Letters to the Editor
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I Say It Too!
I'm tired of this "n-word" business. Aren't we grown up enough to say what we mean? It's not like people don't know. So the entire approach is infantile, like most other things in America today. It's pablum. And the word is "nigger". There. A white man just said it. Nigger nigger nigger! Still alive? Whew!
I was married to a black woman for nearly 20 years and I threw the word nigger around like it was my middle name. She broke my balls because I'm a Wop, too. To this day, when black friends ask what I'm doing I will sometimes answer "Workin' like a white man". Nobody gets offended.
So the word is only offensive if it's intended or in an inappropriate setting. If you doubt it, walk up to a black guy you don't know and call him "my nigger".
The issue with Allen is bullying. He's simply nthe jock who gets off on pushing people around. The guy is insecure about the size of his "d-word" or something, I don't know. But it's ugly and we have enough ugliness without actually rewarding it again.
So don't make an issue of George Allen saying nigger. Make an issue of him rolling in Klan and Confederate lore like a buffalo rolling in its own piss during rut. Make an issue of the fact he's a hate-driven asshole, but all dressed up like a great guy. Just ask "Macacca".
But PLEASE don't buy into a debate over a stupid word.
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You are judged by
the company you keep. If I were from Virginia, I would re-double my efforts to launch that bigot. Re-electing him after all of this would place that State into a we-are-bigots-because-we-elect-bigots reality for all the world to see. It is a reality that Virginians won't ever live down till they finally realize what is immoral and valueless about having a leader such as Allen win a Senate seat in their State. Morality and values, Virginians, morality and values. Isn't that the GOP platform?
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Redefining "baseless"...
"Baseless" to the GOP means anything not said by their base (i.e. anything they don't want to hear).
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The N-word
I'm sorry, Mr. Salami, but since I've been black all of my life so far (and expect to remain black), I believe I have more say so on how offensive the N-word is or isn't. Not every rapper or comedian uses that word and those who do are often criticized for their use of that word. It still stings...especially to someone who grew up and had to deal with a segregated society. There are folks--black and white--who find excuses for the use of that word but if you used it in my presence while calling yourself a friend of mine, I would call you a liar.
If repeatedly using a word with negative connotations caused the sting to be released from it, how many folks who you know would take kindly to you calling them stupid? Or ugly? Or lazy? Words have meaning and the meaning of that word can't be dressed up and taken out without serious consequences.
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The N Word
I'm a middle aged Californian former New Yorker who has never said the N Word. My adult daughter has never said the N Word. Why would she?
This is not the first place I've run across the contention that everyone has used the N Word at some point. Truly, I'm baffled by this. If you don't hear a term in conversation, you don't use it. If you hear or read about a term - but it's not a useful term in your life - you don't use it.
Apart from feedback-challenged children and parrots, what possible inadvertent use is there for the N Word?
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Proud to be a 7th generation Alabama native
...who has never written or spoken "the N word." Does it matter than I'm white? It shouldn't, but I'll throw that in.
Although I heard it often enough - many times from family members. But one of my earliest memories is of my mother telling me it was the worst, ugliest word in the world and if she ever heard me use it, she would - and I quote -
Beat you until you die.
Since I can't remember ever being spanked, much less beaten, that was quite an effective threat. I have "issues" with my mother (like everyone), but she was great politically and ethically.
But sure, I'd have to say it's part of my "reading" vocabulary, but not "speaking" vocabulary since I have read it before but never plan to say it aloud.
Never know when Mommy might be eavesdropping. Not to mention the NSA...
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Does anyone know the difference between NYC and LA drivers?
In NYC they stick their heads out the window tell you to go fuck yourself to death you fucking asshole. Then they let you go.
In LA they smile at you. Then T-bone you and kill you.
So fuck all of you; this is some bullshit.
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Why this matters..
Whether Allen said the dreaded "N" word or not matters because it supports the claims, rather well documented ones at that, that Allen is a racist and a liar despite his protestations.
Being a liar seems to go hand in hand with being a politician regardless of party affiliation. But being a racist, and not the subtle kind that still permeates our culture at large but a Confederate Flag waving, noose draping, Macarra calling and probably closet Klan member, well we can't be that overt can we?
9
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Fact, not "allegation"
In two brief conversations I had with George Allen, having just been introduced to him by a mutual friend in front of Cabell Hall at the west end of The Lawn at the University of Virginia, a few months before we graduated as classmates from The College in early Spring 1974, he astoundingly used the N-word - in a formation for describing "Arabs" as "sandn-s," upwards of a dozen times.
For him to say the N-word was not part of his working vocabulary during that time is a lie.
With liars as President, Vice-President, Sec'y of State, and Sec'y of Defense, should we expect anything else?