what exactly is the significance of the n word

[superrific]

Jewish Christmas in NYC (at least in my friend circle) is going to the movie theater for 2+ movies, followed by dinner in China Town. Apparently movie theaters and Chinese restaurants are the two things you can count on to be open on Christmas Day. None of my family lives in/near NYC, so I've had more than my fair share of Christmases where we went from the movie theater to dim sum.

There was a Chinese place on 28th and 3rd where I would sometimes go -- like you, I had no family nearby. My Manhattan-born friend, when he was younger, would go to the Chinatown theater on Canal St right at the Manhattan bridge to watch Kung Fu movies, but that one (and all the Chinatown theaters) closed.

 

[Molotov Mocktail]

Oh yes, I dated a Jewish woman. I was yintellectual enough that I passed for Jewish. Also, it didn't hurt that I LOVE modern Klezmer and in fact would go to the Knit on Christmas for their Klezmer shows. Once I referred to my Swedish grandfather and someone gasped in response: you're not Jewish? I said nope. He said, then why are you going to Klezmer? I laughed. I said same reason he was: it's great music.

I also believe there was a Seinfeld episode on this point, a doctor who converted to Judaism "for the jokes."

I do not think you should castigate yourself about using gay that way if you grew up in a small town in Oregon. Here's how I would tell the story: THIS MAN REJECTED THE NARROW-MINDEDNESS OF HIS UPBRINGING, WHICH MANY OR EVEN MOST PEOPLE IN SUCH ENVIRONMENTS though a bit unfortunately it didn't happen right away.

Regarding Seinfeld I think it was a dentist played by Bryan Cranston.

There was a lot of language that was used where I grew up that took me a while to understand what I was really hearing and saying. Common terms for ripping people off - jewed and gyped. I think most know another term for ding dong ditch. Someone mentioned n——r rigged which was common for half ass fixes.

An unfortunate consequence of some specific Chris Rock jokes and Chapelle’s Show skits is that more than a few white guys in town thought that gave them a free pass to drop n bombs because they were just repeating the jokes.

There’s more and more instances of hearing the word that I’m just starting to remember and it’s pretty depressing.

There was a pretty bad race problem with the high school class just behind mine. They put confederate flags on their senior shirts (early 00s KS so nothing about heritage). Guys wore the shirts for months until finally someone in the administration made them turn them inside out at school. They had fights after school outside of town that were whites vs. minorities. Each side would choose their “champion”, and they would fight. The one fight I witnessed the guys threw a few punches and just quit. It was dumb. I heard about some pretty nasty fights breaking out at school though.

The shit I heard and saw is why I have such a problem when pubs claim race isn’t a problem anymore. They’re still fighting minorities, and now they have a federal police force for that fight.

 

[sunnyheel]

Don’t forget, years ago at IC, when I expressed that I supported Kaepernick except I didn’t like his “cops are pigs” socks, you exploded on me and callled me a racist.

I have missed your take here as I agree with your perspective about 95% of the time.

That’s not my recollection of the way things went down.

In the first place, I have never “erupted” at you or anyone else on this Board (although I did light into that jws fella a few times). My recollection is that several of your remarks expressed antipathy towards Kaepernick, and when I expressed my view that this was reflective of a racist perspective, you became angry and only then explained that your negative feelings were particular to this anti-cop messaging.

We then sort of moved on, apparently with some hard feelings. I do believe that antipathy towards Kaep and other racial SJWs such as BLM is the modern expression of anti-black sentiment, having succeeded pro-slavery, support for Jim Crow, segregation and opposition to civil rights, consecutively.

I’m glad we talked it out and have developed a sense of mutual respect and even admiration over time.

While I have advanced an anti-PC argument, I believe equally strongly that racism and other forms of bigotry should be met with condemnation and other forms of social opprobrium. Most importantly I advocate robust free speech on all sides so we can air it all out as I believe sunshine is the best disinfectant.

Cheers.

 

[superrific]

An unfortunate consequence of some specific Chris Rock jokes and Chapelle’s Show skits is that more than a few white guys in town thought that gave them a free pass to drop n bombs because they were just repeating the jokes.

I think it should be permitted to use the n-word when quoting or retelling, though as with all language norms, common sense applies. Someone who just says, "n*" and claims "I was quoting Pulp Fiction" -- I mean, let's get real.

For instance, there are multiple wonderful Key and Peele sketches that can't be replicated by white people because the jokes depend on the use of the n-word. And we should be encouraging white people to revel in black humor, not segregating.

Note that I do not in any way consider this an injustice; it's more like a laptop that could use another port but is otherwise fine. I do not consider it unfair, an important issue, and certainly nothing that should be a factor in politics. It's a minor annoyance at most.

