THUG

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Here's a question, and feel free to slap the shit out of me if it's retarded and/or unknowingly crossing some "racial rules" line:

Do we, as a society in general, have to sideline terms every time some teabillies decide to make it their "nigger du jour"?

Or are we better off ignoring that bullshit and those bullshit-spewers and not allowing the linguistic tropes of a minor outlier segment of society to become entangled with our everyday linguistic reality?

I mean, "thug" is a word, and it's not a word with any inherent racial meaning. I'm kinda feeling like I'm going to keep using it the way I always have and if I hear someone else using it as a racially-loaded placeholder term I'll address those situations individually rather than start pruning my own vocabulary to conform with some ever-changing notion of political correctness that's trying to keep up with the mouthbreathers' newest slang terms.

Otherwise, aren't we letting the terrorists win?

No, we certainly don't, and in my opinion shouldn't. But that is also not what this conversation is about. It's not about STOP USING THE WORD THUG IMMEDIATELY, it's about recognizing and naming the fact that some people ARE using it in a way that has strongly racist connotations. I also think that if you call something like that out early enough, it can be nipped in the bud.

I also know that just not saying anything about it while racists use their precious little code-words du jour just makes them feel totally free to go on doing so; in cases like that, silence is tacit approval.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Here's a question, and feel free to slap the shit out of me if it's retarded and/or unknowingly crossing some "racial rules" line:

Do we, as a society in general, have to sideline terms every time some teabillies decide to make it their "nigger du jour"?

Or are we better off ignoring that bullshit and those bullshit-spewers and not allowing the linguistic tropes of a minor outlier segment of society to become entangled with our everyday linguistic reality?

I mean, "thug" is a word, and it's not a word with any inherent racial meaning. I'm kinda feeling like I'm going to keep using it the way I always have and if I hear someone else using it as a racially-loaded placeholder term I'll address those situations individually rather than start pruning my own vocabulary to conform with some ever-changing notion of political correctness that's trying to keep up with the mouthbreathers' newest slang terms.

Otherwise, aren't we letting the terrorists win?

PC is logic-proof.
Don't try to fight it.

Oh go fuck yourself.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Here's a question, and feel free to slap the shit out of me if it's retarded and/or unknowingly crossing some "racial rules" line:

Do we, as a society in general, have to sideline terms every time some teabillies decide to make it their "nigger du jour"?

Or are we better off ignoring that bullshit and those bullshit-spewers and not allowing the linguistic tropes of a minor outlier segment of society to become entangled with our everyday linguistic reality?

I mean, "thug" is a word, and it's not a word with any inherent racial meaning. I'm kinda feeling like I'm going to keep using it the way I always have and if I hear someone else using it as a racially-loaded placeholder term I'll address those situations individually rather than start pruning my own vocabulary to conform with some ever-changing notion of political correctness that's trying to keep up with the mouthbreathers' newest slang terms.

Otherwise, aren't we letting the terrorists win?

PC is logic-proof.
Don't try to fight it.

I don't know if you intended to be spectacularly dismissive of this topic and of all other cases where people who historically get the short end of the stick speak up and say "hey, actually, we find that really demeaning", but that's how it came across.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Here's a question, and feel free to slap the shit out of me if it's retarded and/or unknowingly crossing some "racial rules" line:

Do we, as a society in general, have to sideline terms every time some teabillies decide to make it their "nigger du jour"?

Or are we better off ignoring that bullshit and those bullshit-spewers and not allowing the linguistic tropes of a minor outlier segment of society to become entangled with our everyday linguistic reality?

I mean, "thug" is a word, and it's not a word with any inherent racial meaning. I'm kinda feeling like I'm going to keep using it the way I always have and if I hear someone else using it as a racially-loaded placeholder term I'll address those situations individually rather than start pruning my own vocabulary to conform with some ever-changing notion of political correctness that's trying to keep up with the mouthbreathers' newest slang terms.

Otherwise, aren't we letting the terrorists win?

PC is logic-proof.
Don't try to fight it.

I'm a curious guy, so I gotta ask...What was going through your head when you decided that the above post was a good idea?



I mean, you are aware of what you just actually said, right?

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Here's a question, and feel free to slap the shit out of me if it's retarded and/or unknowingly crossing some "racial rules" line:

Do we, as a society in general, have to sideline terms every time some teabillies decide to make it their "nigger du jour"?

No, but it's good to know what they're actually saying.

In my case, because I can use that knowledge to flog the fuck out of teabaggers on Facebook and in Oro Valley.

[Ben Shapiro]

This thread delivers!

[LMNO]

Cain, I was just watching the Dishonored clip, and noticed what the title was of the guy who led you to Slackjaw. 

