A Funeral

[Hellion]

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic...METRO/707070384

ran across this in Yahoo News

[know_buddy_kares]

Honestly, this would be such a good thing had it not already been tried. The facts are, stupid people use the word, black or white, its the ignorant that keep it going. And the rappers that use it such as gold digger, when they use the word, and make sales off it... it really shows that some just don't want to let the word die, and would rather continue on with keeping the segregation and hate words like this represent.

[crunchy_pickle (5)]

Honestly, this would be such a good thing had it not already been tried. The facts are, stupid people use the word, black or white, its the ignorant that keep it going. And the rappers that use it such as gold digger, when they use the word, and make sales off it... it really shows that some just don't want to let the word die, and would rather continue on with keeping the segregation and hate words like this represent.

You can't really blame a word for the existence of segregation or racism on a word though. If you believe a thing exists in society, it will continue to exist. Sure, there will always be ignorant people, but racism has absolutely nothing to do with my life, so why should I care? Maybe this is a selfish point of view, but it works for me. I don't have time to waste thoughts on things that have nothing to do with me. If I thought for a moment about something outside of my life that bothers me, that moment would stretch into the many billions of things that stupid humans do. No, sense depressing myself with the ignorance of others, when nothing ever changes anyways. I'll go put my third party votes in, as well as vote on other issues I believe in, and pretend that they count.

[Scary Guy]

I'm not racist... but if the shoe fits (if I do use it it's only against other racists, of all colors as well).

[know_buddy_kares]

You can't really blame a word for the existence of segregation or racism on a word though. If you believe a thing exists in society, it will continue to exist. Sure, there will always be ignorant people, but racism has absolutely nothing to do with my life, so why should I care? Maybe this is a selfish point of view, but it works for me. I don't have time to waste thoughts on things that have nothing to do with me. If I thought for a moment about something outside of my life that bothers me, that moment would stretch into the many billions of things that stupid humans do. No, sense depressing myself with the ignorance of others, when nothing ever changes anyways. I'll go put my third party votes in, as well as vote on other issues I believe in, and pretend that they count.

Every social.. eh.. quirk.. need's its poster child... I see it way too often, that the blacks that scream racisim and color prejudice, are also the ones that wanna act like fuckin idiots and also use that word. Trust me, i'm no racist, but i do point out a peice of shit when i see one, regardless of color, religeon, or sex. The "N" word, or any other word that generalises race, sex, or religoen into a labeled group in a derogatory means is only used by the ones that use their race, sex, or religeon as a crutch for being a peice of shit. Thats why I'm feeling NAACP's actions to kill the "N" word are going to fail... and hard... because the rappers are making too much by using it to define their own as, "Nigga".. when really... wtf... how is that so different? No difference, and the only reason why the use that word is because they have so many people buying that crap.

Because of my color/heratige, I may have no room to speak, but I want to make my opinion clear on this matter...

If the ones of the color relating to the "N" word really had a problem with that word and racism in general, they wouldn't support the rap stars or whoever that use that word to get famous to begin with. Unless someone of that color wants to sit down and discuss this with me, while having the intelegence to not get offended while discussing and understand that I really really am trying to understand where they're comming from in this sort of debate, should send me a private message and we can talk from there.

But my FINAL opinion of the word.. it screams ignorance on both ends, blacks for using it, and same with whites... as the word is made from a mis pronounciation of idiot fucking hicks. Saying the word means that you're honoring a heritage that was too fucking stupid to get proper name of a nationality right, and generalizing many nationalities with one to begin with. I'm just glad Afrogers isn't the word.. cuz IMO.. Afro's are cool dude!

[Homicidalheathen]

I know a few people who left this board because someone posted the N word in a derogatory way not to long ago.....not much was done or said..but say fatty and everyone has a fit.

WTF???

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

What nation would that be? Niger didn't exist back in the day that word was coined. Negroid on the other hand is a term used when identifieing a skull's "race". Craniofacial anthropometry. Caucasoids, Negroids, Mongoloids and Australoids.

[BrassFusion]

Quoted from the article:

Instead of burying the N-word, the NAACP should focus on burying the mind-set that created it, said Detroit rapper Trick Trick.

"You can eliminate the use of this word, but that's not going to stop the problem of the word. The problem comes from a racist mind-set, and you can't stop a racist mind-set," he said.

The only way to kill an offensive word is to A. promote its use in a positive fashion and B. stop BEING offended by it. I honestly think the overuse of the "N word" in hip hop is halfway through step 1... but it would help if some prominent artists, black AND white, stepped up and supported the word's desegregation.

