One Mans Opinion 6/27/2013

WARNING - RANT ALERT - The following my be offensive to those who allow it to be.

I am going to use certain words here that you may find utterly offensive. I apologize in advance for your 'thin skin' approach to life.

Let me preface this - I am not a fan of Paula Deen. I am not a fan of her cooking. I know people who love her, and her cooking (there's such balance in nature). However, I have to defend her here as I can see the hypocrisy of those that are calling for this woman's livelihood to be taken away from her. Many people are pointing accusatory fingers at her; accusing her of being a racist for something she supposedly said 30 years ago in a private conversation.

Many of these same people routinely call each other the "N" word.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names shall never hurt me. Yeah right!

Words only hurt if you allow them to hurt, so if someone calls you the N-word as a term of endearment, then everyone else should be allowed to do so as well. Fair is fair, right?
 
In Rap music (a oxymoron), the infamous N-word is bandied about early and often. If Kenye or Snoop Dogg can say the word in their so-called Rap music, then why can't anyone else use it in their daily conversation? Richard Pryor made a good living using it in his comedy routines, but Michael Richards tried to use it in one and look what happened to him.

Well, that's simple, Dewaine... It's offensive when someone else uses it.

Let's look at the word, and it's origins:

From Webster's Dictionary: 

Nigger - (niger) noun - (offensive term of contempt) a negro (older neger fr F. negre).

Niggard - (nigerd) - noun - a stingy person.

Niggardly - 1. adj. stingy  2. adv. in a stingy way.

then there's the infamous

Nigger in a woodpile - something in a situation that is concealed or not straightforward; a lurking difficulty.

Now, those words and terms are offensive (yet the last one is kinda funny in a way).

 

Etymology

The word Nigger is derived from the Latin (and later French)... Negre is black.

Okay, so we have the etymology of the word behind us, now for the racist part of this blog:

When slave owners referred to the slaves as niggers, they were using the Latin, or even the French terminology for blacks (although most of the slave owners were not overly bright when trying to speak Latin of French), so negre became Nigger. If they had called them blacks instead, then black would by now be used as a slur instead of a primary color. We'd boycott Crayola and picket blacktop driveways. Yes, that's a ridiculous statement, but that's getting to my point.

When the blacks in America call each other nigger, or nigga, it's perfectly okay, as it is used as a term of endearment (Hey nigga, what up?) But if anyone else utters that word, it's immediately grounds to get you ass whooped. So, if the N-word is racist when used by one race, but not another, then isn't that the epitome of hypocrisy?  My answer would be a resounding YES!

I have heard white kids call each other nigga and I cringe because I know what the word means, and it isn't a term of endearment. It's a racial slur.When I hear blacks use it, I cringe because of the meaning behind the word, not the term of endearment, was one that blacks in this country fought against and marched against back during the civil rights struggle. Martin Luther King did not march against racism so that future black teens could use the N bomb as a term of endearment. Ask those older blacks how they feel about the kids using the word as that. I'm sure they will tell you that it's offensive. Let's face it, nigger, or nigga is not a nice word, no matter who uses it, and for whatever reason.

So, let's talk crackers for a moment.

When blacks call white people cracker, or cracka, is that considered a racial slur? Many blacks will tell you it's not. But it is used as such; so again, the hypocrisy is most evident.

I can eat a cracker, but being called a cracker, or cracka is a slur against MY race. I'm not a cracker, I'm a human being. But if you wish to continue to call me or other whites crackers, or honkys, then we should feel free to call you the N word.

We don't go around calling people Japs, krauts, hymies, wops, diegos, queers, fags, or any other term without being viewed as a racist, bigot, or homophobe, so cracker, cracka, honky, white bread, or any other term is just as derogatory as nigger is!

Again, I use these word here to emphasize how words are used to hurt us. 

