# Hate Speech In Ali RIP Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 6, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-in-ali-rip-thread/756654 "2016-06-06T14:02:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@Zeke\_N.Destroi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeke_N.Destroi)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-in-ali-rip-thread/756654/1 "2016-06-06T14:02:00Z")
[In this post **Idle Thoughts** warns **Little Pig** for, among other things, using hate speech - specifically the n-word.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19380964&postcount=42) While I don’t disagree with the other facets of the warning I think it at least bears mentioning that the use of the word-that-dare-not-speak-its-name was in the context of a quote made by the subject of the quote regarding his opinion of himself as a youth. So now we can’t use a quote that contains a verboten word context be damned? That seems, to me, at least heavy-handed and blind to the possible implications. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-in-ali-rip-thread/756654/2 "2016-06-06T15:43:00Z")
If you’ve been warned for such things in the past, it isn’t wise to seek out quotes that allow you to do it again. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveroptic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiveroptic/32/8257_2.png) [@Fiveroptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveroptic)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-in-ali-rip-thread/756654/3 "2016-06-06T16:14:41Z")
Yeah, **Little Pig** has a history. The warning was absolutely justified. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-in-ali-rip-thread/756654/4 "2016-06-06T16:55:45Z")
Was he warned never to use “nigger” even when quoting someone verbatim? If so, can you link us to that warning. At the risk of making the OP change his mind 😉 , I agree with him. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-in-ali-rip-thread/756654/5 "2016-06-06T18:22:19Z")
**Little Pig** has a history of making racist comments and acting racist, in general, so him pointing out that specific line (when he was already threadshitting and acting like a troll (IMO) in the same post) by Ali is just trying to be more subtle about it…, …but even if you take out that, the official warning I gave him for that post was for engaging in troll-like behavior, which I believe he was doing there. > [@John\_Mace](#): > > Was he warned never to use “nigger” even when quoting someone verbatim? If so, can you link us to that warning. No, but it’s still my belief that he was pushing the line. [He’s made posts before about apparently having problems with black people](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19001375&postcount=1338) and [also places where the majority of people are black](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17492163&postcount=36) (that he was warned over)…so pointing out a quote where a black person called himself a “nigger” was stepping over the line in my opinion. He was not warned for that in that post, though. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-in-ali-rip-thread/756654/6 "2016-06-06T20:22:16Z")
Seems justified to me. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-in-ali-rip-thread/756654/7 "2016-06-06T21:28:33Z")
Not justified if it was actually a direct quote. If it was something made up to look like a quote, then justified. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-in-ali-rip-thread/756654/8 "2016-06-06T21:44:44Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Not justified if it was actually a direct quote. If it was something made up to look like a quote, then justified. I agree but it seems most people think he cherrypicked a quote to get around the mods’ warnings. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-in-ali-rip-thread/756654/9 "2016-06-06T21:51:50Z")
That’s what it looks like to me. He didn’t really comment on the quote or use it in an argument, but just quoted it. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-in-ali-rip-thread/756654/10 "2016-06-06T21:54:35Z")
FWIW, Google doesn’t seem to know anything about the supposed quote that **Little Pig** claims to remember. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-in-ali-rip-thread/756654/11 "2016-06-06T22:23:19Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > FWIW, Google doesn’t seem to know anything about the supposed quote that **Little Pig** claims to remember. [Here you go (ten seconds in).](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd9aIamXjQI) ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-in-ali-rip-thread/756654/12 "2016-06-06T22:31:43Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > [Here you go (ten seconds in).](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd9aIamXjQI) That’s not the quote. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-in-ali-rip-thread/756654/13 "2016-06-06T22:34:41Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > That’s what it looks like to me. He didn’t really comment on the quote or use it in an argument, but just quoted it. > [@Merneith](#): > > FWIW, Google doesn’t seem to know anything about the supposed quote that **Little Pig** claims to remember. It doesn’t appear to be anything Ali said about himself. The phrase appears in his autobiography _The Greatest_, but Ali is quoting [Judge Aaron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judge_Edward_Aaron), who was castrated by the KKK, who asked him “you one of them loud-mouthed Martin Luther King niggers?” [Here.](https://books.google.com.pa/books?id=tSGpCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT307&lpg=PT307&dq=ali+loud+mouthed+nigger&source=bl&ots=MhzypL5su6&sig=HRubnW9K4IwBHDy0ZlKjzzNor4c&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=ali%20loud%20mouthed%20nigger&f=false) ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-in-ali-rip-thread/756654/14 "2016-06-06T22:36:18Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > **Little Pig** has a history of