And Pickle- Yes, racism affects you. Especially if you live in Metro Detroit. This city has kind of a poor history in regards to segregation (Not as bad as many other major cities or, say, the entire country south of the Mason Dixon, but racial segregation in Detroit has been more recently and brazenly promoted by some people in positions of power... ).

[Scary Guy]

Quoted from the article:

The only way to kill an offensive word is to A. promote its use in a positive fashion and B. stop BEING offended by it. I honestly think the overuse of the "N word" in hip hop is halfway through step 1... but it would help if some prominent artists, black AND white, stepped up and supported the word's desegregation.

No, that just creates a double standard apparently in that case. They get to use it, but no one else but them can use it (well hate speech groups too I guess).

[Sybil]

* Its really up to each person to "think before we speak"

* Why do we insist on saying things to offend each other?

* Do we think "burying a word" has fixed a thing?

* How do we CHANGE a mind-set that says its okay to hate?

* If I am the only one who changes, will I be okay with that? or will I now try to FORCE everyone to change with me?

[BrassFusion]

No, that just creates a double standard apparently in that case. They get to use it, but no one else but them can use it (well hate speech groups too I guess).

I said "desegregation." As in promoting the elimination of the double standard itself.

Not all hip-hop artists are racist black guys, you know.

[Scary Guy]

I said "desegregation." As in promoting the elimination of the double standard itself.

Not all hip-hop artists are racist black guys, you know.

No, some are racist white guys playing off the black arts.

[BrassFusion]

No, some are racist white guys playing off the black arts.

The... black arts? Occult? What?

[Homicidalheathen]

The fact they are going to watch music to see if the use of the word goes down is ok in my opinion. But it will never go away completely.

Actually having black people use the word instead of white people is not so bad. It takes the power out of the word somewhat. It means something different now most of the time anyway.

But that funeral yesturday for it was kinda silly.

[BrassFusion]

Segregation isn't any better than negative racism... i mean, what's black anymore? Is Condoleeza Rice black? What about Tiger Woods? It shouldn't be seen as any more or less acceptable if they used the "n" word than if Karl Rove or Padrig Harrington says it, just because they're "black." It's all context and intention.

[Fierce Critter]

Hm.

I hear a lot about today's blacks still insisting on financial reparations for the enslavement of their ancestors.

Something tells me these same ancestors would like to see that word go away entirely.

I do think, however, that there has been some success taking the bite out of the word by making it acceptable within the black community. I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. But the word still exists as a negative when used by others - so how successful is it, really?

All I know is I highly doubt words like polack, kike, dago, etc will ever be considered "acceptable" by those at whom they're slung.

These words offend, yes. But as people get stronger and more comfortable in their skin, I think the effect of them is less offensive to the people being addressed and more of an exposure of the idiots using them. Kind of a backfire effect that I'd like to think is causing people to stop using them as much.

[crunchy_pickle (5)]

Hm.

I hear a lot about today's blacks still insisting on financial reparations for the enslavement of their ancestors.

I always found this amusing. Maybe I'll petition so that the government of Egypt will pay reparations for the enslavement of my ancient Jew ancestors. I'm sure I'm related to one or two of them somewhere down the line before Moses freed them. History is history and people really need to quit crying for free handouts and get jobs instead.

[Fierce Critter]

That's a whole 'nother thread.

[know_buddy_kares]

Here's a little something for you all.... Video Link most deffinitely related to topic...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6OselVRTsM

*EDIT* LINK FIXED!!

[Reaper]

Quoted from the article:

The only way to kill an offensive word is to A. promote its use in a positive fashion and B. stop BEING offended by it. I honestly think the overuse of the "N word" in hip hop is halfway through step 1... but it would help if some prominent artists, black AND white, stepped up and supported the word's desegregation.

And Pickle- Yes, racism affects you. Especially if you live in Metro Detroit. This city has kind of a poor history in regards to segregation (Not as bad as many other major cities or, say, the entire country south of the Mason Dixon, but racial segregation in Detroit has been more recently and brazenly promoted by some people in positions of power... ).

The context, nor the use of the word will EVER be buried. They are fooling no one but themselves. They have a crooked Detroit mayor that holds every one of these citizens in suspension while he rapes them of their true will to be independent and at the same time, uses their hardearned tax money to let his family play with city credit cards and buying SUVs and paying for a crew of security that the fool doesn't even need. No, as long as there is a stress in a community, there will be hate on one and all. And when hate is brewed, so are the use of terms that will bring back up bad blood. Whether they use the word for music, or a racist uses it for specific purposes, it will never go away.

