Paula Deen uses the N-Word - gets sued - right or worng?

reply to post by luciddream

So how is this going to stop? both sides seem adamant.

How about this? We judge people on their actions instead of a word?

Did Paula Deen refuse to hire someone or fire someone because of skin color (not just black skin color)? If so, she should be sued!

Did Paula Deen do something that harmed someone, financially or emotionally, because of their skin color? If so, she should be sued!

Did Paula Deen say something someone didn't like? Tough patooties, grow a hide.

I have vehemently disagreed with the very concepts of "hate speech" and "hate crime" ever since I first heard them. Freedom of speech is a right enumerated clearly in the U.S. Constitution, and one of the rights we (supposedly) hold precious. It is the very reason this site exists, and the reason you and I can post here. Crime is crime and should be prosecuted regardless of some silly attempt to find out if hatred (an emotion that is experienced inside one's mind and cannot be definitely determined outside of that mind) was involved. Both are ludicrous examples of an attempt to control thought. Do you really think we need less freedom of thought?

We have to restrict action, but we do not have to restrict speech.

TheRedneck

Originally posted by Astrocyte
I'm in the middle of reading Catch 22. The word Nigger comes around again and again. I read a line to my brother, repeating the word: does that make me a racist?

Sadly since the book was written in times where it was okay to use, it would not really make you a racist.

I used the term many times in songs in front of black friends. Not in a vile way but in subject.


Edit: ooh, just realized ATS does not block out the world Ni**er. Never used so never knew.

Originally posted by luciddream
reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan

 

Cause they "earned it" lol

so i assume this means no more dumb blonde jokes? i mean blondes are a minority.

your rationale has sprung a leak and is part of the reason we still have racism issues. the wounds are not being allowed to heal, deliberately. let it go.

reply to post by undo


I don't picture people hanging from trees when i hear dumb blonde jokes. So it has a very little effete, im sure blondes would be like "im not that blonde"..

edit: Last time i heard a dumb blonde jokes was like 5 yrs ago, they serve no purpose and does not have a 300 yrs worth of history attached to it.

Also Cloud is a blond. But he is awesome.

reply to post by luciddream

Cause they "earned it"

In that case, I 'earned' the word "redneck" because of my cultural upbringing. It was a slur used to refer to my accent, my attitude towards life, and my lifestyle. It was, in that respect, no different than the word we are discussing. So I 'earned' redneck!

Have you ever referred to anyone as a redneck? If so, can I sue you? Can I get you fired? Can I drag your name through the mud?

The difference is that I won't do that, even if I could. I took the word and actually made it my name (I actually respond to it in public). Others can use it too; doesn't bother me. The slur use does, sometimes, but it's not because of the word.

The(proud)Redneck

Originally posted by luciddream
reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan

 

Cause they "earned it" lol

Nonsense. It is a double standard which does nothing but maintain racial tensions.

reply to post by TheRedneck


Nope never called anyone with a racial slur before.

Does the word Redneck and Ni**er(assuming i still cant say it) carry the same weight?

Would the general population agree?

Originally posted by luciddream
reply to post by undo

 

I don't picture people hanging from trees when i hear dumb blonde jokes. So it has a very little effete, im sure blondes would be like "im not that blonde"..

i'm that blonde. i use to hang upside down by my toes from the pole that goes along the top of swing sets. and climbing trees was good fun.

anyway, i think you know what i mean and are just having a laugh at my expense. i don't appreciate it, to be honest. but i can't force you not to tell blonde jokes.

reply to post by TheRedneck


I use the word fat in my username for a similar reason.

It is what I am (or, was). Not who I am.

reply to post by undo


There are lots of words I find repugnant...

I am just not willing to pass a law about any one word.

I just choose to control my own words. Not your's...

We have removed several words from the lexicon without the aid of laws.

Why is it so popular for people to make new laws?

I would love to see a Politician "repeal" 10 laws a day.

That is someone I could support. Great additions to this thread.

reply to post by luciddream

Does the word Redneck and Ni**er(assuming i still cant say it) carry the same weight?

I hate to think that there is a scale that qualifies whether a racial slur is 'bad' enough.

Just as hip hop singers and rappers may use the racial slur, but others can't.... it's just more excuses.

reply to post by butcherguy


Like i said, it would hard for someone who wasn't oppressed to find the weight of the word.

