Political correctness tied in knots over n-word

[DesertFox]

A black bus driver who was fired by the Des Moines school district because she used the "n-word" in front of a black student who had threatened her deserves unemployment pay, a judge has ruled.

School officials have appealed the decision and say the Feb. 14 remark constituted job misconduct.

Anita Anderson, 48, of Des Moines was fired two days after the incident on her bus. According to state records, Anderson was driving students from Monroe Elementary School when a boy became disruptive and belligerent.

Anderson testified at a state hearing on her request for unemployment benefits: "I kept asking him to sit down. And he kept on and on. He said he was going to bust me in my face."

After she told the boy he should not speak to her that way, Anderson muttered under her breath, she said.

More (http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070509/NEWS05/705090371/1001/NEWS)

[M.C.]

Great now our tax payers money is paying unemployment to this moron. What a waste. Unemployment pay is sometimes quite a joke. Anyone can be a bus driver, go find another bus to drive.

[PrezLeefun]

I dont care what that kid said to her she should never have used that type of language. The only problem is that people's hard earned money is paying her foul mouth unemployment.

When will adults realize they are meant to be examples for children not bring themselves down to a rude child's level?

[Wolfcounsel]

"When will adults realize they are meant to be examples for children not bring themselves down to a rude child's level?" --PrezLeefun

When are people going to realize that you are not bringing yourself down to any moron's level, if what you are doing is meant to attack the moron and his crap? What you are doing is a rightful act. The bus driver just handled it poorly. I would have stopped the bus, called for security to remove the little asshole, and then continued driving. Let's see how many pamper poops follow him.

[CountryGent]

School officials have appealed the decision and say the Feb. 14 remark constituted job misconduct.

PC'ism once again takes a bite out of the Constitution.

Funny how the word "nigger" is acceptable when it is used by the Rappers.....oh wait .....that's "art".

[Lubbock]

I disagree completely. 100%

That's the way blacks talk to blacks. It's as common as a, and, and the.

Just a week or two ago, I had a black woman in my office, seeking a divorce. She referred to her husband using the "N" word not more than twenty times in less than an hour.

Go to any mall and listen to any group of black teens. Go to any Sonic Drive-In and park next to a car load of blacks.

Blacks use the "N" word when talking to one another, and apparently, it's only wrong if someone of any other ethnic background uses it.

This incident was black on black, the bus driver was just calling it like she saw it, and I think the woman is justly entitled to unemployment benefits.

[DesertFox]

I agree with Lubbock. Were it not for the well-known way black folk hurl that word around, I would think the bus driver a nut. But black folk DO hurl that word around at every opportunity. To me, personally, it was always on a par with mutha fuqqa, not to be said in mixed company, and I spent a lotta years doing a slow burn when people began saying mutha fuqqa everywhere just as black folk do nigga.

The speech nazis are going to have to get their act together quickly now that it's been decided in court that nigga is a no-no AND a yes-yes.

[thoughtomator]

From what I have gathered, "nigga" is the ebonics version of a comma.

[Wolfcounsel]

There is no niveus. There is no niger. Only varying shades of frons.:evilgrin:

[Rhino]

From what I have gathered, "nigga" is the ebonics version of a comma.:rotflmbo:

[Kathy30]

The N word should be replaced by the D word. When I'm going to insult someone, I go all the way and call them a democrat. Only once has anyone complained that "democrat" is racist.

In fact, the D word has replaced the B word, the C word, the P word and the SOB word.

[DoctorDoom]

So is a black a racist for calling another black a "nigger"?

[DeclinetoState]

The N word should be replaced by the D word. When I'm going to insult someone, I go all the way and call them a democrat. Only once has anyone complained that "democrat" is racist.

In fact, the D word has replaced the B word, the C word, the P word and the SOB word.Around here, isn't the most common insult "liberal"? Followed--so to speak--by "troll"?

[Wolfcounsel]

"So is a black a racist for calling another black a "nigger"?" --DoctorDoom

He's a jive ass.

[Riverboat]

I would have stopped the bus, called for security to remove the little asshole, and then continued driving. This is exactly the right way to handle it. Like it or not, the N word is toxic and volatile, and you're never going to win any points or jurors or money or whatever when the Powers That Be decide you were in the wrong. All you'll get is a pair of scuffed up knees from groveling for forgiveness, and your esteem will be zero if you have to go to Father Sharpton for absolution.

