Bananas and Nuts

[Raife]

That was a pretty great meltdown.

[Tyjenks]

[Hugin]

I didn’t assign anyone a nasty motive. At no point did I ever call Buceph a racist, so back the fuck off. And believe it or not, I’ve heard the quote before and am familiar with it. I’m just saying that THAT WORD is incredibly offensive, and using it, even if you’re just trying to be Mr. Irish McCleverpants, is inflammatory. There are very few places it’s appropriate to use it. A gaming forum is not one of them.

This is not about not understanding racism, or not being literate - it’s about wanting people to behave with a modicum of decorum and not throw around needlessly inflammatory words.

Hell, maybe my opinion doesn’t mean shit because I’m not African-American. (I’m Irish by ancestry, not that it counts for anything in this discussion.) Maybe the African-Americans who are members here can come in and tell me to STFU. If they do, I will.

I think you’re being unfair, if not downright silly. I’m as politically correct as the next resident of Massachusetts and take as dim a view of the N-Word, but that quote is fine. In my opinion you’ve picked a fight that’s just going to hurt your credibility when something truly offensive rolls around.

Here’s some music.
I’m black. For whatever that’s worth. I’m like the Irish of pre-1970’s rural/southern America.

[ZekeDMS]

Jerri reminds me of a high school english teacher of mine. She was rather bulbous and completely lacking in humor or any ability to process context. When we began reading Heart of Darkness, she threatened to suspend anyone who read the book as it was. AKA, if the protagonist said “nigger”, “you just replace it with the word “man”, because that’s a horrible word and I don’t want to think about it, and anyone who’s a good person can’t even say it to begin with.”

The problem is it wasn’t always used in a derogatory context, and even if it was, it’s the author or character, not the reader, who’s espousing those views.

I don’t have to agree with Holden Caufield to enjoy Catcher in the Rye, and discussing Mein Kampf does not make one a Nazi. Using the word nigger, within appropriate context, is not racism. It’s a word. It’s not even Buceph’s use of it, it’s a reference to a quote referring to the racism the Irish have been on the receiving end of using a word in a context of racial bias to demonstrate.

TL;DR-Build a bridge and get over it.

PS-I’m scots-irish-cherokee and if not black as well (or entirely per the ol’ one drop rule) my great uncle sure is. Plus I’m descended from a woman, so I’m like, five niggers at once. Both of europe, the red kind, and maybe the african kind! Technically of course, we all are by means of common evolutionary ancestor. But I still call “I win!” on hated minority status!

[ElGuapo]

Nigga, please.

[Alistair]

I didn’t read the books. I’m pretty sure in the film you were the blacks of Europe though.

[Ed_Solomon]

“Your mother’s mother’s mother, fuck - this ain’t ‘Roots’ mutha… Man, I wanna see a picture of this Nubian princess. If you were any less black, you would be clear.”

[Jason_McCullough]

This is the meta-yenta thread. Start your own thread for fighting!

[John_Many_Jars]

[Demon_G_Sides]

That was a pretty great meltdown.

Sure.

[jeffd]

Fwiw drawing any equivalence between the historical Irish experience in america and the historical experience of African americans is fucking ridiculous.

[ZekeDMS]

I think history may disagree with you in many respects there, and even then there’s some cultural recognition. In my own experience in a primarily black school I saw a distinct separation between Cracker/White/WASP and Irish, and this was a middle school in a seriously fucked neighborhood.

I am not making the following up:
“What the fuck does this cracker know about our neighborhoods?”
“She’s Irish, dog.”
“Shit, nevermind.”

[sinfony]

This thread delivers.

[Major_Icehole]

What the god damned fucking hell are you shitheads talking about?

[Anaxagoras]

What the god damned fucking hell are you shitheads talking about?

Something about Irish slaves, I think.

[hong]

Buceph was explaining the joke.

That always works!

[Rimbo]

PS-I’m scots-irish-cherokee and if not black as well (or entirely per the ol’ one drop rule) my great uncle sure is. Plus I’m descended from a woman, so I’m like, five niggers at once. Both of europe, the red kind, and maybe the african kind! Technically of course, we all are by means of common evolutionary ancestor. But I still call “I win!” on hated minority status!

Actually, you’re not quite there. To really seal the deal, you need to convert to Judaism as well. :)

[ZekeDMS]

I live next to a synagogue. Does that count? Probably not, but can I claim it? Is it enough for Jerri to approve of my in-context use of nigger? Because damn it, I need her approval!

[Lynch]

I think history may disagree with you in many respects there, and even then there’s some cultural recognition.

[jeffd]

I think history may disagree with you in many respects there, and even then there’s some cultural recognition. In my own experience in a primarily black school I saw a distinct separation between Cracker/White/WASP and Irish, and this was a middle school in a seriously fucked neighborhood.

I am not making the following up:
“What the fuck does this cracker know about our neighborhoods?”
“She’s Irish, dog.”
“Shit, nevermind.”

I’m sure individual experiences vary wildly.

Nonetheless, history is loling at this post. Seriously, the idea that the Irish have faced nearly the same level of discrimination in this country as african americans is ridiculous on its face.