Cite for Pryor using the N-word on stage after his Sunset Strip monologue about his decision to stop using the word? He did use the word in that monologue, but only to discuss his epiphany about it.
You are correct DTC, but he could have said, “N-word”, he could have said, “that word, I’m not going to say anymore.” He didn’t because the word was appropriate within the context of it’s use.
Context and content.
The taking of offense doesn’t bother me. It is the transport of said umbrage into threads where it doesn’t belong that bothers me. I find your position (that white trash, redneck and hillbilly are dreadful slurs) to be ridiculous beyond imagining. I think a fair majority of others agree with me. I fear a flood of the easily offended coming in to threads in other fora to let us know just how offended they are.
I actually never read the thread in question and have interest in it. My reaction is a mix of shock that anyone takes offense this easily, and trepidation over the prospect of seeing decent threads hijacked because someone dared to use the descriptive ‘redneck’.
You asked for a cite for certain words being offensive no matter who says them or in what context. I provided that.
For the record. Let there be no mistake. It is not a line in the sand. It is the event that opened my eyes.
This is my stance. I abhor** all ** words or phrases that reduce humans to stereotypical labels. I abhor all words or phrases that place some humans beneath other humans as a group. Such words are hateful, demeaning, and vile. They have tremendous capacity to wound.
The context which Mr. Pryor referred to was it’s use as a pejorative. IIRC, he did not vow never to use the word again, only never to *call * someone a nigger.
Trust me. All of this is in your head. Neither at any time nor any place have I “reduc[ed] him to that one declaration.”
Oh please. My objection to nigger, white trash, hillbilly, et.al., are from is to their use as a pejorative, not as a word devoid of malice.
Well, you said rapper, not rap music, and I wasn’t questioning the race of the stereotypical rapper, but let’s look at some figures.
cite
From the article-
*Thanks to the likes of Usher and Jones, R&B led all genres, moving 162 million copies in 2004. Alternative music accounted for 132 million in sales, followed by rap (81 million), country (78 million) and metal (75 million). *
I’d say rap’s doin’ all right. Those are some pretty impressive sales figures for a genre with a ‘negative connotation.’
This seems to be a bit of circular reasoning. You know these folks must be easily offended because they are offended by that which clearly does not offend. Glad to know that you’re out there validating or invalidating our responses as you deem fit.
I think these lovely Hubris slides should fit you quite well. Oh, look! A pair of ***Unmitigated Gall ** * loafers! And just your shade! Babyshit brown.
Contrapuntal, why do you think I have not received a warning for my use of the n-word in this thread?
Daniel
For anyone who hasn’t found it yet, there are some really good white trash-style recipes on the Southern Culture On The Skids website.
A sampling:
POSSUM AND CHESTNUTS
1 Possum
1 Pot boiling water
1 Handful chestnuts
1 Handful apple sauce
1 Handful breadcrumbs
1 sweet potato
1/2 Cup lemon juice
1/4 Cup butter
Skin Possum, remove glands and entrails. Scrape clean and scald in boiling water. Rub inside and out with salt and pepper and set in a cool place. Stuff with chestnuts, applesauce, and bread crumbs in equal proportions. Cover with slices of sweet potato, 1 C. Boiling water, 1/2 C. Lemon Juice. Bake in butter and baste often until tender.
The Dump Cake sounds really good too.
Weighing in late here…
I happen to agree with the majority of the respondents here, who do not regard either “hillybilly” or “redneck” as any sort of epithet. In fact, I just flew back from southern Washington state, where I spent the weekend with a family (my adoptive family)–a plan that proudly refers to themselves as rednecks. Other posters have also described hillbillies who proudly identify themselves as such.
As fruitbat said, what we have here is a severe case of offense by proxy. Lighten up.
Because you haven’t called anyone a nigger.
Ah, so it’s the context in which the word is used, not simple use of the word, that determines whether it’s hate speech?
Daniel
Yeah, we get it. If it doesn’t offend you, **we ** need to lighten up. The universe does not rotate around your pivot foot.
As opposed to the fact that it offends you, and therefore, such terminology must never be used in a light-hearted manner?
As I said, I just spend the entire weekend with my adoptive redneck family. They embrace the term, and do so proudly. Shall I inform them that they’ve been misguided all along, and must now react with horror and revulsion whenever someone describes them as such?
Have you ever been described as a redneck, Contrapuntal? What about as a hillbilly?
Daniel
ALL phases? Surfer boy, Hippy, Yuppie, Sleepy, Dopey, trust me, any phase can be used to hurt, if that’s the intention of the speaker. So if I say Hippie white boy, which word do you abhor? What about Bosco Brown, which word? Let’s not even get started on the “C” word…and of course my personal favorite tractor boy.
Sorry but too many cites have different quotes. If you have one direct from Mr. Pryor I’ll take it.
I disagree, part of Richard Pryor’s legacy was his take on race and using terms that were taboo…by only mentioning the declaration (I’ve read that he was more concerned with white people feeling comfortable saying the word, without understanding the difference between using it as a slur as opposed to "familar’ term) without the rational behind the decision, it in my opinion waters down the man.
In post #67 you agreed that nigger in ANY context was unacceptable. If you wish to modify that, fine; but keep your pleases to yourself.
Why are you playing obtuse? You know that sales and being considered a ‘positive’ or desireable influence are not the same thing.
I guess Nat King Cole, just needed to sell more LPs.
Do me a favor. In the future, read my posts before you ask me these questions. I’ve already addressed them both.
This really isn’t a thread about hate speech, but I’ll play along. At the SDMB, it is the use of the word *as a pejorative * that renders it hate speech. You would be hard pressed to find me asserting otherwise. It is a word that, here, allows no other interpretation when used as a pejorative. If you want to call that ‘context’, then OK, in that sense, context determines meaning. It is a distinction without a difference, really. To my knowledge, no one has suggested an absolute ban on any word or phrase.
Would you care to provide a list of words that cause you offense so I don’t inadvertantly wound your delicate sensibilities? The point is that these terms are not patently offensive and have no history of oppression that makes them universally hurtful. If we had to avoid the possibility of offending anyone this place would get awfully boring very quickly.
Which brings to mind a question. Is there any one here who feels oppressed or degraded because they have been called a redneck or a hillbilly? I would be curious to hear their accounts, who knows I might even change my mind.
I don’t think it’d be so hard at all, actually. But if you’re willing to say that it’s the use of the word as a pejorative that renders it hate speech, then we’re well on our way to agreement, as long as you recognize that that’s a necessary but not sufficient part of hate speech.
I say that “hillbilly” and “redneck” are often used in a non-pejorative sense. In fact, they’re used so often in that non-pejorative sense that it’d be silly to put them in a category with words that are used primarily in a pejorative sense.
Daniel
As evidence of this, just look at the thread to which LHoD was objecting. Two of the participants proclaimed themselves to be rednecks, and another identified herself as a “hillbilly queen.”
Gosh. Have they been insulting themselves all along, without realizing it?
Hey, maybe we should tell Jeff Foxworthy that he needs to stop calling himself a redneck. How does he expect to sell any of his comedy CDs if he keeps throwing that vicious insult around? There’s no laughing at his material, nosiree!
Sorry. I meant the thread to which hyperelastic was objecting, not LHoD. (Slaps own forehead violently.)
Man–I was all getting ready to do some objecting, too! 
Daniel