Bill Maher drops the nigger bomb

[Spice_Weasel]

@octopus

And many words have the power to denigrate, hurt, and shock. Again, it depends on the context.

[QUOTE=Novelty Bobble]
Others with less baggage are probably very able to use the word without it being racist. Context and meaning is everything.

[/QUOTE]

I think we all agree that it depends on context. I think where we disagree is whether or not this was an appropriate context.

[QUOTE=John Mace]
Oddly enough, if you actually listen to what Maher said, he used the “nigga” word, not “nigger”.
[/QUOTE]

That actually changes my view of what he did, because, in my mind, they are two very different words.

[John_Mace]

One problem with that is there are many places in the US with non-rhotic accents, in which case “nigga” is the normal pronunciation of “nigger”. Which, of course, is how that former word came about in the first place.

[drad_dog]

Speaking of Lenny Bruce, which I was, one thing that went unrecorded on tape is in his biographies: Wilt Chamberlain came to see him (Pretty sure it was him, but may have been another black athlete) Lenny asked him for a drag of his cigarette. He took a puff and said “He nigger-lipped it.” Wilt broke up.

[Acsenray]

@iiandyiiii

Or he recognized that he made a mistake and apologized for it.

Yes, I’m no big fan of Maher but I do know that no one can force him to apologize. If he apologized it’s because he is sincere about it.

Everything depends on context. Depending on the context, a person’s use of the word can range from okay to bad to reprehensible.

Because of the history of race in our society and the history of how “nigger” has been used, it’s always a problem for a white person to use it, whether in public or in private.

Maher’s use was on the less-bad end of the scale, but I’m glad he has apologized for it. Michael Richards’s use was far worse, and he apologized too.

What bothered me about Richards, however, was that it included the whole “this is not the real me” and the “I’m not a racist” bullcrap.

No one in our society can or should even try to claim the “I’m not a racist” status. That’s one of the things that leads to these incidents.

Michael Richards was being racist when he did what he did. If he stopped thinking of himself if having the status of “I’m not racist,” that might have made it less likely that he would do something racist, because he wouldn’t have had the comfort and security of being pre-absolved or innocent in his own mind.

When it comes to race no one is innocent. Yes, some are far worse, but no one is innocent. Stay aware of that and you will be less likely to slip into racist actions.

Be vigilant, suspect your own motives and actions at all times, and don’t get comfortable. Don’t allow yourself the comfort and satisfaction of “I am not racist.”

Your status doesn’t matter. You can at any time allow yourself to do something racist. And you will, sometimes. Let’s hope it stays on the small end of the scale.

It’s well-known that Maher exclusively dates black women. I bet that’s one of the things that has led him to become too comfortable with himself regarding race. Let’s hope this incident puts his guard back up.

[Richard_Parker]

@John_Mace

One problem with that is there are many places in the US with non-rhotic accents, in which case “nigga” is the normal pronunciation of “nigger”. Which, of course, is how that former word came about in the first place.

Of course, eh? Have you read much linguistics on this subject, such that you rule out the diminutive theory?

[Clothahump]

@kayaker

If you’re going to use the “X Bomb” construction, you do not spell out the X-word. That’s the whole idea. The word is so bad, that you just use the first letter.

F bomb is correct.
Fuck bomb is not.

Using the “X Bomb” construction is wrong, period. If you’re gonna talk about the word, use the word. This political correctness bullshit is killing us.

[Mean_Mr.Mustard]

@Clothahump

Using the “X Bomb” construction is wrong, period. If you’re gonna talk about the word, use the word. This political correctness bullshit is killing us.

This here.

Someone (Louis CK?) had a stand-up routine about ‘the N word’ in which he called out those that use that phrase. He said that by you saying ‘the N word’, you are planting the word ‘nigger’ in my head; you’re making me ‘say’ it instead of you.

Same goes for those who use ‘F bomb’ because they’re too cowardly to say ‘fuck’.
mmm

[Acsenray]

Louis is wrong and so are you guys.

[Reluctant_A]

@wolfpup

You may consider that a “low bar” for some reason, but many of us consider it a major social issue.

I consider it a low bar because it is a low bar; that’s pretty much the minimum that he could do for someone to call him an “ally” or an “advocate.”

I don’t really know what you’re looking for. Maher has taken a principled stand on many, many civil rights issues like this. Here, for instance, is Maher eviscerating voter ID laws for the way they target black voters.

This is closer to what I was looking for, but still a little short of the mark. How much more of this has he done?

@Clothahump

Using the “X Bomb” construction is wrong, period. If you’re gonna talk about the word, use the word. This political correctness bullshit is killing us.

Everything that’s wrong with this country, and you think that “this political correctness bullshit” is what’s ‘killing’ us? Yo, that’s some privilege for your ass.

[Spice_Weasel]

@Clothahump

Using the “X Bomb” construction is wrong, period. If you’re gonna talk about the word, use the word. This political correctness bullshit is killing us.

Not using ‘‘fuck’’ or ‘‘nigger’’ or ‘‘whore’’ or whatever in public isn’t ‘‘political correctness,’’ it’s just polite. I curse like a sailor on this board because I know the members; I don’t curse like a sailor in restaurants because I don’t know those people. I say things to my friends in private I would never say standing in line at a bank. There’s a time and a place for f-bombs and a time and a place for fucks. No great social loss is suffered by sometimes softening our language to avoid offense.

[LicketySplit]

Yeah I agree with the entire OP post. And I love Maher. He’s smarter and more politically savvy than probably 80% of our Congressmen. And a helluva lot funnier.

PC has gone way too far in this country. Or, rather, our country and the media–especially the Liberals, I hate to say–have become far too obsessed with it.

