20130617

Why the Double Standard?



            "The N-Word":  Black people can use the word any time they want but if a white guy says it, there will be hell to pay.  "Cracker" on the other hand, anyone can say the word “cracker.” The Nabisco Company has made a fortune slapping that word on most all their products and nobody gives a damn. Imagine what would happen if that very same company were to come out with a product called “Chocolate Glazed Nigger Snaps!”  There would be hell to pay.  Why the double standard?
            There is a high profile racially tinged criminal trial going on right now-No not the Zimmerman Trial- The Bulger Trial.  I understand that he is a mobster and a murderer but that’s no good reason to bring race into the picture.  The media is all “Whitey Bulger” this and “Whitey Bulger” that, “Whitey Whitey Whitey!”  I get it, he’s a white guy but what does that fact have to do with anything?  Did we call the O.J. Simpson Trial the Blackie Simpson Trial? No we did not.* Why the double standard?
            Fags: I can light up a fag on the streets of London, England any time I like and nobody would give a damn or even bat an eye but just try to do the same thing in San Francisco or anywhere else in the U.S. and everyone will shout “Hate Crime! Hate Crime!” at you.  Again I ask, why the double standard?
            Snark off, full stop: Words can hurt but context matters.

            Political Correctness: I hate political correctness.  I hate people who hate political correctness.  Political correctness is just a word for politeness and treating people with respect although at times some people take sensitivity too far.  Ironically anti-political correctness can be worse.  All too often, anti-P.C. folks use the word as a bludgeon to silence people who are offended by assholes.  They will shout “You’re being P.C.” as if that automatically wins them the argument.  Fuck them both and thank you for your time wasted on reading my little rant.

* Well, some people may have called it that but certainly not in polite company.

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  3. Chris Vosburg13:01

    Hi, gocart. Coupla adds:

    I was waiting on a bus once in the historically predominantly black section Pasadena, and was a little uneasy, being young and white and way off my turf.

    ..and then a van went gaily by, with "Whitey's TV Service" emblazoned on the side. Wondered at the time "who the hell in this part of town is gonna call Whitey's TV Service?"

    Once was chatting with a black friend in a bar and got off a good line, at which he exploded in laughter and shouted "Nigger, Please!" (common vernacular at the time).

    Short moment or two of silence as we tried to figure out whether a protocol of some sort had been shattered, but I recovered quickly with "I'm not a negro" in my best stick up the ass white country club accent. We laughed some more.

    Last, agreed on "political correctness," which I believe was hijacked from liberal self-deprecating humor by conservatives who wouldn't know self-deprecating humor if it bit 'em.

    First instance I heard was back in the sixties, when I overheard my older sister and her college friends discussing whether or not to shave their legs. They decided against it, memorably saying that this was, after all, more "politically correct." Feminist chicks, man, what're ya gonna do?

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