Let me put it in another way so you can get my point: If I call someone a MFer, that doesn't necessarily mean that they F their own mother; but there again, maybe they do. I don't know, I just called them that. We throw around words to hurt one another, never thinking of how it makes us look. Mostly like idiots, or inbred cretins that think calling someone retarded is cool ("Hey, look at that retard!"). That is a medical term that hardly is ever used today, yet I see the word used on the internet like crazy (Libtards being one example). As funny as you might think the word is, to someone who has a family member that is mentally challenged, that word is a slur. THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK PEOPLE! I'm sure that certain people will get headaches trying to think, but we all need to do so before we utter something that will offend someone else. Words that can hurt makes us all a little less human.

Now back to Paula Deen...
     
If what Paula Deen did or said 30 years ago is going to be used as a criteria, then anything you or I have may have said or done 30 years ago suddenly becomes suspect. Do you want YOUR past dredged up to be used against you? Think about the time you called someone a derogatory name, and then ask yourself if you would like to be called something equally as derogatory? Although I do not condone Ms. Deen's use of the word, it was 30 years ago, and we all were different people back then. And for you youngins out there, what you say today can and will be used against you 30 years from now,so again, think before you speak!

Finally, as for those companies that have decided to drop their affiliation with Ms. Deen because of her past usage of the N word, I can assure you that your business will be adversely affected, as those people that are standing behind Paula Deen will figure out ways to not do business with you and your companies; be it by boycotts, or simply finding other places to purchase their goods. 

In the end, the old adage rings true:  Let ye who is without sin cast the first stone!

But that's just my opinion, I could be right!

One Mans Opinion 6/8/2013
By Dewaine Shoulders

I just got off the phone with a friend of mine a little while ago. He was telling that he feels like the government is totally out of control, but his wife thinks that the government is doing the right thing by stepping up their surveillance of people that they deem potential terrorists. I asked him if he was planning on getting a divorce soon. He laughed, but understood what I was implying.

That is just one family feeling differently about what's taking place in DC.

When nearly half the country feels that the government is overstepping their authority, and nearly the other half thinks its perfectly alright for the government to spy on us, it tells me that America is as divided as it was back in the pre-Civil War days.

Take a look around; what do you see going on in our nation's capital? The IRS debacle; The NSA phone data-mining; The DoJ wiretapping the AP and Fox News reporters phones, email (even those of Rosen's parents). Least we forget Benghazi, Fast and Furious, and the utter disregard for the rule of law when it comes to a host of other things that has happened in the last 10 years. Spending is out of control, and we keep borrowing money from China to pay for stuff for other countries. And then there's The Patriot Act, meant to protect us from terrorist. It has now been turned into a weapon of mass destruction, destroying or liberties one step at a time.

Now I know that there will be those that say that the government isn't encroaching on our liberties, and that they are doing everything above board, getting warrants to do the wiretapping, data-mining, etc.

You're missing the point.

The point is that the 4th Amendment is being sidestepped here. You have the right to privacy, and even candidate Obama said that this should not be happening back when he was running for president the first time around. You are missing the point that if the Justice Department, or the IRS, or the EPA, or any other government agency wants to, they can place you under surveillance, tap your phones, go through your email accounts, or where you choose to spend you free time on the Internet. Then they begin looking into your friends, and their friends, and so on and so on.

This has nothing to do with protecting us from terrorists, nor does it have anything to do with conspiracy theories. This has to do with the fundamental rights we enjoy as Americans to live our lives without being watched as if we are terrorists.

There is a clear pattern emerging here: out of control government taking liberties with our liberties. I assume that I have the right to express myself here, but what if the DoJ, the FBI, the CIA, or NSA decides to tap into my phone, computer, email, or place me under surveillance because they deem my words a threat to national security? They can get the proper warrants to do most anything to turn me into a criminal for expressing an opinion. And if you never hear from me again, they you know that what I have said here made me a target of their surveillance. Hell, you might see my picture on the wall at the Post Office one day.

Ask yourself one question: If George Bush was in office and all of this was going on, would you be feeling the same way you do now? If you can answer honestly, without politicizing it, they you should see what I see happening... The beginning of a police state.

But seriously, this is scary. No matter how you wish to spin it, our government now deems all of us potential terrorists. Is this the country you want? Not I. To me, it's looking more like the beginnings of Nazi Germany than the America I know and love.


But that's just my opinion, I could be right.