I was watching a rerun the other night of the old Bruce Willis movie…one of the Die Hards. You recall the scene where some “mad bobmber” dude had forced Willis’ character to stand on the streetcorner of an inner city, black 'hood holding a sandwich board sign that proclaimed, “I Hate Niggers!”??

Well, the Nanny State censors digitally altered the sign to read, “I hate everybody.”

LOL. Really?

I mean…really? Wow.

Just…wow.

It’s a movie, people. Further, the sign and its content were crucial to the plot. So with the change, the whole scene made zero sense. Nor did the resutling 20 minutes or so where Samuel Jackson came over to try and play peace maker when a group of black youths confronted Willis.

Down with the Nanny State!!

Maher Rules.

Cheers.

[Acsenray]

Nanny state? Exactly where did the state enter into this?

[Acsenray]

I’ll go further. The idea that “political correctness” is a significant societal problem, much less a national problem or one that is “killing” our country or society is one of the most moronic things I’ve ever heard in my life.

[Corry_El]

@Spice_Weasel

Is Bill Maher black?

Seriously, when has it ever been considered socially acceptable for a white person to casually use this word? There are entire (played-out) comedy bits about how white people shouldn’t use that word.

Some people buy that, that the word could be off limits to ‘white’ people and not to ‘black’ people (leaving open how the combined % of Hispanic, Asian and mixed race people who don’t consider themselves ‘black’, in total now considerably outnumbering ‘blacks’ in the US, fit in).

But I don’t buy that. I’ve never heard a convincing argument. I don’t say the word or want to say it, but see no reason why any particular person should be more ‘entitled’ to say it than another person.

And all this stuff is again getting more ridiculous the more the line blurs on race in the population.

[BlankSlate]

@Acsenray

I’ll go further. The idea that “political correctness” is a significant societal problem, much less a national problem or one that is “killing” our country or society is one of the most moronic things I’ve ever heard in my life.

I couldn’t agree more. That’s like saying civility leads to terrorism. Bonkers.

[Mean_Mr.Mustard]

@Spice_Weasel

Not using ‘‘fuck’’ or ‘‘nigger’’ or ‘‘whore’’ or whatever in public isn’t ‘‘political correctness,’’ it’s just polite. I curse like a sailor on this board because I know the members; I don’t curse like a sailor in restaurants because I don’t know those people. I say things to my friends in private I would never say standing in line at a bank. There’s a time and a place for f-bombs and a time and a place for fucks. No great social loss is suffered by sometimes softening our language to avoid offense.

I get that, and I agree.

But the point is, if you *mean *the word ‘fuck’, then say it. If you don’t mean it, then don’t say ‘f-bomb’. When you get all coy about it and use the phrase ‘f-bomb’, you’re not fooling anybody; we all know what you mean. And now everyone is thinking ‘she means fuck’. Can’t you see how ridiculous this game is?
mmm

[drad_dog]

@Mean_Mr.Mustard

I get that, and I agree.

But the point is, if you *mean *the word ‘fuck’, then say it. If you don’t mean it, then don’t say ‘f-bomb’. When you get all coy about it and use the phrase ‘f-bomb’, you’re not fooling anybody; we all know what you mean. And now everyone is thinking ‘she means fuck’. Can’t you see how ridiculous this game is?
mmm

If I believe in freedom of speech why would I have a problem with someone that wanted to say “F-bomb”?

Why would you care? You’re pointing out hypocrisy? Heal thyself. Freedom of choice.

[Leaffan]

It’s all context. There’s a certain four letter word that is shunned in North America, yet sometimes gets casually kicked around in the UK.
I won’t use that word, but if my female partner used it the height of passion it would be literally climactic.

Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk

[Spice_Weasel]

@Mean_Mr.Mustard

I get that, and I agree.

But the point is, if you *mean *the word ‘fuck’, then say it. If you don’t mean it, then don’t say ‘f-bomb’. When you get all coy about it and use the phrase ‘f-bomb’, you’re not fooling anybody; we all know what you mean. And now everyone is thinking ‘she means fuck’. Can’t you see how ridiculous this game is?
mmm

I think, though I can’t say for sure, that US society is getting more lax around cursing, which is probably why we have these nebulous half-curses such as ‘‘f-bomb’’ and ‘‘she’s such a b.’’ Cursing is widely accepted at my relatively white-collar job, and our Director of Business Operations has this posted to her computer. By and large, most adults just don’t care anymore. The novel I’m currently writing has upwards of 400 instances of the word ‘‘fuck’’ and that’s not even counting the variations. (I deleted all of them and started fresh, but they pop up like fucking weeds.)

If I had to guess, most half-curses are to stop little kids from going around swearing. When adults use ‘‘f-bomb’’, among only adults, it seems only like it’s meant to be ironic or to imply that the word was used in a surprising/shocking or possibly inappropriate context. As in, ‘‘She was chewing out the cashier and she totally dropped the f-bomb,’’ meaning ‘‘she said an impolite word in public.’’

The nuance of language is a beautiful thing.

[asahi]

@Spice_Weasel

People would have lost their shit over “house slave,” too. Likely the exact same level of outrage, because many liberals these days have no sense of proportion. It’s telling that he’s been slamming Muslims for years but now he’s gone too far. Whatever, I’ve always hated him.

There’s a difference in criticizing a religion, which is fair game, IMO, and using arguably the harshest epithet in the American English language. Everyone understands it was said as a joke, but the word has a dark, dark history, and with only a very select few exceptional circumstances are whites given a pass to use that term. I’m uneasy with how easily it rolled off his tongue.

That being said, as I’ve said on other threads, people make mistakes and I don’t think that this by itself should lead to Maher getting canned. He was right to apologize for it.