Posted on 11/13/2012 2:11:43 PM PST by Mozilla
I do not believe that Obama is a particularly nice man more like a cross between a leftwing demagogue, hardened union boss, and Neville Chamberlain....that is plenty bad enough to have in the Oval office.
Like "cracker, whitey, or honky"?
Most Caucasians I know have been civil for decades. I don't see anyone else coming around on that point.
Not, mind you, that I will be less civil, but enough of giving one group a pass and holding the bar higher for another.
Double standards do nothing but cause enmity in the future--one of the reasons relations are deteriorating instead of improving.
I remember people hanging Sarah Palin in effigy in Weho. I remember people calling Bush a chimp, and chimpy. And the treatment of Condoleeza Rice, man... Yeah, it’s definitely only a sin if we do it.
“The freedom of speech does not protect one from the repercussions of its misuse.”
Yeah, just ask anyone who suffered repurcussions from threatening Bush.
Oh, wait . . .
I agree that there should not a double standard on such words. Of coure words like “whitey” shouldn’t be used either.
And I agree that most white people have been civil for decades.
Still don’t think white people should use that word.
Historically, there is no comparison. As a race, we have treated blacks badly in this country, so the word carries the weight of all that sorrowful history. We’re not responsible for it individually, but we shouldn’t perpetuate the anguish by using that unspeakable word that has been uttered in hatred and caused so much pain.
I have worked with words my entire adult life. They have different meanings in different contexts. I am quite tired of that argument that black people use the word so it’s okay if we use it.
The people who are arguing for no more double standards—i.e., black people shouldn’t use “whitey” and the like—have a better case.
Even that does not mean two wrongs make a right. Are we back in grade school that we still don’t understand that saying?
Yes, I pointed out the same double standard in post 4.
I do not believe however rights stem from egalitarianism...if a little boy sees his brother sneak a cookie from the jar, it does not give the little boy the right to sneak a cookie for himself even though it understandably offends the little boy's sense of justice.
Agreed, but we should demand similar civility on all fronts. We have that right as well.
A dwindling fraction of the population even recalls Jim Crow, much less slavery, and I won't even get into the myriad misconceptions summarily perpetrated about the latter.
If we are indeed ever to become unhyphenated Americans again we need to make a clean break, not give one group a pass, which only creates fresh resentment.
Sounds like another leftist trying to make conservatives look bad.
We certainly have a right to voice our opinion.
It also might be all right to give this one group a pass—not on calling other people names but on using language that has its own meaning for them as they like, and not acting as if that were a pass to use the word wrongly.
My opinion.
Your lifetime of experience with linguistics, while no doubt fascinating (words interest me, as well) doesn’t change the fact that the screaming outrage over use of the n-word is manufactured and hypocritical. If we’re going to allow ourselves to be manipulated that way, then we need to be consistent, and we must start shrieking the next time we hear someone use the term “wop.”
Two wrongs do not make a right; you’re correct. In the same vein, one wrong is no worse than another when it comes to racial/ethnic slurs, no matter how successfully one particular group has been portrayed as a victim.
And I utterly reject the foolishness that blacks can address each other routinely with the word, while wanting to hang whites for it. Be cowed into that mindset if you wish.
For the love of all that is holy....
Has it not occurred to you that giving blacks one pass after another has been disastrous?
It seems white guilt has even penetrated FR, sadly.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.