Desert Vista High Girls spell N word (condo, home search)

[Tipmart87]

Originally Posted by ysr_racer

Nipper?

Ninja

[2nd trick op]

Originally Posted by westcoastbabe

It's all offensive, the N word, when rapper call women B's and H's, and when black people call white people names as well, which I will not mention, but mostly everyone know what the offensive terms to Caucasians are. It all comes down to any form of prejudice is taught. You are not born with it. Shame on the parents!

Except that. to the best of our knowledge, the young women in question never actually used the offensive word -- didn't speak it, didn't write it in the exact sense -- just "dangled the bait" and let the self-appointed censors go postal. Political Correctness is merely one more very convoluted, and contradictory, form of prejudice.

Forty-five years ago, during my undergraduate years, a campus journal printed an article entitled "The Conservative as N*****"; no one on either side of the dispute paid much attention to it at the time. But under the standards which a power-obsessed (but not-too-enlightened) pressure group seeks to force on all of us, Voltaire's famous maxim that "I disagree with everything you say, but will defend your right to say it." has apparently been discarded.

And I am ready to wait until Hell freezes over for any response to that argument involving more than the personal prejudices and sacred cows of a self-appointed clique of elitists.

By the standards of formal jurisprudence, the accusation would be laughed out of court -- like charging a person wearing a T-shirt with an image of Michelangelo's statue of David with obscenity. But this is our hijacked public-"educational" system, where the rules can be changed to suit the whims of those in power without any official recourse -- and some of the most shallow thinkers here are (as usual) cheering the mob on because their end justifies the means. I wonder how they'd react if the shoe were on the other foot?

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." (John Dahlberg-Acton)

[calipoppy]

Originally Posted by Seattle4321

Can some please explain to me what the big deal is. It's just a word. It's just young people. EVERY person at my high school says that word to their friends. Who even know if it was meant to be rude? And if it was who cares? It's just a word! What about free speech? Or can people not handle that? This country is full of a bunch of people that are cry babies. Grow up people.

Its offensive, that's why.

Just as calling women the B-word or Hispanics the W-word or Asians C-word are also offensive. If I called your mother, daughter, girlfriend or wife the B-word or C-word would that also be okay? I mean its just a word, right?

[calipoppy]

Originally Posted by SageCats

Are you offended when rappers say it in their lyrics? Would you have been offended if it were black kids who did this?

Yes. And yes.

[calipoppy]

Originally Posted by LBTRS

The shirts were worn to spell out something else, not worn to spell out that word. This wasn't a well thought out plan, it was a few kids that did something stupid with the shirts they were wearing for another purpose.

"Anyone else in the community and how their actions would impact them"??? Please tell me how this would have affected the community or impacted anyone had the media not blown it up?

This is a non story and cant believe we're having to hear about it over and over.

I am in the community and I am offended. I should not have to be subjected to these random racist acts.

But I am GLAD that these girls are having their scholarships and college admissions revoked left and right. Perhaps their racist parents should have also taught these disgusting girls about the consequences of their actions.

[Jessica2099]

It is a disgusting word and they deserve to be punished.
However, if we want the world totally removed from society, then we can't have a double standard on the usage of the word (as in glorifying it in rap songs). The black community themselves have to send a strong message that they won't tolerate other black people using it, either.

Then, and only then, will this disgusting word start to become less common.

[lvoc]

Many years ago..40 anyway...I played Ole Captain Cotchipee in the play Purlie Victorious. Good theatrical company...mostly black with a few whities to fill in the roles. The director played Purlie wonderfully and was the star. Except to the players because he was really good at botching his lines and jumping the play out of sequence...and then we had to fix it.

The play was obviously about the old south and Ole Captain referred repeatedly to his "Nigras". It was obviously designed to allude to the N word without actually using it. The cast had a thing called the Sweet Potatoe Pie which involved a donation of a quarter every time someone though you failed to enunciate "Nigra" properly and it could be suspected of being the other word. I made a few donations as did others.

We played for a few days to a mostly black audience who thougfh it wonderful. Even got good reviews in the newspaper...and we were pretty good. And all the "Nigras" were properly spoken or mostly so.

Would have gone on doing it as a repertoire piece...We were pretty good and could do it with nothing more than some clothes and make up almost anywhere. It died however as the guy who played Gitlow - sometimes described as a "handkerchief head nigra" refused to continue. He was a local football coach and could not stand the heat in the kitchen.

So the word can be dealt with...by obvious obfuscation as we and the girls did...but it really needs to be brought back into the appropriate usage and then not used.

[Wipe0ut]

Originally Posted by Seattle4321

Can some please explain to me what the big deal is. It's just a word. It's just young people. EVERY person at my high school says that word to their friends. Who even know if it was meant to be rude? And if it was who cares? It's just a word! What about free speech? Or can people not handle that? This country is full of a bunch of people that are cry babies. Grow up people.

You people just never get it:

1.) First off, the high-school mates saying that word to their friends are not using that word in the same context and meaning: the intent to provoke offense. Rather, it is used as a term of endearment. Either way, many black people are shying more and more away from that word.

2.)Free speech exists, but schools have the right to punish crude, insensitive behavior. It isn't about people being cry-babies, its about making it clear that prejudice has no place anymore in this country.

[3_sigma]

Oh! They spelled the word ******! I get it. It's the same word in 50% of the songs I hear when I'm walking down the street. I wholeheartedly understand the outrange. Sure it's in bad taste, but let's not beat around the bush, people.

[goolsbyjazz]

I believe the girls were well aware of what they were doing, whether it was meant to be funny or not. However, I don't believe they shouldn't graduate or be suspended for the rest of the year. I think that would be too harsh. With all of the local and national backlash their poor decision has received I think it should be used as a learning tool. It happened during a school function so educate them! Let them speak with local residents who were part of the Civil Rights struggle to learn how the word was used then. Now, as for this word, I don't use it, but have heard youngsters of every ethnicity use it in casual conversation with each other. I spoke with some young people and they truly didn't see a problem with using it in casual conversation. Why would they when their favorite rappers all use it? Does that make it right? No, but the sensitivity level for that word in the millennial generation is vastly different than it is for my generation.

I shared the history of the word along with my personal experiences with it. It was a great discussion. Armed with that information, they get to decide for themselves if it is appropriate to continue using the word. As for these young ladies, I won't assume that they fully understand why that word is offensive to so many. I would rather err on the side of mercy (through education) and hope they learn from this incident. Moving forward.