CLEVELAND (TDB) -- The newspaper management's account of the internal wrangling before it reached the decision is reported by reader rep Ted Diadiun. His column drew a retort from Gawker, which questioned the reasoning:
"If the Ohio newspaper wants to take political correctness to an extreme, fine. For consistency's sake, the PC police might want to do a purge of the Plain Dealer's archives, where there are several instances of the n-word making it through intact onto the the page."
My own history at The Plain Dealer: I used the the n-word once in print (that I recall), as a quote in a 1988 piece about Jesse Jackson's run in the Democratic presidential primary. A white senior citizen in Ironton said he planned to vote for Jackson, despite the fact the candidate was a n-----. His words surprised me and it was a quote that I never expected to see reach print. The geezer's point seemed to be that he thought Jackson was right on a lot of the issues though he didn't like the candidate's skin color. There was quite a flap after the quote appeared. And rightly so.
Showing posts with label N-Word. Show all posts
Showing posts with label N-Word. Show all posts
Monday, January 21, 2008
Thursday, August 23, 2007
NRA Board Member Ted Nugent: Rocker Uses The N-Word And May Run For Michigan Governor
[UPDATE: 8/25; 3:17 PM edt -- Ted Nugent has gone totally 'round the bend. Check out the YouTUBE Clip where he wants Obama to suck on a rifle and Hillary to ride the business end of an automatic weapon. Gov. Arnold and Sen. Feinstein also get targeted by Machine Gun Ted who looks as unstrung as a busted guitar. Nugent sounds like a rightwing a sicko off his meds. H/T to Buckeye State Blog for finding the item.]
CLEVELAND (TDB) -- Even with some 30 million records sold, rocker Ted Nugent hasn't been elected to the Rock Hall on Lake Erie. The National Rifle Association board member, instead, has his eyes on another target -- the Michigan governor's mansion. He also was described as using some pretty pungent language about black people in a story published by the British news service Reuters, language that appears to have been so racially offensive its exact description was avoided.
The word starts with "n" and ends with "r" -- the N-word. About Michigan, his home state, Nugent remarked:
"Now the pimps and the whores and the welfare brats are basically the state's babies."
Reuters went on to report that the rock singer/guitarist is thinking about campaigning for governor in 2010, and noted he defended his frequent use of a "racial epithet" that is a highly denigrating term about blacks.
"Nugent refused to mince words and often uses a racial epithet to describe blacks that normally mean political suicide. He says his embrace of the word reflects his respect for the black contribution to rock and roll and has another expletive for anyone who disagrees with him."
He's used the N-word before, and is known for making intemperate remarks. If Nugent does become a politician, he won't be welcomed by Democrats. Nor would Republicans want someone who contends a racial epithet is a term of respect for fellow citizens who don't share his skin color. He might be welcomed by the KKK.
How long will the NRA put up with his antics? Sure, he's a noted gun buff and hunter, but how many respectable Second Amendment supporters want to have someone who openly uses racial slurs as a high-profile representative of their cause?
Bottomline: The fever from the famous catch scratch seems to have affected Ted Nugent's brain, it doesn't seem to function normally at all anymore. Ted is brain dead -- that might turn out to be the first line of a rhyme that costs him millions of votes.
CLEVELAND (TDB) -- Even with some 30 million records sold, rocker Ted Nugent hasn't been elected to the Rock Hall on Lake Erie. The National Rifle Association board member, instead, has his eyes on another target -- the Michigan governor's mansion. He also was described as using some pretty pungent language about black people in a story published by the British news service Reuters, language that appears to have been so racially offensive its exact description was avoided.
The word starts with "n" and ends with "r" -- the N-word. About Michigan, his home state, Nugent remarked:
"Now the pimps and the whores and the welfare brats are basically the state's babies."
Reuters went on to report that the rock singer/guitarist is thinking about campaigning for governor in 2010, and noted he defended his frequent use of a "racial epithet" that is a highly denigrating term about blacks.
"Nugent refused to mince words and often uses a racial epithet to describe blacks that normally mean political suicide. He says his embrace of the word reflects his respect for the black contribution to rock and roll and has another expletive for anyone who disagrees with him."
He's used the N-word before, and is known for making intemperate remarks. If Nugent does become a politician, he won't be welcomed by Democrats. Nor would Republicans want someone who contends a racial epithet is a term of respect for fellow citizens who don't share his skin color. He might be welcomed by the KKK.
How long will the NRA put up with his antics? Sure, he's a noted gun buff and hunter, but how many respectable Second Amendment supporters want to have someone who openly uses racial slurs as a high-profile representative of their cause?
Bottomline: The fever from the famous catch scratch seems to have affected Ted Nugent's brain, it doesn't seem to function normally at all anymore. Ted is brain dead -- that might turn out to be the first line of a rhyme that costs him millions of votes.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
On Ohio's Plunderbund: The N-Word Gets Used, NAACP Gets Ripped
CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Why would anybody want to use the N-word, to write it or say it? An Ohio blog, Plunderbund, has taken issue with the NAACP's burying the N-Word protest in Detroit. Plunderbund called it "cheesy," which is one way of describing an event designed, scripted and intended to have a cultural impact.
Under the Plunderbund standard, one supposes, Gandhi's and MLK's actions that argued for the dignity of mankind were just another slice of Roquefort.
[UPDATE: 7:57 PM EDT: There's another apparition of the N-word on the always provocative Cincinnati Black Blog, where it manifests itself as a five-letter variant. This time it appears under a caption referring to Ohio State Sen. Eric Kearney, D-9, a lawmaker who is described as wondering about the sanity of Christoper Smitherman, the Cincinnati NAACP chapter president. Yes, it is down to five letters, hopefully a portent it has shriveled and may leave all of us refreshingly free of old stereotypes.]
