Posted on 05/06/2015 4:30:05 AM PDT by SJackson
ThugThere is a split in America and its as wide as the Grand Canyon.
We can look at whats been going on in Baltimore and depending on what team were on, we see what we want to see. Liberals, black and white, see poor people who have had enough. It wasnt a riot to some on the left. It was an uprising, the actual word used by a left wing professor on CNN.
Conservatives, yes, mainly white, but more than a few blacks too, see dysfunction. They see crime and drugs and kids dropping out of school. What entrepreneur, they wonder, wants to invest in such a community. They dont see an uprising they see a riot.
Liberals shake their heads. Conservatives just dont get it, they think. This is what the great divide in America looks like.
And now six Baltimore police officers have been charged in the death of Freddie Gray, whose spine was severed and who died in police custody. In Baltimore, there were celebrations in the streets when they heard the news.
Its a safe bet that a lot of other Americans arent celebrating. If the police did something wrong, they want them to pay a price. But Im pretty sure a lot of Americans are wondering why Freddie Gray ran from the police in the first place, resulting in a chase and his arrest and subsequent death. Lets be clear: Youre allowed to run from a cop who hasnt charged you with any crime. But if youre a cop, in a neighborhood known for drugs and crime, you wonder why this guy is running and you chase after him.
And in the midst of all this, in case you hadnt noticed, theres a debate playing out on cable television, a debate stemming from the mayhem in Baltimore.
Heres the question at the heart of the debate: Is the word thug the new N word?
Seriously.
If this were a Saturday Night Live routine, it might be funny. Thats its a question taken seriously on television news programs, is sad.
Here is Alex Wagner, a host on MSNBC, to Brittney Cooper from the liberal online magazine, Salon:
To the use of the word [thug] itself, Brittney, I mean, I think there are folks like CNNs Erin Burnett who dont understand why its offensive, and why some people are saying the T word is the new N word. Give us your take.
To which, Ms. Cooper replies:
Sure. Its rooted in a racialized understanding of black people. So, for instance, no one is calling the police who put this kid in a van and snapped his spine and crushed his voicebox thugs right? Theyre only applying it to acts of violence against property right? Acts of and sure, acts of harassment, sure acts of anger. But when are we going to have the language to talk about the systemic violence that white folks do in the name of anti-blackness and white supremacy in this country? We dont have a language for that.
I saw a similar discussion on CNN, where liberal professor Marc Lamont Hill didnt like the word thug either and while were on the subject, hes the one who thought what was going on in Baltimore was an uprising not a riot.
Now to the Erin Burnett reference. Heres an exchange between Ms. Burnett and Baltimore City Councilman Carl Stokes.
Erin Burnett: Isnt it the right word?
Councilman Stokes: No, of course its not the right word to call our children, thugs. These are children who have been set aside, marginalized, who have not been engaged by us. No, we dont have to call them thugs.
Erin Burnett: But how does that justify what they did? I mean, thats a sense of right and wrong. They know its wrong to steal and burn down a CVS and an old persons home. I mean, come on.
Councilman Stokes: Come on? So calling them thugs just call them niggers. Just call them niggers. No, we dont have to call them by names such as that. We dont have to do that. Thats exactly what weve sent them to. When you say come on, come on what? You wouldnt call your a child a thug if they did something which was not what youd expect them to do.
Erin Burnett: Look, I respect your point of view. I would hope I would call my son a thug if he ever did such a thing.
Good for Erin Burnett; good for her for not doing what so many liberal reporters do to show their good racial manners: She didnt agree or start stammering just because the councilman is black.
My pal Bill OReilly has a column [nearby] on this subject, and in it he also took note of Councilmans Stokes aversion to the word thug. So what would the esteemed councilman call young men who smashed the windows of his clothing store and cleaned out the joint? Perhaps he would characterize them as undocumented shoppers. Or he might reach way back to West Side Story and those timeless lyrics by Stephen Sondheim: Hey, Im depraved on account Im deprived.
I wish the councilman and others who take offense to the word thug would go back and watch those old Hollywood gangster movies. Every thug in those movies is a white guy.
And just for laughs, Google the words Thug Life and guess what youll find: pictures of a bunch of young black men showing off their bling. posing and preening, languishing in the image that they are thugs!
So whats going on here? How about this? If critics of the T word can convince enough people that rioters arent thugs, that they arent even criminals, then they can more easily portray them as victims victims of a white culture that has left them behind in crummy neighborhoods devoid of jobs and hope. This is precisely why Professor Hill calls it an uprising instead of a riot. The looters are just throwing off their shackles, theyre just fighting back.
Early on during the mayhem in Baltimore, City Council President Bernard Young, a black man, called the rioters thugs. He later apologized, saying Theyre not thugs. Theyre just misdirected.
Like I said, if this were a Saturday Night Live routine it might be funny.
A final note about those six police officers charged in Freddie Grays death: At this point, we dont know what happened. A trial will determine that. But if those officers did something to cause Grays death, then theyre thugs too regardless of their race.
THUG THUG THUG.
And the indoctrination continues unchecked...
I thought it was rooted in a murderous Hindu cult.
CC
Takes this OpEd article and replace every mention of the word “thug” with “nigger” then ask: “Does it make sense?”
I can’t stand to watch Goldberg, with his insufferable, marble-mouthed stumbling, bumbling parsing of beliefs and fence-straddling. It’s as if he’s still hoping to land a gig at another liberal TV network.
The new N word starts with a J and is journalist.
We must not ever, never , ever say journalist. The only acceptable term is presstitute
Just because someone is black does not give them the right to tell me what words I can and cannot use.
Next?
Here on FR, we've long had a term for out-of-control law enforcement who violate people's rights: JBT (Jack Booted Thugs).
I’m reverting to the original N word. It is what it is.
They're not anti-social, only anti-work!
According to Professor Marc Lamont Hill:
We’ve got trouble!
right here in “Charm City”!
with a capitol T!
that rhymes with T!
and that stands for Thug!
Origin is from India via the Hindi
” a cruel or vicious ruffian, robber, or murderer.
2.
(sometimes initial capital letter) one of a former group of professional robbers and murderers in India who strangled their victims.”
Seems to me this a bit like the word niggardly
ThugThugThugThugThugThugThugThug.
Lefties—I’ll say what I want to say.
Thug.
The shoe fits, so wear it.
Thug.
Besides, the word was first used to describe robbers in India, so there is absolutely no tie-in or claim to blacks.
Thug.
So there.
Thug.
It is, but who consults dictionaries any more?
Charm City
More like Charmin City.
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