-isms aside, it’s consistent to believe that no one should use the word, just like it’s consistent to think that no one should say nigger even if it’s not as bad when black people use it. I’m not so sure about the “b”-word, as the male equivalent “bastard” seems as harsh to me, but the n-word is offensive to me no matter who uses it: even though I’m white, the word is so offensive that it is unpleasant to hear no matter who utters it.
If someone thought “a black person who was very obviously educated, erudite, peaceful, and intelligent would still have been considered inferior simply by virtue of being black”, there would seem to be 2 possibilities.
[ol]
[li]They didn’t believe the person was really “educated, erudite, peaceful, and intelligent” despite whatever evidence to the contrary, or[/li][li]They thought there were other qualities beyond “educated, erudite, peaceful, and intelligent” which made the person inferior despite possessing these particular qualities.[/li][/ol]
There were undoubtedly also many racists who accepted that a given black person might be “educated, erudite, peaceful, and intelligent”, but considered that person a relatively rate exception to the more common stereotype.
But the notion that it was blackness itself, independent of any other correlated characteristic, which was the basis for belief in black inferiority, is not something I take seriously (especially as it has no apparent basis other than your assertion).
I suspect any mention of specific individuals would quickly run afoul of the “no hate speech even in the Pit” rule. I doubt very much that it was your intention to cause that, but if it’s all the same to you, I won’t take the chance.
I’m not following your reasoning here, so I will just say that No, I don’t think Chris Rock wants to join the KKK.
The point of the monologue is not that no black person needs to worry about being called a nigger unless he behaves stereotypically. The whole monologue is distinguishing between those who behave stereotypically, and black people. I don’t think Rock could have been any clearer - if you don’t see it, oh well.
‘If you say it about one individual, you are saying it about the whole race!’
‘No, I am talking about one individual, and here are the distinctions.’
‘No you’re not. You are talking about the whole race.’
:shrugs: As I said, oh well.
Regards,
Shodan
No need to name names – you can say “black people who commit X”, or “black people who don’t do Y”, or similar. I was frankly very surprised by your admission that some black people can/should be characterized by that slur, and I’m trying to fully understand your views. Do you similarly think that some Jews can/should be characterized as kikes, and some Asians as gooks, and similar?
Have you never heard of “the Curse of Ham”? Here’s some more about it, specifically related to slavery: Curse of Ham - Wikipedia
Also, see the related Curse/Mark of Cain:
There’s lots more, and it’s very easy to find with some googling. Does this change your opinion at all? I’m rather surprised if you believe that no significant numbers of racists believe that blackness alone is enough to consider someone inferior.
Did you ever read the Dred Scott decision? Or the text of any Jim Crow laws?
They didn’t have the premise that there were good black people and bad black people. These laws applied universally to all black people. So much so that they even considered many people who were actually mostly white to be black and then applied the anti-black laws to them as well.
Some people are making the point that at one time every black person was called / considered a nigger, just by virtue of their being people of color. While that’s still (sadly) the case in some places, I think these days some people interchange nigger with “ghetto” (?) I know a few people who most definitely use it that way and when I hear it, I do cringe but I also know exactly what they’re talking about. Just so no one has to go to the trouble of playing coy, I’m referring to pants hanging halfway off their arse, loud rap music pounding from their car stereos, speaking AAV. Right or wrong, I don’t think we have to pretend not to know what the stereotype is.
Your own cites clearly contradict you.
The Curse of Ham is about slavery - the Bible explicitly says that descendants of Ham were cursed with slavery, and this curse of slavery was used by some to justify enslavement. Based on the secondary notion that this curse also included blackness, the blackness was used to identify which people were included in the Curse of Ham. But the blackness itself was not directly used as you claim.
[Which is leaving aside how much the Curse of Ham was a part of the consciousness of ordinary non-theologist racists.]
Did you ever read my post that you’re commenting about? Nothing you’ve written contradicts it.
Oh come on. You don’t think widespread religious belief that black people were cursed by God for the supposed crimes of their ancestors qualifies as widespread belief that blackness was a mark of a fundamental inferiority (e.g. an inferiority due to God’s will)?
