Ask your kids what they think or how they feel when a white person uses the word “thug” to refer to a black person–or even more specifically, to one of them.
And when the guy says “thug equals low level brutish criminal” and therefore Erkle is a thug because he just got arrested for a strong armed liquor story robbery what do you do?
Do you say pardon me or do keep digging for possible racial overtones?
"Just " Wondering my ass.
you seem oddly obsessed with trying to prove how not racist you are
Actually I don’t care if someone thinks I’m racist. If they are too stupid to actually come up with a reasonable reason to think so and wanna get personally butthurt through crappy logic and poor reading comprehension then as far as I am concerned stupidity is its own punishment in that case.
And you seem to be oddly obsessed with black people doing bad things being labeled as people doing bad things.
Who the fuck is Erkle ?
This is a good post.
I think thou doth protest too much
Well if you were paying attention you would see that what people are primarily objecting too is referring to black people who are not criminals as thugs.
Well, perhaps that’s what you should actually be complaining about. I think that people inappropriately using the word to describe non-violent criminals, or people who aren’t criminals at all should be taken to task for doing it. They’re using the word wrong, are are just as stupid as the people who are looking to restrict using the word “thug” accurately.
Coming on a message board and trying to declare a word verboten because some people are using it incorrectly seems to be the worst possible solution to that problem.
And, the fellow citizens of Baltimore are telling the local and imported “thugs” their behavior - which IS “thuggish” - is offensive to them.
They should stop their waddling and quacking if they’re truly that upset about being labeled “ducks”. If they don’t like the REaction they’re getting, they should stop the action.
you know, if i was trying to censure the use of the word in all situations, you might have a point
No the argument is, and always has been, there are media figures and others who sound like they are using the word “thug” because they know they can’t use the N word. How hard is that to grasp?
Why fixate on the word at all? As has been shown in this thread, there are plenty of words that the timid racist can use besides thug to disparage those they’re prejudging. Focusing on this word isn’t going to stop them for even a minute. They’ll happily move on to the next “acceptable” word.
If “asshole” and “thug” were synonymous, you might have a point. But they aren’t. And you keep assuming that I care what you think, when what you think is ungrounded. Think anything you like. But if you are going to then accuse me of being a racist, you are going to face charges of prejudice yourself.
Again, that would strongly imply ignorance on their part of what the word means in the wider world. I would expect “freakishly brilliant” students to know that. If they never encountered it in any other context, then I’d be doing them a service by introducing them to a new context that they should have already experienced. It’s not an uncommon word used to simply mean “violent, criminal type regardless of race”. It could be what many folks like to call a “teachable moment”.
If I heard someone in the UK refer to a Yankee, I wouldn’t, unlike your “freakishly brilliant student” assume it meant a Northerner in the US. First of all, they would probably say Yank, not Yankee, but that’s another point. I know the different contexts of the word, and would ask for clarification if needed, or just let it go if it wasn’t a critical part of the conversation.
It’s the same thing where I live (in CA) when people talk about “back east”. They may mean Chicago, which to me is the midwest. But I guess I’m “freakishly brilliant” enough to know the different contexts and to not assume they mean what my default meaning of the phrase is.
I think the principle at hand is if you go out of your way to defend racists, you must in turn be a racist.
It must really suck to be a criminal criminal defense lawyer.
Since I’m not doing that, I have nothing to worry about.
The same words bold non-racists can use to disparage those they’re post-judging!
It’s even “commendable”, or so I’ve been told!
I’m not sure what you mean to imply. Are you implying this could all lead to some exaggerated climate where politically correct thinking leads to the censure and oppression of unpopular/unacceptable thoughts and statements? If that is your point I think it is a valid point of concern. If your point is that we should just ignore racist talk and move on, because, they will just find another word, well I am not sure I agree with that. I think there is some type of balance to be achieved and I do not support the idea of simply ignoring problems.
ummm… ok
If you don’t know who Erkle is I put forth the proposition that you are neither old enough or culturally aware enough to be in this debate.
See what I did there?