But was Plunderbund guilty of cheese-manufacturing itself? Did it have to use the hateful six-letter slur to try and make its point -- that it is probably futile to try to drive a fetid racist expression out of the English language for all time. Did it use the malodorous N-word merely to attract attention?
The N-word is supposed to denigrate the person at which it is aimed. But its force for evil is such that it also lowers to the gutter the utterer. Plunderbund is a great blog -- and the opinions expressed therein have a record of being progressive and powerful. But Plunderbund, please stay away from the N-word. Don't use it. Don't write it. Please don't allow it ever again to creep into your mind and intrude upon your mental processes.
Remember always: The N-word is dead and gone. This time the NAACP got it right and you got it wrong.
Under the Plunderbund standard, one supposes, Gandhi's and MLK's actions that argued for the dignity of mankind were just another slice of Roquefort.
[UPDATE: 7:57 PM EDT: There's another apparition of the N-word on the always provocative Cincinnati Black Blog, where it manifests itself as a five-letter variant. This time it appears under a caption referring to Ohio State Sen. Eric Kearney, D-9, a lawmaker who is described as wondering about the sanity of Christoper Smitherman, the Cincinnati NAACP chapter president. Yes, it is down to five letters, hopefully a portent it has shriveled and may leave all of us refreshingly free of old stereotypes.]
But was Plunderbund guilty of cheese-manufacturing itself? Did it have to use the hateful six-letter slur to try and make its point -- that it is probably futile to try to drive a fetid racist expression out of the English language for all time. Did it use the malodorous N-word merely to attract attention?
The N-word is supposed to denigrate the person at which it is aimed. But its force for evil is such that it also lowers to the gutter the utterer. Plunderbund is a great blog -- and the opinions expressed therein have a record of being progressive and powerful. But Plunderbund, please stay away from the N-word. Don't use it. Don't write it. Please don't allow it ever again to creep into your mind and intrude upon your mental processes.
Remember always: The N-word is dead and gone. This time the NAACP got it right and you got it wrong.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
U. of Dayton Research: N-Word Often Used By Whites
DAYTON (TDB) -- A University of Dayton sociology professor has written a book with a Texas A&M colleague that says whites use the N-word often in settings where blacks are not present. The researchers say ugly racial stereotypes are commonly expressed during whites-only conversations. In short, the book contends people of color are disparaged today with the kind of offensive language what was openly used in the 1940s.
''People argue that the N-word no longer has racial meaning, but it's very common and very prevalent and they do seem to know the racial significance of it," said Leslie H. Picca, an assistant professor of sociology at the Catholic school in Ohio. "These are white, educated students -- the kind of people we generally believe are less racist. It was heartbreaking, just heartbreaking, to see how frequent, how common and how harshly these racial stereotypes are being perpetuated."
Her findings are based on written journals maintained during the 2002-2003 school year by 626 white college students. They students were on campuses across the nation, but the sites have not yet been made public. The co-author of the book is Joe R. Feagin at Texas A&M. Their book is Two Faced Racism: Whites in the Backstage and Frontstage. It is due for release this spring by Routledge Publishing.
The authors said they found one student who heard the n-word 27 times in a single day, and they conclude that whites talk about blacks they way they did over the past 40 to 60 years. The project was designed to examine how whites used racially offensive language when they were in private groups. Most of the students were between ages 18 and 25, and nearly all grew up in the post-civil rights era.
Feagin said 9,000 accounts were collected in the journals, and about 75 percent denigrated blacks, 10 percent were aimed at Hispanics and the rest were offensive toward Arabs, Jews and other groups. He delivered a lecture in 2005 that DISCUSSED the findings before they were prepared for the upcoming book.
Picca said in a school news release about her research that white women students sometimes object to prejudicial language, but the objectors themselves can become targets for insults. Her study about white in private moments contradicts the findings of public opinion surveys of whites who say they have become more tolerant. The University of Dayton's news release about the forthcoming book is available HERE.
''People argue that the N-word no longer has racial meaning, but it's very common and very prevalent and they do seem to know the racial significance of it," said Leslie H. Picca, an assistant professor of sociology at the Catholic school in Ohio. "These are white, educated students -- the kind of people we generally believe are less racist. It was heartbreaking, just heartbreaking, to see how frequent, how common and how harshly these racial stereotypes are being perpetuated."
Her findings are based on written journals maintained during the 2002-2003 school year by 626 white college students. They students were on campuses across the nation, but the sites have not yet been made public. The co-author of the book is Joe R. Feagin at Texas A&M. Their book is Two Faced Racism: Whites in the Backstage and Frontstage. It is due for release this spring by Routledge Publishing.
The authors said they found one student who heard the n-word 27 times in a single day, and they conclude that whites talk about blacks they way they did over the past 40 to 60 years. The project was designed to examine how whites used racially offensive language when they were in private groups. Most of the students were between ages 18 and 25, and nearly all grew up in the post-civil rights era.
Feagin said 9,000 accounts were collected in the journals, and about 75 percent denigrated blacks, 10 percent were aimed at Hispanics and the rest were offensive toward Arabs, Jews and other groups. He delivered a lecture in 2005 that DISCUSSED the findings before they were prepared for the upcoming book.
Picca said in a school news release about her research that white women students sometimes object to prejudicial language, but the objectors themselves can become targets for insults. Her study about white in private moments contradicts the findings of public opinion surveys of whites who say they have become more tolerant. The University of Dayton's news release about the forthcoming book is available HERE.
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