Now, if the lady had followed Wolfie's procedure, and the district put the little bastard back on the bus, yeah, then you have a nice juicy case for a hungry lawyer to sink his fangs into.

[PrezLeefun]

So is a black a racist for calling another black a "nigger"?

IMO not racist but definately a "nigger" themselves. Its a degrading word and it doesnt matter who says it. When it is used to address someone else it makes the person saying it just as low as what the word defines.

And Lubbock not all black people use that word. I truely hate that generalization.

[Lubbock]

Of couse not "All" black people use the word, but enough do, and often, that it's lost its sting for me.

I used to flinch and cover my ears when I heard it. Now, I don't even blink an eye.

I know white people who would have, ten years ago, cut their tounge out rather than use the word. Now they use it as a matter of course, and to described a lot of things other than black people, so common has the word become.

When I was a kid growing up, only white gutter trash used the word, and I can tell you, if I had ever ued it, I would be communicating in sign language today. My mother would have slapped my teeth down my throat, severing my vocal cords if the word had ever come out of my mouth [--and if she hadn't heard me say it, someone would have and reported the offense to her.]

One point: The word did not start out as a derrogatory term, no matter what anyone says. I can't prove this, but I've always believed it was white Northerners who corrupted the word from the Southern pronunciation, and made it derrogatory. The word is the Southern pronunciation of Negro. The word did not come full blown into our lexicon as Nigger.

One last point, and this is the point that I don't understand: WHY or WHY do blacks call one another that name? If it is so horrible and offensive, then why use it?

My personal belief is that while blacks were coming into their own during the Civil Rights struggle, the word would have gone away; whites would have stopped using it altogether, except for very low-life gutter trash using it.

Blacks are the ones who have kept the word around and alive. Not whites.

[Rhino]

Blacks are the ones who have kept the word around and alive. Not whites.I gotta agree with that. In this case, they are their own worst enemy.

[M.C.]

I disagree completely. 100%

That's the way blacks talk to blacks. It's as common as a, and, and the.

Just a week or two ago, I had a black woman in my office, seeking a divorce. She referred to her husband using the "N" word not more than twenty times in less than an hour.

Go to any mall and listen to any group of black teens. Go to any Sonic Drive-In and park next to a car load of blacks.

Blacks use the "N" word when talking to one another, and apparently, it's only wrong if someone of any other ethnic background uses it.

This incident was black on black, the bus driver was just calling it like she saw it, and I think the woman is justly entitled to unemployment benefits.

I still don't quite get why they use it so frequently. They ban it in cities, have their crazy leaders rally against using it, and go JIHAD when the white man drops it, yet turn on MTV or whatever else. It is indeed their version of a comma, I agree there. Such hypocrisy "fo reaaaal yo"

[PrezLeefun]

Of couse not "All" black people use the word, but enough do, and often, that it's lost its sting for me.

I used to flinch and cover my ears when I heard it. Now, I don't even blink an eye.

I know white people who would have, ten years ago, cut their tounge out rather than use the word. Now they use it as a matter of course, and to described a lot of things other than black people, so common has the word become.

When I was a kid growing up, only white gutter trash used the word, and I can tell you, if I had ever ued it, I would be communicating in sign language today. My mother would have slapped my teeth down my throat, severing my vocal cords if the word had ever come out of my mouth [--and if she hadn't heard me say it, someone would have and reported the offense to her.]

One point: The word did not start out as a derrogatory term, no matter what anyone says. I can't prove this, but I've always believed it was white Northerners who corrupted the word from the Southern pronunciation, and made it derrogatory. The word is the Southern pronunciation of Negro. The word did not come full blown into our lexicon as Nigger.

One last point, and this is the point that I don't understand: WHY or WHY do blacks call one another that name? If it is so horrible and offensive, then why use it?

My personal belief is that while blacks were coming into their own during the Civil Rights struggle, the word would have gone away; whites would have stopped using it altogether, except for very low-life gutter trash using it.

Blacks are the ones who have kept the word around and alive. Not whites.


Blacks have made it a part of pop culture... anyone regardless of race who ever used it has kept it alive.


As for why so many blacks use it.... many hide under this stupid idea of it turning a negative into a positive. Many say that in dropping the "er" and replacing it with an "a" they drop the negative conotation and make it a positive word of comradory amongst blacks.

I say its utter BS. And mispelling the word doesn't change what it means.