This is a snippet of what I said that you disputed: “But blackness itself was enough to be inferior – a black person who was very obviously educated, erudite, peaceful, and intelligent would still have been considered inferior simply by virtue of being black.”
That’s perfectly in line with the supposed justification of a curse from God – blackness itself, due to supposedly it being the mark of the curse, was enough to mark someone as inferior. Not stereotypical behaviors, but just the characteristic of being black.
Are you sure this isn’t just knee-jerk disagreement? What words did I say that conflict with my cites?
This all started because I said that all you had to do was to be black in order to be called a nigger in the US. You don’t have to act any certain way or dress in any way or speak in any way. I’m shocked that people feel they have to dispute that in some way.
I’m not saying that every white person calls every black person a nigger. I’m saying that plenty will do so, even if some try to make some lame distinction by saying “Oh, I only call certain black people niggers. You know who those types are”. Or: “I only use it for the uppity ones. You know, like Obama”. The problem is, the word denigrates someone for the simple reason of their being black, and is used that way very often in the US, even today.
I agree that curse of slavery is not the same thing as stereotypical behaviors. I don’t agree that a curse of slavery is the same thing as “being black”. Rather, it’s something which was thought to be correlated with it. Your cites contradict you on this specific point.
I initially objected to your claim that belief in the supposed inferiority of blacks was based on nothing more than blackness itself because this makes no sense. You’ve not offered anything to support this and it continues to make no sense.
If your claim is rather that the term “nigger” is offensive because it conjures up the notion that the subject has a “Biblical curse of slavery” on them, well that’s something else, which I also find completely unconvincing.
This would seem to dispute your earlier claims, which IIRC were that the beliefs in inferiority were due to beliefs about behavior.
No they don’t. I said that many/most racists of the past believed that blackness alone, not any behavior, was a signifier of inferiority. This belief was likely due to religious teachings, but it was still a real belief – that the fact of being black was enough to conclude someone was inferior. That this belief might be based on some religious teachings doesn’t take away that it existed and really was a belief.
Again, do you disagree that some/many/most racists of the past (and likely some today) would have believed that a smart black person is still inferior, and that the fact that he is black is enough information to conclude this?
Why would you be surprised that some aspect of racism makes no logical sense? Except in the sense of economic benefit (for slavers and slave owners) and manipulation of the masses, racism made and still makes no sense. Religious teachings were created/interpreted to justify this, leading to widespread belief that blackness alone was enough to mark someone as inferior.
No, that’s not my claim.
It’s almost like you think Frederick Douglass wasn’t thought of as completely equal to white people!
The idea of a black race, a group of African-descended people who share some common character that is different from the common character of white Europeans, has an empirical intellectual history. And it very clearly developed from a motivation to explain and justify chattel slavery of people imported from or directly descended from West Africa, as distinct from the treatment of white indentured servants and white men generally given the ideas in the American revolution.
It makes perfect sense in the context of that history that blackness itself was the basis of the claimed inferiority. It had to be that way for the idea to perform its social function of justifying slavery. That’s why it became so attractive to attribute the inferiority to an entire social group without regard to any individual differences, because it meant that slavery could be justified on a group-wide basis.
Heh.
F-P, do you think most American white racists who were contemporaries of Frederick Douglass believed he was inferior to them? If so, do you think they believed he was inferior because of his behavior, or do you think the fact that he was black alone was enough for them to come to this conclusion?
He is acting surprised because he thinks there is a logical reason for racism–i.e. that racism exists because black people really are inferior.
Question for the group - do you think that F-P is debating this because he takes the racist viewpoint or because he just likes to argue?
The Alt-Right are a group of people who have decided that their racism and biases make sense logically. In other words, black people really are demonstrably inferior, that women are demonstrably inferior, that white people are demonstrably superior.
And that it is just the rest of us that refuse to look at “the facts”.
:rolleyes:
Can’t say. I stopped paying attention to his nonsense before he went on his latest tirade.
I believe when he answers **iiandyiiii’s **question, it will be revealed. Therefore, I guess that he won’t answer the question, or plead for a cite that shows white contemporaries believed Frederick Douglass was inferior.