making racist comments and acting racist, in general, so him pointing out that specific line (when he was already threadshitting and acting like a troll (IMO) in the same post) by Ali is just trying to be more subtle about it…, > …but even if you take out that, the official warning I gave him for that post was for engaging in troll-like behavior, which I believe he was doing there. > > No, but it’s still my belief that he was pushing the line. [He’s made posts before about apparently having problems with black people](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19001375&postcount=1338) and [also places where the majority of people are black](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17492163&postcount=36) (that he was warned over)…so pointing out a quote where a black person called himself a “nigger” was stepping over the line in my opinion. He was not warned for that in that post, though. I can’t make sense of that second warning. First of all, Mississippi is nowhere near being a majority-black state. Secondly, he seemed to be insulting the voters of Mississippi in general and a white republican specifically. It might have been a little over the top, but it doesn’t seem all that unusual in that forum. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-in-ali-rip-thread/756654/15 "2016-06-06T22:55:25Z")
My mistake. Thanks, Colibri. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-in-ali-rip-thread/756654/16 "2016-06-06T22:58:17Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > It doesn’t appear to be anything Ali said about himself. The phrase appears in his autobiography _The Greatest_, but Ali is quoting [Judge Aaron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judge_Edward_Aaron), who was castrated by the KKK, who asked him “you one of them loud-mouthed Martin Luther King niggers?” > > [Here.](https://books.google.com.pa/books?id=tSGpCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT307&lpg=PT307&dq=ali+loud+mouthed+nigger&source=bl&ots=MhzypL5su6&sig=HRubnW9K4IwBHDy0ZlKjzzNor4c&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=ali%20loud%20mouthed%20nigger&f=false) Yeah, that doesn’t match what **Little Pig** claimed either. Here is **Little Pig’s** claim (with the n-word elided, since the mods are objecting to it): > [@The Greatest of All Time has died.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-of-all-time-has-died/756468/33): > > I never said Ali wasn’t a great boxer, Frank. Maybe you can help with the following. There was a documentary about his disease and retirement done in the late 80’s or early 1990’s. Ali was interviewed and when reflecting upon his youth he said, “I was nothing but a loud mouthed **n-word** ”. > > I was floored by his statement. The documentary is out there Frank. Wanna help find it? Lemme know. So Little Pig’s claim is that he heard Ali call himself the n-word in a documentary. That’s the thing that I said I can’t find any evidence for that claim. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2016, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-in-ali-rip-thread/756654/17 "2016-06-06T23:03:09Z")
Slur or not, under instructions or not, that wasn’t hate speech. That’s getting thrown around a lot lately, and it absolutely diminishes the accusations when actual hate speech is used. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-in-ali-rip-thread/756654/18 "2016-06-07T12:45:03Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > I can’t make sense of that second warning. > > First of all, Mississippi is nowhere near being a majority-black state. Secondly, he seemed to be insulting the voters of Mississippi in general and a white republican specifically. This +1. And in the first warning, apparently “Negro” is hate speech. 😕 And if quoting someone else saying n\*gger is hate speech - > [@](#): > > Ali is quoting Judge Aaron, who was castrated by the KKK, who asked him “you one of them loud-mouthed Martin Luther King niggers?” Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-in-ali-rip-thread/756654/19 "2016-06-07T13:45:46Z")
This might be the most pathetic warning in the history of the SDMB. Firstly, it’s pretty clear that despite IW’s later attempts to walk it back, the quoted racist term was a big part of the warning - that’s the first thing IW mentioned. Second, the notion that it was either threadshitting or trolling is highly dubious IMHO. And the attempt to tease some racist connotations out a criticism aimed at a state is laughable. (I can’t figure out the context of the other “… and he’s a Negro” quote.) I’m curious as to whether IW’s claim that L\_P was “_modded and warned over using hate speech terms at least three times before_” is true altogether, but I highly doubt it. [I have no idea if L\_P’s quote is accurate. What I can say is that years ago (when Ali was still active) a friend of mine told me he had seen/heard an interview with Ali. Ali was making the point that a lot of his act was showmanship, and he said that he said a lot of outrageous things so that people will “come out to see the talkin’ nigger fight”.] ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-in-ali-rip-thread/756654/20 "2016-06-07T15:28:21Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > [I have no idea if L\_P’s quote is accurate. What I can say is that years ago (when Ali was still active) a friend of mine told me he had seen/heard an interview with Ali. Ali was making the point that a lot of his act was showmanship, and he said that he said a lot of outrageous things so that people will “come out to see the talkin’ nigger fight”.] Either your friend heard a racial epithet on television, your friend heard a racial epithet on the radio,…, or he misremembered. I find the first 2 unlikely. I am unimpressed with this second-hand report. This smells like an urban myth. [Example of urban myth](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/press_box/2000/05/drooling_on_the_vietnam_vets.html). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-speech-in-ali-rip-thread/756654.md?page=2)