 

[Molotov Mocktail]

I think it should be permitted to use the n-word when quoting or retelling, though as with all language norms, common sense applies. Someone who just says, "n*" and claims "I was quoting Pulp Fiction" -- I mean, let's get real.

For instance, there are multiple wonderful Key and Peele sketches that can't be replicated by white people because the jokes depend on the use of the n-word. And we should be encouraging white people to revel in black humor, not segregating.

Note that I do not in any way consider this an injustice; it's more like a laptop that could use another port but is otherwise fine. I do not consider it unfair, an important issue, and certainly nothing that should be a factor in politics. It's a minor annoyance at most.

I should have stated it better. They used the ideas behind some of the jokes to use the n word. It’s been decades since I’ve seen the Rock specials I’m referring to so I don’t remember the wording. There was a joke about there being black people and n——rs. This was used by people to say things like, he’s not one of the good ones, he’s a n——r. They had the idea that somehow Rock’s joke gave them cover to call some black people that word.

I can only think of one Chapelle skit atm that I heard people use to justify using the word. I think Chapelle played a milk man delivering to the N—ar Family. People used it to just freely drop the word because they were using it with the “a r” ending. I think at the end of the skit Chapelle pokes his head back inside the door and just says the word one more time. More than a few times I saw people poke their head in a door and yell the word.

 

[superrific]

I should have stated it better. They used the ideas behind some of the jokes to use the n word. It’s been decades since I’ve seen the Rock specials I’m referring to so I don’t remember the wording. There was a joke about there being black people and n——rs. This was used by people to say things like, he’s not one of the good ones, he’s a n——r. They had the idea that somehow Rock’s joke gave them cover to call some black people that word.

I can only think of one Chapelle skit atm that I heard people use to justify using the word. I think Chapelle played a milk man delivering to the N—ar Family. People used it to just freely drop the word because they were using it with the “a r” ending. I think at the end of the skit Chapelle pokes his head back inside the door and just says the word one more time. More than a few times I saw people poke their head in a door and yell the word.

I see. Yeah, that's bullshit.

 

[NYCBlueBlood]

There was a Chinese place on 28th and 3rd where I would sometimes go -- like you, I had no family nearby. My Manhattan-born friend, when he was younger, would go to the Chinatown theater on Canal St right at the Manhattan bridge to watch Kung Fu movies, but that one (and all the Chinatown theaters) closed.

I can confirm the Chinatown theaters are all gone. I have a great story of accidentally finding an underground gay sex club in Queens while trying to find a theater that played old school kung fu movies with one of my best friends who grew up here in NYC (oddly enough, he's Jewish and has aspergers).

 

[superrific]

I can confirm the Chinatown theaters are all gone. I have a great story of accidentally finding an underground gay sex club in Queens while trying to find a theater that played old school kung fu movies with one of my best friends who grew up here in NYC (oddly enough, he's Jewish and has aspergers).

Well, I remember reading a Times article about the closing of the last one of their kind, so yeah.

There were problems with sanitation. Movie theaters weren't making enough money to effectively control the rats, and the real estate became too valuable.

 

[NYCBlueBlood]

Well, I remember reading a Times article about the closing of the last one of their kind, so yeah.

There were problems with sanitation. Movie theaters weren't making enough money to effectively control the rats, and the real estate became too valuable.

This theater sidestepped that issue by not selling food (maybe not even registered as a theater?). One of the first signs something was "off" was when we paid for admission, the guy behind the counter directed us to the table where there were complimentary coffee and donuts sitting out to help yourself.

 

[NYCBlueBlood]

I think there are some strong regional differences at play here. I only lived in NC for a short period of time when I was young. Most of my upbringing was in small town suburban Ohio and Oregon.

Oregon in particular where I lived 6th grade through high school, was pretty dang white... Our minorities were the Mexican population, and that was predominantly exurban to rural communities (few in my town). My graduating class of 450... probably 600 in 9th grade, but A LOT of dropouts... had all of 2 black students and I think 2 or 3 Asian (one of which was adopted by a white family). The minorities tended to run in popular circles, as they were unusual enough to be interesting but there were not enough of them to have a distinct clique.

I'm sure A LOT has changed since I moved away 30 years ago, but due to the lack of representation, I do not really remember the n-word ever being used outside of maybe copying a comedian. And that was IMO 100% out of not understanding the racist implications vs. being latently racist. There was definitely some racism toward Mexicans... but it was more of thinking of them as second class (non) citizens who were there as migrant labor... not out of anger or animosity.