Culturally (and I'm not making any value judgement here, just an observation) there is a difference between 'nigga' and 'nigger'.
I understand the offence that both usages cause. Having said that I think Toxic Tone would be shocked by the accusation of racism and I'm sure there was no intent to offend.
I am African American and I was not offended by it. I did notice it and got a little chuckle out of it. Not sure what the intent was and I thought I might have missed and inside joke or something. Either way I think it is a little strong to call it racist. I give the benefit of the doubt to him. I try not to sweat stuff like that.
Thanks for chipping in, guys. I read it as a cultural thing, not racist at all, but I would ask that maybe we refrain from using such slang from hereon out. I know toxictone meant nothing by it. I personally don't use 'nigga' or 'nigger' in my dialect-I do see these terms as potentially offensive, and would fully expect some punches thrown my way if I said these words to a black person here in my home town, where I am now officially a minority, so I choose to err on the side of caution. I'm actually offended that certain folks find it okay to refer to each other by these names, but if a person of another color says them-it's on like Donkey Kong. I'm not a fan of double standards.
Moderator hat comin' off, Boss. (bonus points to anyone who can name the above movie reference)
just so everyone knows i am not indteding for it to be a racisit comment it. alot of my friends use this word because alot of them are black, they thought it was funny as shit so i hope i have not offended anyone...
u know what they say tho, right? any contraversy is good contravesy it still promotes my videos so the more people having a problem with it. its totally fine by me.. lol ....
in a serious note. this is how me and alot of ppl talk and its not RACIST.
Last Edited by on Sep 30, 2011 10:18 AM
Let us not forget, in this era of over-sensitive "political correctness", many are quick to attack someone for what they interpret as "the intent" or "the spirit" as negative, racist, homophobic etc.
In all fairness, this interpretation of intent should be applied equally in the other direction. If you tell me that racism was NOT your intent, that should be good enough for any of us.
As a self-appointed and unsolicited advocate for animated characters of many different and varied colors, I (we) am not offended.
On behalf of benign, non-sadistic wardens worldwide..I demand that the moderators delete these clips from Cool Hand Luke. They are bigoted, and I am offended.
as with tommy I would have never noticed-I think happyhonker is reading too far into a harmless little cartoon-as far as Im concerned,we ALL have a common bond,a love for harp-I only wish I was closer on equal terms with the skills of members of this forum
let me tell everyone a cool story...this is a true story happend about 1hour ago......
i was talking with my friend about the post about the tigga pic. his name is mike the bass player. we were discussing how ppl could take it wrong speacially because most of the band members are white and im spanish i told him "hey if it does Kool!" anyway he then said that he just listend to the hip hop harmonica video and he thought it would be cool to put that in with a set and give it a rock feel to it as well. so all in all this whole thing is already working out! i was putting my hip hop harmonica stuff in the back burner. beacause we are doing a blues band but now it looks like it wont be on the back burner. which is awsome because a part of me really really wants and thinks i can do this. sick!!!!!
I seem to remember Adam once saying something like, "we try to avoid the appearance of racism here, and that applies to everybody." It was in the spirit of avoiding the appearance of racism that I posted the OP.
I once posted something to a site that the moderators removed because it was deemed offensive to gays. I had no idea. At first I was hurt and offended by the removal, but later I came to see, OK, yeah, if I were gay and read it as it written and not as I had intended it, then I might be hurt by it.
It surprizes and saddens me that everyone seems to be OK with the n-word on this site, as long as it is misspelled and obfuscated with overstrikes. But I will not dwell on it further. Peace all. You, too, toxic_tone.
well if it gets deleted alls fair that ends fair. i again apolagize for it offending you. dont be sad, times change and the word meaning of the word nigga is changing as well. here is a video you all might injoy!!
RT123 said he is african american and it did not offend him I have seen his posts before and have recognized he takes everything in stride Ill bet he is a fine harp player-again we are all the same in worth-RT123.....peace and joy
I would implore that we all just let this die a quiet death.
All emotion aside, this is an online community. We're all just entering thoughts via keyboard. If you don't make it a conscious or inadvertent point to inform me of your race or ethnicity, you're just another person typing. RT123 says he's something or another, OK. I never really tried to guess or wonder, since I really don't care.
Somebody posts something. It's only offensive to you if you deem it so. Further, no one else will know its offensive to you unless you declare it as such.
Sometimes, it just makes more sense to shrug your shoulders, pick your battles, try not to pet the sweaty stuff, and roll on with life.
Todd, crazy thing, I have a meter from the Quarter. It was on the ground and I took it during jazz fest (about 1988). We laughed our asses off that night when we remembered that scene from Cool Hand Luke. The car wash scene, for some reason, sticks in my memory. Now that I think about it, made it to the crossroads that week and I have 61 sign too. Such delinquent days. !! My capcha code 2ingga
BAN THE CAPTCA SYSTEM!!!!! It could come up with a variety of offensive words! Political correctness must stand AT ALL COSTS!!!
Last Edited by on Oct 01, 2011 8:36 AM
Okay, the takeaway from this shouldn't be that it's okay to use offensive language, it's that language has context. Political Correctness gets a bad rap sometimes because it gets taken to extremes, but some words, and variations on those words, are offensive in most situations to a large number of people.
On the internet there are a whole new set of complications. We don't know each other's personal lives enough to know who gets the exemptions. That's why you get threads like this.
The rules get complicated. Let's make up an imaginary slur... honkers... it refers to someone who plays harmonica. Who gets to use that word without it being offensive?
1. Honkers can say it. It's about empowerment. If they use the hateful word then it takes it's power away.
2. People who have been given special permission to use it by Honkers. The problem is this special permission is local. Just because your Honker buddy says it's okay to use it with him doesn't mean you can use it with people you don't know. They may get offended.
3. People who are talking about discrimination and are citing the word Honkers as an example of a slur in a academic article or a news story.
Who doesn't get to use it? Other people. You shouldn't use it for shock value. If you want to use something for shock value say Mother Fucking Anything Else that isn't directed at a specific person. There are lots of ASSFACE ways to get noticed without using a word that is going to make someone think you hate them. (You'll notice general rules of decorum follow the same rule 3. I'm using 'offensive' language to make a point.)
How can this backfire? Well, a few years ago a high school coach (white) noticed his players (mostly black) where using the N word casually with each other. He asked them about it they gave him permission to use it around them. Someone overheard and he got fired.
Just because you have permission in certain settings doesn't mean you get it everywhere. Just because it's common language in some places means it will fly well other places. That's one of the tricks of language. The same sentence can mean different things at different times. Special dispensation doesn't change that.
Always remember that the internet is a larger audience than your living room, you Honkers, and remember, issues of oppression often are much deeper than someone telling you to lay out on the next couple songs.
