Excuse me please, I’m getting misty.

GO LIONS!!! (This is the year they make a come back)

Your website is really hopping!

Has it occured to anyone that Mr. James Lamb might be pulling everybody’s leg?

I mean, his comments are straight out of the Conservative’s Guide to Sterotypical Liberals and Why Its OK To Hate Them.

Just wondering…

Glen

Go Eagles!

I never said anything like this.

I don’t believe this.

Claire, is it easier to for you to discuss these issues if you just make up my opinions for me?

That’s offensive.

Try reading my earlier posts and questioning my logic. Mr. Roberts and others have, why can’t you?

“As I said earlier, the reason why most people here aren’t offended by the nicknames is because they don’t classify them in the same category as “ni**er.” ” – Chris Roberts.

You’re right that most people don’t find those “redskin’ on that same level of offense. I think they should, but that’s another essay.

“You probably won’t win any converts here. … Once again, we need to agree to disagree and leave it there.” – Chris Roberts

That works for me. I don’t proselytize, just question. Fun while it lasted, no?

I just cracks me up to hear liberals drone on and on about some great ‘corporate conspiracy’ with secret, evil designs to keep the little guy down. Of course, these ideas are circulating around among people who mostly have no idea whatsoever of the reality of the corporate and business world. Most business people find them hysterically funny because they’re so patently ridiculous. But the frightening theing is, many liberal-leaning and humanities-based persons actually, seriously believe this, and they pass laws and run for office and such on the basis of these beliefs.

I guess a lot of people need some sort of mystery or excitement in their lives, and they prefer to believe in deep, dark conspiricies that don’t exist.

It’d be funny if it wasn’t taken so seriously by the left.

James, you are letting loose with a lot of coherent argument, but I don’t think you are convincing anyone of your point of view. As I said earlier, the reason why most people here aren’t offended by the nicknames is because they don’t classify them in the same category as “ni**er.” You probably won’t win any converts here. Everyone can agree that using the n-word is blatantly irresponsible speech, but there is no consensus on Native American nicknames. Especially amongst the Native Americans, as evidenced by the polls. Research consistently shows no consensus among Americans on this topic. We can all appreciate healthy discussion, but I think we’ve beat this one into the ground, with each side making their case. Once again, we need to agree to disagree and leave it there.

Wow. Envious much?

“I think the offense is all in the intent of the speaker.” – Jeannie

Now, here’s an interesting point. The speaker’s motivation is a concern, but again, not the only one, in my opinion. Is it ever possible to have a ‘twisted term of endearment’ like ‘nigger bitch’ that was not in some way offensive?

I believe that racial epithets are always offensive. The speaker’s intent can not be the only concern when using racial epithets, because the historical and current race-specific social damage bred into such terms by design exists without respect for the motivation and intention of the speaker.

The racial epithets I’m using in this and other posts are sick and demeaning and offensive and evil and wrong.

Case in point: a white straight male friend of mine in college once had an discussion with me about a black comic. To disagree with a point I made, in a joking manner, my friend replied with a dismissive “Nigger, please.”

I was not amused.

We immediately launched into an argument over his comfortable, commonplace usage of that slur against me. Now, after some effort, I realized that my friend meant no ill will towards me in the usage of that misguided language. However, as I promptly and consistently informed him, it really didn’t matter whether or not he meant anything derogatory towards me.

That word will always be imbued with America’s worst levels of race hate; one cannot divorce the English language equivalent of over four centuries of anti-Black American race hatred and violent suppression of Black people through simple context clues and professed speaker motivation.

Racial epithets are always wrong.

George Orwell, in his landmark essay “Politics and the English Language” spoke more eloquently than any other 20th Century writer about the power of language to shape thought and to frame human understanding. Without the words to describe, analyze and interpret our experiences and thoughts, Orwell believed, people cannot communicate effectively, or understand each other. The problem is that human thought is subjective, and easily manipulated for political concerns.

Keeping that in mind, I believe that when some conservatives profess ignorance of racial pain and group offense, or pretend that the victims of certain negative race language are the only persons allowed to speak against such terms, they deny themselves the ability to view racially vitriolic elements of modern English for the terms of oppression that they are.

In short, they consciously and willfully deny themselves the ability to comprehend the historical and present-day oppression and subjugation of groups of American citizens they consider unlike themselves.

As long as a person seriously doesn’t understand the utter depravity of a racial hate term like ‘nigger’ or ‘redskin’, they never have to interrogate whether such terms truly have any place in a civilized society. This person can simply ignore the terms, and their respective American histories, completely, blocking all attempts by others to educate on the unabashed evil of the terms or to question publicly the use of such terms by any legal entities, corporations included.

It’s not as simple as ’some stuff offends you, some stuff offends me, allow market forces to judge what stuff deserves a place in American society’. Sometimes people should be willing to learn why certain words and phrases have so much historical and current evil that they always offend and demean, regardless of context.

I have demeaned people by using racial epithets to explain these points. For that, I apologize.

I see where you are coming from, and I am trying to illustrate the other side of the equation. If I have failed, blame it on my state-school college education vs. the finer institutions of the Ivy League :>

Perhaps there’s no way to effectively make the conservative case to you?