What is with the recent addiction to the use of the word "thug"?

Is it excitement of the opprotunity to cause an emotional reaction with a shiney new "N word"?

Add it to the list of words that some may use but others may not:
Comedian W. Kamau Bell says white people should be banned from mentioning MLK.

On Tuesday, comedian W. Kamau Bell said on Twitter that white people should be banned from mentioning Martin Luther King. Twitchy said liberals like Bell and actor Mark Ruffalo are "anxious" to see King's name removed from the discussion. "To help white people to find new ways to talk about racism we have to ban them from saying the words 'Martin', 'Luther', 'King', & 'junior'," he tweeted.

The word "THUG" is being used to deligitimize somebody or some people. Protesters can be called "thugs" if they get out of hand and start smashing things.

THUG means lawbreaker, vicious, gangster. If you call somebody a THUG you automatically just distanced yourself from them, and disapprove of them and their acts.

Thug. A word reported on by the BBC which may be of use...

In the wake of violence and unrest in Baltimore, media commentators as well as politicians - including President Barack Obama - called rioters "thugs", and were criticised for it. But the term has a much older history. In the US, "thug" is a loaded term.

BBC Source

a reply to: AreUKiddingMe

If you call somebody a THUG you automatically just distanced yourself from them, and disapprove of them and their acts.

Especially if you are law-abiding.

a reply to: Jefferton

I would have to say Hip Hop music made the term popular. "Thug, Criminal, Punk" it all means the same thing in one way or another. I just think Hip Hop artists defined the term with their violent lyrics. Every word has its mark with each generation like the word "cool," "da Bomb," "Sweet" etc.etc...

White people aren't thugs?

a reply to: Krazysh0t

So if I call them criminals instead of thugs am I still calling them the N word secretly? This whole race thing is getting really really complicated. If I see a white looter and call him a thug am I racist toward white people?

I hope this isn't gonna be a trend cause I already look like an idiot skipping all the N words in old school rap songs if I have to skip "thug" I'll look really stupid

a reply to: JDmOKI

I just said it is a dehumanizing tactic. Where did I mention anything about racism?

Its cute to see the excuses people come up with, im sure you guys can find examples in the past to prove that thug as always been used for criminals of all backgrounds.

Its like the new buzzword progressive the right uses, its a ploy to make them look smart.

a reply to: olaru12

Wonder what would happen if 100's of white folks started burning cars and stealing doritos?

The word thug sounds better than useful idiot,this is a staged event

a reply to: Jefferton

Because "thug" is easier to type and say than disinfranchised individual who does not have the same respect for life and/or property and you or I.

a reply to: Jefferton
I thought it was with the word "Robust".

originally posted by: Jefferton
Is it excitement of the opprotunity to cause an emotional reaction with a shiney new "N word"?

Yes. That's exactly it. It's the opportunity to call someone the N word without the social repercussions. Use of the word has blown up since the issue of 'cops killing unarmed black men' has been so popular.

a reply to: SlapMonkey

I didn't generalise.

I just wasn't specific with the word "some people"...
I should have been.


Forgive me.

& take your keyboard out you boxer shorts

originally posted by: Hoosierdaddy71
Rap icon Tupac used that word.

"When my heart beats, it screams THUG LIFE."

White people didn't start it.

Hahaha, the ignorance of a lot of people here is hilarious.

It wasn't a word for blacks created by tupac, it was based on the thugee gang in India, and popularised by the British when they were in India.

So basically white people did create the word thug, meaning criminals. Regardless of colour.

Wow really? So everyone thinks "thug" is a racist term now?

Thug
/THəɡ/

Noun

1. A violent person, especially a criminal. synonyms: ruffian, hooligan, vandal, hoodlum, gangster, villain, criminal; More informal: tough, bruiser, hardman, goon, heavy, enforcer, hired gun, hood "one of Capone's thugs"

2. Historical: a member of a religious organization of robbers and assassins in India. Devotees of the goddess Kali, the Thugs waylaid and strangled their victims, usually travelers, in a ritually prescribed manner. They were suppressed by the British in the 1830s.

Origin

Early 19th century: from Hindi ṭhag ‘swindler, thief,’ based on Sanskrit sthagati ‘he covers or conceals.’

If that's not clear enough, a "thug" is someone who uses violence, intimidation etc for his own gains. The only people bringing race into this are the people who claim to not be racists from what I can tell. I use the term "thug" and will continue to use it. Anyone who says the term has become the new N word is mindlessly pandering.

a reply to: Jefferton

Hold on a minute....when I say "thug" i am talking about someone who is generally short sighted, "walks hard" (if you don't know what that means....itll take a bit of explaining...but anyone with any US street smarts knows what it means), interacts with people in a predatory manner, even in the most insignificant and sublime ways, and doesn't seek honest employment as an answer to their socioeconomic troubles (if they can even identify them as "troubles", considering the aforementioned short sightedness).

I guess that for some it could be a code word for "black person". But in the town I live in only 2% of our community is black. The 'thugs" around here tend to be mostly white and hispanic folks.

Why did I start using the word "thug"? well....not all of them are gangbangers. So I cant call them gangbangers. I guess they could be called something like "trash", but i despise the notion that I would use a word to devalue someone as a human. No human is "trash". So cross that off the list. "Hoodlum" makes me think of a bunch of rioting soccer players, and envisioning Andy Capp doesn't quite cut it as a descriptive. I guess there's always "terrorist"....but Uncle Sam has that one kind of stuffed into a pigeon hole already, and is basically just code speak for a different race besides black folks.

What word would you recommend I replace it with? Should I just employ the fully descriptive sentence of, "Young man with his pants falling off that is trying to physically intimidate that elderly gentleman over there"?

originally posted by: Benevolent Heretic

originally posted by: Jefferton
Is it excitement of the opprotunity to cause an emotional reaction with a shiney new "N word"?

Yes. That's exactly it. It's the opportunity to call someone the N word without the social repercussions. Use of the word has blown up since the issue of 'cops killing unarmed black men' has been so popular.

Its a shame that people feel this way. Political correctness is robbing our lexicon a little at a time. In a few years, the word "thug" will be associated with only 1 race, thus pigeonholing the word and the people labelled with the word even more than today.

Even worse: the 'n word' that seems to command the fascination of our nation and media has become a lampoon of itself. Its a word that no one is suppose to use, but is still on just about every radio station in America everyday. It somewhat ironic that the exception is country music stations, since country music represents what is perceived as the most racist demographic in America, and the 'n word' is like the Excalibur of racist words.

Its a word that can ruin the career of the most powerful people in America based on an accusation with only a hint of hearsay or rumor as evidence, yet it is so pervasively used that I cannot go a single day without hearing it at least a dozen times despite it never being said directly to me, or directly by someone I am in the company of.

Do you ever just get sick and tired of being sick and tired?

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

If it is racist to associate "thug" with black americans, then by definition, all black americans who use that association are racist.

a reply to: beezzer

Racist is a subjective term. Kind of like "fat".

We can all agree that a 500lb man is fat, but there is absolutely disagreement over what is and is not fat. Its a subjective term, regardless of the occasions where consensus can generally be reached.