[East Coast Hustle]

Here's a question, and feel free to slap the shit out of me if it's retarded and/or unknowingly crossing some "racial rules" line:

Do we, as a society in general, have to sideline terms every time some teabillies decide to make it their "nigger du jour"?

Or are we better off ignoring that bullshit and those bullshit-spewers and not allowing the linguistic tropes of a minor outlier segment of society to become entangled with our everyday linguistic reality?

I mean, "thug" is a word, and it's not a word with any inherent racial meaning. I'm kinda feeling like I'm going to keep using it the way I always have and if I hear someone else using it as a racially-loaded placeholder term I'll address those situations individually rather than start pruning my own vocabulary to conform with some ever-changing notion of political correctness that's trying to keep up with the mouthbreathers' newest slang terms.

Otherwise, aren't we letting the terrorists win?

No, we certainly don't, and in my opinion shouldn't. But that is also not what this conversation is about. It's not about STOP USING THE WORD THUG IMMEDIATELY, it's about recognizing and naming the fact that some people ARE using it in a way that has strongly racist connotations. I also think that if you call something like that out early enough, it can be nipped in the bud.

I also know that just not saying anything about it while racists use their precious little code-words du jour just makes them feel totally free to go on doing so; in cases like that, silence is tacit approval.

Oh, absolutely. We appear to be on the exact same page, then, I just don't comprehend all that well early in the morning.

[Cain]

Cain, I was just watching the Dishonored clip, and noticed what the title was of the guy who led you to Slackjaw.

You'll notice both the black and white guys are thugs, too.

But then, Dunwall is 19th century London, just with more plague.  And Londoners loved call people thugs.  The understanding of the British colonial authorities, that the Thugges formed a professional criminal underclass, found a lot of reflection in Victorian sociology and fear of underclass unrest in the UK.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Here's a question, and feel free to slap the shit out of me if it's retarded and/or unknowingly crossing some "racial rules" line:

Do we, as a society in general, have to sideline terms every time some teabillies decide to make it their "nigger du jour"?

Or are we better off ignoring that bullshit and those bullshit-spewers and not allowing the linguistic tropes of a minor outlier segment of society to become entangled with our everyday linguistic reality?

I mean, "thug" is a word, and it's not a word with any inherent racial meaning. I'm kinda feeling like I'm going to keep using it the way I always have and if I hear someone else using it as a racially-loaded placeholder term I'll address those situations individually rather than start pruning my own vocabulary to conform with some ever-changing notion of political correctness that's trying to keep up with the mouthbreathers' newest slang terms.

Otherwise, aren't we letting the terrorists win?

No, we certainly don't, and in my opinion shouldn't. But that is also not what this conversation is about. It's not about STOP USING THE WORD THUG IMMEDIATELY, it's about recognizing and naming the fact that some people ARE using it in a way that has strongly racist connotations. I also think that if you call something like that out early enough, it can be nipped in the bud.

I also know that just not saying anything about it while racists use their precious little code-words du jour just makes them feel totally free to go on doing so; in cases like that, silence is tacit approval.

Oh, absolutely. We appear to be on the exact same page, then, I just don't comprehend all that well early in the morning.

I hear that.

One of the other benefits of pointing this shit out is that it makes it less likely that it will seep into the popular lexicon as an unconsciously derogatory synonym for "black guy" by people who actually don't want to be racist. It doesn't mean it isn't still appropriately used to mean "person who physically intimidates or threatens people, usually for money". I mean, Blackwater thugs are still thugs.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

This most recent usage began when Bush equated "Thug" with "Smudgy-Skinned Terrorists" in his efforts to associate Iraq with 911.

[Cain]

Here's an interesting academic article, which doesn't appear to be paywalled http://www.sagepub.com/gabbidonstudy/articles/Welch.pdf

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Here's an interesting academic article, which doesn't appear to be paywalled http://www.sagepub.com/gabbidonstudy/articles/Welch.pdf

Oooh, thanks Cain!

[Cain]

I thought this was a killer sentence:

In fact, perceptions about the presumed racial identity of criminals may be so ingrained in public consciousness that race does not even need to be specifically mentioned for a connection to be made between the two because it seems that “talking about crime is talking about race” (Barlow, 1998, p. 151).

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I thought this was a killer sentence:

In fact, perceptions about the presumed racial identity of criminals may be so ingrained in public consciousness that race does not even need to be specifically mentioned for a connection to be made between the two because it seems that “talking about crime is talking about race” (Barlow, 1998, p. 151).

Totally. And the statistic that when no criminal suspect is shown, 42% of viewers still remember there being a suspect, and two thirds of those recall the suspect as black.

Chilling.