Michael Richards loses it

[tabs]

Back at least to the 40s, when someone would say how honest, or kind you were, they would say.."Thats mighty White of you."

You would hear that line in the movies from the 30s and early 40s...it probably goes back much further. Its kinda of a backhanded discrimination.

[Dottore]

Originally posted by Nathans_Dad


All racial slurs serve to divide people, whether used by white, black, hispanic, indian, whatever. It is divisive for blacks to call each other "niggas" but get upset when a white person uses the same word.

...Well, I can assure you, when Robin Williams makes racial slurs about absolutely everyone, it not only does not divide people, it unites them. People loved it - because it underscores the idiocy of discrimination based on race or color.

Blacks calling each other niggas is a very strange phenomenan - but I think "the" has explained it very well.

I had a Chinese grilfriend in highschool. When she got really angry with her sister she would call her a "f__king Chink". Go figure.

[the]

Originally posted by tabs
Back at least to the 40s, when someone would say how honest, or kind you were, they would say.."Thats mighty White of you."

You would hear that line in the movies from the 30s and early 40s...it probably goes back much further. Its kinda of a backhanded discrimination.

Thanks, but I still am not clear what your specific point was in saying it to me. Can you make it more concrete for me?

[VaSteve]

Originally posted by tobster1911
I agree with everything you said to some degree. Here is what I think fuels the double standard argument.

While your reasons maybe valid for the older generations, the new generations have no reason except to perpetrate the "victim" mentality. Sometimes use the N word among themselves??? Have you listened to any rap songs lately? Listened to any of the thug, gangsta wannabee punks? They purposefully preserve the term (by using it among themselves) as a means of justifying their actions when someone else uses it because "they" were victims of the white man.

You want to talk victims. How about Jew's. They were victims in Germany, but how many of them have preserved some pet slur and now use it as a description of themselves? I am 1/2 Jewish and don't know any.

This is kind of what I was getting at.

posted by theGiven the historical context, there just is not word a black can use against a white that has any real emotional impact. "Cracker" or "whitey" seems to be about the best that anyone can come up with, but they have no meaning or impact.

Agreed. Unless it was said in a menacing manner, I don't think there's anyway to find this offensive. I would be more offended to be called a "racist" than either of these terms. I think that has actual hurt behind it. However, that term has been thrown around so much in the past few years I don't think it has as much true meaning. People are willing to whip that out pretty quick.

This is a question that *I* cannot answer. Is it less or more offensive to report on the MR story using the term ""N-word"" versus an actual quote. It's just a word in story at that point. The FCC just passed a rule that said your could repeat a swear if it's part of a quote instead of using [expletive]. Maybe it's to protect kids hearing it.

[CJFusco]

Originally posted by dd74
Hey CJ, sans the canned analysis you make about Tarantino with pace and momentum, sound and music and dialogue - blah, blah, blah; let's get to the heart of the issue with the pure fact that had it not been for Harvey Keitel, Reservoir Dogs, partly because of its content, would have never been made. Had it also not been for Harvey Keitel, RD, would have received an NC-17 rating. Had it not been for Keitel financing much of Reservoir Dogs and taking on the financial risk, partly because he wanted to regenerate his own snoozing career, Reservoir Dogs would not have been made.

So save all the undergrad film school regurgitation; you're missing the point of the business by confusing it with tech stuff that doesn't matter if the film can't be made at all.

As for Pulp Fiction, your mention of that film proves what, exactly? That Tarantino has a legal obligation to fulfill a previously established contract with Miramax? That the movie was ten to twelve years old and produced in a much different time than movies today? As I said, try pitching a movie like that TODAY, not ten years ago.

I think you're missing the point. My point was that it was RESERVOIR DOG's success that allowed Tarantino to make PULP FICTION - which I still insist wasn't even remotely racially-charged!

You seem angry for no good reason.

[nostatic]

I don't see why this is so hard to understand. Or maybe I do.

Only recently have blacks achieved anything near equality with whites.

There is no equivalence between a black comedian using terms like "cracker" and a white comedian using terms like "nigger." Period. It's easy to invoke the "unfair double standard" argument when you're white and have enjoyed white privelige for all of your life.

[Nathans_Dad]

So racism is ok as long as you aren't white...gotcha.

[nostatic]

Originally posted by Nathans_Dad
So racism is ok as long as you aren't white...gotcha.

that isn't what I said. But interesting that you jump to the extreme/defensive state, eh?