Its like crying terrorist and bombs without actually living in a war zone.

reply to post by luciddream

Does the word Redneck and Ni**er(assuming i still cant say it) carry the same weight?

The N-word comes from a bastrardization of the word "Negro" which is a shortened form of the technical word "Negroid." It came into use because of the "lazy tongue" common in the South. At it's conception, it simply meant "black person," but because slavery was so common, it also carried the slavery connotation... so did "Negro" or "black" at that time. After the Civil War, when a fight which was over representation and regionally-specific regulations (of which slavery was only one) was propagandized to be about slavery in the North, and after the war crimes committed against the civilian population of the South, and when Northern businessmen (carpetbaggers) were actively seeking to use the very laws the war was fought over to effectively steal property form Southern landowners, it became a serious slur. The carpetbaggers came down here, did their thieving, and left; the blacks were left as a reminder of the war.

(Incidentally, this is the same time the KKK became known for racial hatred... before this time, they were a Christian organization that defended women and children... vigilantes, but most would have called them good vigilantes at the time. The cross burning was a symbol to someone to stop doing what they were doing... beating their wives, refusing to support their family, etc.)

Over time, it regained it's original meaning and lost the slur aspect.

"Redneck" was a slur given to the remaining Southerners who were desperately trying to keep their land from being taken by the carpetbaggers. These rednecks usually spent all day stooped over in the fields trying to make enough to just pay taxes, and since there is a lot of Indian heritage here, the backs of their necks turned bright red.

(Other areas had the same word develop in different ways; this is how it originated here.)

Both terms were developed at the same time and both had racial slurs attached to them. There was no difference other than the group to which they were attached. One I can say without worry, even use as my username. The other I am afraid to post even in the technical discussion of how it originated.

So the short answer is "yes." Why does what other people think about the terms have anything to do with their history?

TheRedneck

Originally posted by luciddream
reply to post by butcherguy

 

Like i said, it would hard for someone who wasn't oppressed to find the weight of the word.

Its like crying terrorist and bombs without actually living in a war zone.

That amounts to my petulent teenager shouting "You just don't get me" through the door. It is nonsense.

We are all oppressed in one way or another. Try being an overweight lady at a job interview for secretary. Or a redhead wanting to work for Abercrombie and Fitch.

DO people really sit around and count the ways they are oppressed? It is just backwards thinking to me.

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan

Haha, I somehow figured as much.

You are a man who is proud of who he is, though; I can see that in your posts. That is someone I can respect.

TheRedneck

Originally posted by luciddream
reply to post by butcherguy

 

Like i said, it would hard for someone who wasn't oppressed to find the weight of the word.

Its like crying terrorist and bombs without actually living in a war zone.

You might find a white person that was beaten to death by a gang of black youths, just because he walked through the wrong neighborhood in Philadelphia... if you look hard enough for the news story.
Is that oppressed enough?
My point is that racism is racism.... we don't need to make one side seem less deserving of our caring by qualifying it.

Originally posted by luciddream


Also Cloud is a blond. But he is awesome

yes, yes he is.
www.youtube.com...

Originally posted by HairlessApe
reply to post by JohnPhoenix

 

Policing language is just plain wrong, regardless of how hurtful the language is. It's one step down from thought policing. "Free" my ass, there's nothing free about having to worry about what words we choose to say. Sexual harassment is obviously unacceptable though.

You'd serve time in prison for using the N-word here in the UK, we've had some pretty high profile cases recently where people have been jailed for using it on twitter.

Also a woman was locked up for using it on a bus.

Originally posted by TheRedneck
"

We attempt to not use it, since it has caused so much uproar, and it was at one time used as a slur. But those days are long gone, and it is nearly impossible to decide to suddenly stop using a word that has been a part of the common language.

TheRedneck

Suddenly? I was taught it was a bad word to use in 1970. I get it then, though. I had a black friend and my grandparents were shocked. I get that, but that was 1970. It's been over 40 years since 1970. There is nothing "suddenly" to it. She's had plenty of time, and she chose not to. Suddenly?

reply to post by usernameconspiracy

A conscious decision is sudden, regardless of what year it is. When an individual makes a conscious decision, the decision is made at a single moment in time, thus it is sudden.

Society is made of individuals, but individuals are not society.

Have you ever made a conscious decision that took 40 years?

TheRedneck