The not so Great Racism in Canada Thread

[kool maudit]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I don't have much problem with as I can't imagine a case in which it must be used, regardless of intent.?

Discussing historical book titles, place names, and controversies surrounding the word, as well as the tangled and revealing origin of the word itself, require its use for precision. Of course you could say "the N-word", but you'd lose precision, you'd sound like a child and you'd be buying in to a farcical kind of superstition, a kind of talismanic thinking.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

Discussing historical book titles, place names, and controversies surrounding the word require its use for precision. Of course you could say "the N-word", but you'd lose precision, you'd sound like a child and you'd be buying in to a farcical kind of superstition, a kind of talismanic thinking.

In that case, I'll let you use it in public when the opportunity next arises (...). Pesonally, I'll stick to "N-word".

Fun story - I once heard Archbishop Desmond Tutu use the word in a sermon in Cape Town. He certainly knew how to keep the crowd from dozing off ...

Less fun story (how far we've come chapter) - The family of one of my parents had a black cocker spaniel when they were young (1930s, Kitchener). Anyone care to guess what the dog's name was?

[kool maudit]

Has Huckleberry Finn been the subject of controversy because of "N-word Jim"?

Did Stellarton, Nova Scotia once contain a section locally called "N-word Hill?"

Did Muhammad Ali, in a memorable quote about the absurdity of the Vietnam War, tell press that "no Viet Cong ever called me the N-word"?

[Acajack]

A great book and a great movie about racism in Quebec.

Note the title:

https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/qf/2003-n131-qf1187311/55694ac.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnoJCQp-EFQ

[kool maudit]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

In that case, I'll let you use it in public when the opportunity next arises (...). Pesonally, I'll stick to "N-word".

Look, everyone can go along to get along. I don't like causing offence any more than you do. But what I am asking is, is this good?

[kool maudit]

In 1702, two men were convicted of witchcraft in Skånings County, Sweden, because following a battle in which a man was badly cut by a piece of ice, they used forbidden words to try and stop the bleeding.



This doesn't end well.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

Look, everyone can go along to get along. I don't like causing offence any more than you do. But what I am asking is, is this good?

Is it good not to cause unnecessary offence (and more) to people? I was taught that the answer to that is "yes".

[Pavlov]

Originally Posted by Acajack

So the same must apply to an entire group as large and diverse as "white people", no?

Of course. I have never suggested otherwise (I hope not, anyway).

[kool maudit]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Is it good not to cause unnecessary offence (and more) to people? I was taught that the answer to that is "yes".

OK. Very Canadian. But I suspect you will soon find that the list of words only speakable via their first letter (plus a meaningful, solemn nod) will grow longer. There may even come to be more than 26!

("No, not the N.E. word... it was worse! It was the N.I word!")

It's going to get pretty R-worded.

[Pavlov]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I should note that there is an American poster in the Current Events section of SSP who has a swastika-shaped "45" with a red strikeout circle and bar over it, as his avatar, and no one seems to bat an eye. It's not technically a swastika but it sure as hell looks like one when you look at it quickly. This is supposedly an anti-Trump symbol.

Honest question: why would a red strikeout circle and bar over a swastika be particularly offensive to other posters?

[kool maudit]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

The family of one of my parents had a black cocker spaniel when they were young (1930s, Kitchener). Anyone care to guess what the dog's name was?

This was probably a reference to this dog, no?* I agree that such usage is incredibly offensive and just weird to contemporary sensibilities.

Were I to meet anyone with a dog named that, I would deN-wordrate their choice in the strongest terms.

Edit: sorry, I didn't see 1930s. These behind-the-times people were ahead of their times in a very brief sense I guess.



* This Wikipedia article is an example of why it can be necessary, in rare historical circumstances, to write the word. You couldn't title the page "N-word (dog)" because the whole context of the thing is that the dog's name was an offensive slur and not a polite circumlocution.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Fun story - I once heard Archbishop Desmond Tutu use the word in a sermon in Cape Town. He certainly knew how to keep the crowd from dozing off ...

From what I recall, didn't (some) South Africans actually have a C-word for that, instead?

[kool maudit]

Originally Posted by Acajack

From what I recall, didn't (some) South Africans actually have a C-word for that, instead?

I think it was a K-word.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kool maudit

I think it was a K-word.

You are likely right. My Afrikaans has always been a bit shaky. (Assuming it comes from that language.)

[p_xavier]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Is it good not to cause unnecessary offence (and more) to people? I was taught that the answer to that is "yes".

I was taught to be mentally strong and not to be offended for stupid shit.

[LakeLocker]

Originally Posted by Pavlov

I don't think it makes sense to ascribe the silly actions of a few individuals to an entire group as large and diverse as "the left".

But this is the point, the unifying feature is a chaotic desire for change.

Change is impossible if you don't have a coherent framework for that change, and the left as a unit has lost it.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Pavlov

Honest question: why would a red strikeout circle and bar over a swastika be particularly offensive to other posters?

Isn't it the same principle that's at play with the N-word? You're not allowed to use it in any circumstances, even to say that's it bad. Even to reference past uses of it as having been bad.

It's entirely plausible and maybe even likely that someone will say that the mere sight of a swastika even in an anti-swastika and anti-Nazi message which is what the strikeout circle and bar clearly represent, is still too much.

The only reasons we haven't heard it yet is because a) anti-Semitism is not a top-of-mind issue right now and b) it's being used against Trump.

I have to confess that if I were a Holocaust survivor I might find the multiplication of swastikas in the public domain, even with the red strikeout, a bit unsettling.

[LakeLocker]

Originally Posted by Acajack

As I have said before, any elementary school teacher that has the liberty to speak freely about such things will confirm this to you.

They're right about 90-95% of the time.

And let us not forget those education institutions are exactly the people who are trying to force feed us the idea we can circumvent that reality if we just give them a bit more money.

It's one giant collapsing deck of cards and education is the center of it all.

[kwoldtimer]

Edit

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Still don’t see how that is worth dismissal from a job. Guess they guy doesn’t hate himself enough these days for purity? Also noticed you dismissed my personal racial encounters in said area.

He is a trustee, so it's AFAIK a part-time job for which they are not paid very much.

I am sure he has a day job. Hopefully that is safe!