Racism is to be avoided. But it isn't just a black/white issue (pun intended). White seem to want to make it one now...funny how 50 years ago it was OK to have legislated racism.

[Nathans_Dad]

Well, then what exactly do you mean when you say it is ok for a black comedian to use the word cracker or another racial slur against whites but it isn't ok for a white comedian to use the word nigger? Is it ok for a black comedian to use racial slurs against orientals or hispanics too or is it just against whites?

Why is it so tough for people to simply say that using racial slurs is not right PERIOD and quit making excuses for certain parties?

[nostatic]

Originally posted by Nathans_Dad


Why is it so tough for people to simply say that using racial slurs is not right PERIOD and quit making excuses for certain parties?

that's easy to say when you weren't the race/culture that was enslaved/oppressed for hundreds of years...

"yo, our bad. Let's just call it even, ok?"

I'm not saying it is right, but it is reality...

[Nathans_Dad]

That's true, Nostatic, but that kind of thinking is exactly how things like genocide occur when they are taken to the extreme. It's exactly what's going on right now in Iraq. The Shi'ites were oppressed for decades by the Sunnis and now the Shi'ites want to kill every Sunni they can.

Is that right? Is it ok for them to do that because they were oppressed?

Why is it a good thing for people to continue to foster their feelings of hatred towards a race because that race oppressed them in the past?

[nostatic]

on some level maybe it is better that people at least say what they're feeling as opposed to just killing blindly. If Richard's tirade gets people talking about the racism that still exists in this country, then maybe it can be dealt with.

I don't think the Iraq situation is a direct parallel. There a more significant (and faster) transition of power took place in a very chaotic environment. The change here has been much more slow and gradual, and the US isn't a war-torn nation (yet).

[the]

Originally posted by Nathans_Dad

Why is it so tough for people to simply say that using racial slurs is not right PERIOD and quit making excuses for certain parties?

It's not so black and white (pun intended). There are different levels of wrong.

The "n" word just happens to be, for historical reasons, the ultimate racial slur, the atomic bomb of racial slurs. When used with malice, it conjures up a lot of historical ugliness that no other slur can.

I think there would be outrage in other contexts, too. If Will Smith went ballistic and lost control during a standup and started went on an explitive laced tirade against a hispanic, using "spic," "wetback," etc., it would be on the news. It would be surprising. Just like it's surprising to see loveable Kramer go off like that.

Racial slurs just don't really work against whites. Here in the US, there just isn't any historical context to give them any meat. They may still be wrong, but just not anywhere near as wrong.

[the]

Originally posted by Nathans_Dad

Why is it a good thing for people to continue to foster their feelings of hatred towards a race because that race oppressed them in the past?

It's definately not. Who said it was?

[Sonic dB]

These Pretzels are Making Me Thirsty

[Nathans_Dad]

My point is that the black community, by encouraging the use of these racial slurs are deliberatly trying to keep the past trangressions in the forefront of their culture. It's like ripping the wound open every time. For some reason it seems the black community wants to keep their wounds open and do everything they can to prevent healing.

Why is that?

[azasadny]

Originally posted by Sonic dB
These Pretzels are Making Me Thirsty

+1!!!!

[the]

Originally posted by Nathans_Dad
My point is that the black community, by encouraging the use of these racial slurs are deliberatly trying to keep the past trangressions in the forefront of their culture. It's like ripping the wound open every time. For some reason it seems the black community wants to keep their wounds open and do everything they can to prevent healing.

Why is that?

I guess I disagree with your presumptions.

I do not think that the "black community" encourages the use of racial slurs. Do some? Sure. Does the entire "black community" or even most the "black community?" Not in my experience, growing up in a very mixed race environment.

I also don't think the "black community" wants to keep their wounds open and do everything to prevent healing, Again, not in my experience.

I think your experiences are giving you a view of the millions of people that comprise the "black community" that may not be accurate.

[Dottore]

Originally posted by Nathans_Dad
Well, then what exactly do you mean when you say it is ok for a black comedian to use the word cracker or another racial slur against whites but it isn't ok for a white comedian to use the word nigger? Is it ok for a black comedian to use racial slurs against orientals or hispanics too or is it just against whites?

PLEASE READ the long post from "the" which is posted above (about 20 posts ago).

He addresses this question very thoughtfully and convincingly - yet you keep asking the same question.

What is it you do not get?

[GettinHeadStuds]

Wow.