 'a'

changes the meaning. If that's so, then why is it just as offensive for a white person to use the altered term to address a black person?

I hope anyone reading this understand that I am not arguing that whites should be 'allowed' to use the word. It shouldn't be used at all by anyone but we will never get rid of the word nor the temptation felt to use it by some less evolved apes among us if the very people who are offended by the word use it to address each other and publish it in music, movies, etc.

A Jamaican friend of mine I met in college and who now lives in the Bronx hates either form of that word. Many times I've heard him say, "It took hundreds of years and a lot of spilled blood to earn the right NOT to be called n*****s. Why do we keep calling EACH OTHER by that name?"

[Marr]

8. You know, we'll have to lose the "Repuke" thing then.

I've noticed that some of the most dedicated language police have no problem with those types of terms.

[Journeyman]

10. It's what I thought, as I began reading this thread. . .

lots of people on this board with a lot of hate issues unrelated to legitimate social and political debate (or even well-founded disgust). . .

[Psephos]

15. Civility permits actual discussion; hate language cuts it off at the knees

IMO, the most unpleasant thing about DU is the amount of hate speech encountered on nearly every thread.

It short-circuits actual critical thinking. Bigotry feeds upon slogans and hate speech. Instinctively relying upon the same tired hate cliches masks the strong and compelling arguments for progressive politics, which means it's counterproductive, as well.

Peace.

[Vorta]

12. I'm wondering if it wouldn't be more therapeutic for everyone to go about shouting obscenities...

... until they are thoroughly exhausted.

Just the other night, I was riding my bike back from the grocery store when a woman in an SUV pulled into the crosswalk of the side street ahead of me. Without explaining the geography accept that I made an effort to go around and in front of her, as was my right of way. After finishing her conversation with the passenger and just as I was about to pass in front, she took her foot off the brake. I gently (of course) gave her an earful in a rather conversational tone. After that, I continued to run off at the mouth as I rode away. It felt good to act a little crazy. I started shouting scripture. I understood this one aspect of street people- being heard. I did it for about another block and got bored.

[endarkenment]

13. Yeah fine but hatred is a valid emotion.

I hate Mr. Bush. I hate the vile and hideous theofascist neocon agenda. Hate per se is not the problem.

[Psephos]

17. Hate *is* the problem

Hate is permission to treat other humans as less than human. Hate focuses upon how we are different, but to survive and thrive together we must instead focus on how we are alike. Few can resist the seduction of hate unless they are aware of where it leads. History provides many ugly lessons.

I recommend you read Eibl-Eibesfeldt's Love and Hate for a brilliant dissection of the biology of "Us and Them." It's considered the classic in the field.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_and_Hate

http://www.amazon.com/Love-Hate-Behavior-Patterns-Foundations/dp/020202038X/sr=8-5/qid=1164142684/ref=sr_1_5/002-2720660-8775239?ie=UTF8&s=books


Peace.

[survivor999]

19. If this is not language of hate I don't know what it is.

"... the ignorance of a washed up ex-sitcom star with a ton of personal issues and no business charging people money to listen to him stand in front of a microphone."

[lazyriver]

22. I can understand why you would say that

There was obviously some hate influencing me as I wrote it and hate of any kind is never a good thing. However, I cannot and will not agree that my statement can be equated or even compared to the crap Richards spewed on members of his audience the other night. I did not suggest he be lynched nor did I speak condescendingly of his race, nationality or religion in any way. I described the character of the individual as he revealed it on stage for all to see much as I have described the pResident and his criminal administration in far less than favorable terms.

I apologize for feeling hate for the man after hearing how he treated others. I should have felt sorrow and pity for him as I do now.

[RiverStone]

21. Sadly, most of the "hate" is learned at home.

I've spent over 15 years in public education; when we look at the most racist children in the school, it is no surprise that almost always, the parents are also racist and frequently abusive.
Children may learn the lingo from popular music or the internet, but hate is bred behind closed doors; and sadly in a very hostile environment. How to break the cycle of hate? It is a very challenging question. But I have seen the most success when a (racist) kid somehow see's the world through the eyes of the kids he targets.

[lazyriver]

23. A challenging question indeed

I agree with you that hatred is most often learned at home and success in overcoming it can be best achieved when a kid sees the world through the eyes of the person he targets. Actually being or at least feeling like a minority for a little while can do just that. I didn't mean to imply in my OP that use of hate filled language either casually on the street or in pop culture is solely or even primarily responsible for building hatred, but rather it is one of many fronts we need to address if we want to reduce and eliminate racism and all the other 'isms' that permeate society.

It's so difficult to make progress changing one mind at a time or one household at a time in this mission to spread tolerance. Perpetuating the use of racist words by tolerating (and sometimes even encouraging) their use in every day life does not make that mission any easier.