[crunchy_pickle (5)]

Quoted from the article:

The only way to kill an offensive word is to A. promote its use in a positive fashion and B. stop BEING offended by it. I honestly think the overuse of the "N word" in hip hop is halfway through step 1... but it would help if some prominent artists, black AND white, stepped up and supported the word's desegregation.

And Pickle- Yes, racism affects you. Especially if you live in Metro Detroit. This city has kind of a poor history in regards to segregation (Not as bad as many other major cities or, say, the entire country south of the Mason Dixon, but racial segregation in Detroit has been more recently and brazenly promoted by some people in positions of power... ).

Do you really believe that the segregation in Detroit has anything to do with racism? Personally, I did a little research on the topic a while back and would agree with a viewpoint posed by a acquaintance of mine after doing this research.

His thoughts basically were that among other factors the development of a better freeway system blocked a lot of people period regardless of color from easily getting from point A to point B. Also, this greatly hindered trash removal and a few other things. Because of the problems during the initial construction, trash was just growing in people's yards. The smell among other problems associated, drove people to sell their homes and move out of the city. The suburbs provided a way for them to escape, and still keep their jobs because of the freeways that got them there anyways. While, racism may have contributed to the fact that a lot of white people got better jobs, I would not say that this was a good enough reason to assume that white people were the only ones who could afford to leave the city. There were people of all races that left, however the fact that many black families at the time made less money made Detroit a more affordable place for them to live at the time.

This being said, I highly doubt that racism was even a 5% factor in the segregation, nor these "people" in power. Everyone has the same opportunities here, and the civil rights acts prevented "most" cases of racism in the workplace. I'm not ignorant enough to say it wasn't a factor at all, but there's certainly other places to go look for work. In my opinion many of the people of different minority groups as well as white people like to find a billion reasons as to why they're not succeeding in life, rather than do what is required of them to succeed. I was guilty of the same thing for a while. I went through a lot of shit that I blamed on my parents and the government, but continuing like this would only bring me back to the homelessness I escaped as a teenager.

[Hellion]

The context, nor the use of the word will EVER be buried. They are fooling no one but themselves. They have a crooked Detroit mayor that holds every one of these citizens in suspension while he rapes them of their true will to be independent and at the same time, uses their hardearned tax money to let his family play with city credit cards and buying SUVs and paying for a crew of security that the fool doesn't even need. No, as long as there is a stress in a community, there will be hate on one and all. And when hate is brewed, so are the use of terms that will bring back up bad blood. Whether they use the word for music, or a racist uses it for specific purposes, it will never go away.

Well said

[Scary Guy]

Maybe not, but it all links back to racism. My grandparents would still be living there if it wasn't for the crime and my dad won't go south of 8 mile (unless he's going out of state, and my grandpa will but doesn't like to). Maybe there is more crime there just because it's the city, but it happens to be inhabited mostly by black people so everyone links them with the high crime rate. Well that and they don't like black people.

Hell I remember one guy telling me that the cops in Grosse Pointe use the term NoM over the radio (stands for Nigger on Mac) if they see a black person anywhere near that area (they still do this today I guess).

Unrelated to the above, our family's (ex)friends with H.I.'s (that's what we call him) family. His granddaughter (or daughter, whatever it's not like I keep track) got married to a black guy. At first H.I. didn't like that at all but then he got used to it. My family shares a plot of land up north with them which no one really uses anymore simply because of this bad blood between us. The camp is literally divided and they moved their tailor farther back into the forest. Then my mom told me "I don't care if you date a black woman but don't date any arabs".

Point of the story is racism isn't going anywhere until there is one race left, and even then people will find a group of people within that to hate.

I simply believe it's a larger factor than CP thinks.

[crunchy_pickle (5)]

I simply believe it's a larger factor than CP thinks.

Well, I never said racism wasn't a factor at all, just that it was a very small factor by comparison to the organization problems Detroit brought upon itself. As far as racism goes, you're right. People will always hate certain groups of people, even if there was only one race. I never said I had hope that the human race would prevail. I know people are idiots and always will be. Ethnic cleansing would require us to cleanse the human race of ignorance, and as I mentioned before, we wouldn't have enough people left for any sort of economy. You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but I'd be more prone to blame the stupidity of humans on a genetic defect that has stunted our evolution.

[Scary Guy]

To take it even further. My friend Todd lived down in Detroit when he went to college in a frat house, and yeah it was a frat house but not like they were doing anyone any harm. Some rich black doctor made their lives hell till they moved out. Ever think they might not want to live around us either?