President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

I was looking up this very subject earlier this year. The term was not considered racist for the first 30 years or whatever it was. And then some groups in the 1940s were definitely using it in its racist sense, and that interpretation has stuck ever since.

 

If it were followed by words like dinge, porch monkey, that sort of thing, it is certainly derogatory. On its own, used in the original context of the phrase, it is only offensive to the most sensitive of the SJW crowd and to concern trolls.

 

If I offended anyone's sensibilities with my racist language, I apologize.

 

Can't wait for Steven Spielberg to make a movie of this era with Tom Hanks as Robert Mueller. The first scene will have a voiceover "There's been a break-in of the Democratic National Committee's emails." Cue John Williams score.

 

Hey man, I'm trying to help you here.

The term is racist. I know you didn't intend it that way, but it's not like you can drop the "N" word, then give your own definition of it that isn't racist, and get away with it.

Robert Byrd tried that. It doesn't work.

The usage of tar baby has evolved from the definition you provided. You'd be best to avoid it in the future.

 

I very seldom use it. I knew when I typed it in that it was an iffy construction. OTOH, this is a board for wordsmiths, and the context in which I used the word was quite plain.

I appreciate you trying to keep me out of the racist language danger zone, but frankly I have dealt with that far longer than you have. I'm quite certain that there is no shortage of such language where you live - but I started hearing and having to deal with it in the mid-1960's Deep South. As I said, I grew up in SW Atlanta. If you were loose in your use of language there, you could become unsafe quite quickly... or to speak plainly, get your ass kicked. I never did. I don't expect to.

My city is routinely very racially mixed. Stand in a line, go to a ball game, the grocery store, it's just a fact of life. Sure, there are neighborhoods that are 90% black or better, where you might not be very safe walking the streets, particularly after dark. There are gated communities that are 90% plus white, where a black guy can get hassled simply for driving the street. Most of the place, we mix and find a way to get along. That's my daily reality, YF.

 

Hey, you said t*r b*by. Watch that.

 

E.J. Dionne Jr.: We knew who Trump was

 

BTW, I'm not nominating myself for non-racist sainthood here. Sometimes when I get pissed off because someone is acting like an idiot, or driving like a moron, I will think in my head or say aloud in my car things that I would never say in a public setting. I use the same ugly words, thoughts, put people in the same stereotypical cubbyholes as the rest of the human race does. I'm not proud of it.

The point that I was making is that it is not a part of my public persona that I have to account or apologize for. What you just called me on is about as bad as I would get in any normal situation.

 

That's a good read. Thanks.