Although I am not Southern and cant say much for dilect I highly doubt that Northerners just twisted that word all by themselves. Negro and Nigger are NOT the same or sound the same by any measure. Sorry but I just dont believe that Northerners had role in that social definition without a Southern given clue.

[Rhino]

Blacks have made it a part of pop culture... anyone regardless of race who ever used it has kept it alive.But whites don't utter it to anywhere near the extent they used to. In every instance that I have heard the word uttered in recent history, it has been from a black person.

Although I am not Southern and cant say much for dilect I highly doubt that Northerners just twisted that word all by themselves.They didn't. The word existed as a derivation before the colonies were formed. The word negro is actually the Spanish word for black, originating from the Latin word niger. Nigger originated as a derivation of neger, which is also a derivation of niger influenced by the French, negre. Negger, neger and nigger were used often in early history and had no negative connotation at all. They simply meant 'black', much the same as the term African-American is used today.

Negro and Nigger are NOT the same or sound the same by any measure.Considering the origins, yes they are, and yes they do.

Sorry but I just dont believe that Northerners had role in that social definition without a Southern given clue.But the south had nothing to do with it. The word existed before there was a 'north and south'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigger

[Lubbock]

Prez, not being Southern, and being waaaaaaaay younger than me, you would not have grown up in a world where the word was still "Negro." Which, by the way, Negro is a perfectly legitimate and correct word.

You see, I grew up in a world before we had Blacks and African Americans. The word was Negro, and there was nothing offensive about it.

Maybe you've never heard a true Southerner pronounce "Negro," and that's why you don't hear the correlation between Negro and Nigger.

Let me state for the record: in the world in which I grew up, I didn't see "prejudice" as it's described today, and I didn't see "racism." What I mostly saw was working people, trying to keep a roof over their heads and feed their kids --Caucasion and Negro.

Just across the Creek County/Tulsa County line from where I lived in Creek County, there was [and may still be] a community called Opportunity Heights, and it was populated by Negros --who, by the way, lived in much better conditions, had better jobs and a better lifestyle than the white folks who lived "under the hill," which was in the other direction from where I lived.

It would have been in the very late 50's --probably 1959, a tornado hit Opportunity Heights. It leveled homes, destroyed the grocery store, and the Baptist Church.

I remember very well, everyone from everywhere pitching in to rescue people trapped in the rubble, and I remember homes being offered up to the homeless, and I remember everyone pitching in to rebuild.

I remember when Opportunity Heights Baptist Church was rebuilt. It was put back up with a steel frame, and my dad did the welding. He said that it would take more than a tornado to knock it down again.

The next year, a tornado hit Sapulpa, Oklahoma [in Creek County where I went to school], and blew away the black schools. That integrated the school system, right then and there.

I don't remember any racial incidents. Just kids going to school together.

I have always believed there was far less racism back then. People have been led to believe it was more of a racist world because of what JOURNALISM reported --the sensationalism.

[PrezLeefun]

Fair enough guys.... but lets not downplay that racism existed and still does.

[Rhino]

I didn't think anybody was downplaying that. At least I wasn't. I was merely noting that there is racism on both sides, and that many blacks use the n word far more than whites, and it seems evident that their use of the word would just insure that it survives longer. Whomever uses it, the derogatory nature is bound to continue until they make an effort to stop it.

[PrezLeefun]

I didn't think anybody was downplaying that. At least I wasn't. I was merely noting that there is racism on both sides, and that many blacks use the n word far more than whites, and it seems evident that their use of the word would just insure that it survives longer. Whomever uses it, the derogatory nature is bound to continue until they make an effort to stop it.

Ahhh then we are definately in agreement as that is what I was saying.

[ConservativeFV]

The N-Word is a disgusting word. No one should be allowed to say it, black or white. Why do politicians and civil 'rights' groups only go after whites who say the word, but defend blacks for saying it?

[Rhino]

No one should be allowed to say it, black or white.So you advocate regulating speech?

[Suzie]

Anytime someone uses name calling it becomes about the name they use. It does nothing to further their position. It doesn't truly address any issues about the person they sling it at. All it does is make people focus on the slur and the lack of class the person has that resorts to name calling instead of addressing an issue or making a point about the problem they have with the individual. Nothing gained. It's not about being better than them, it's making your point in a way that people see you actually have one. Now the focus is on her, not the problems with the kid.

Even in this thread it's now become about that one word and not what the kid did, which was probably worse.

[Rhino]

Even in this thread it's now become about that one word and not what the kid did, which was probably worse.I thought that was the premise of the original article.

[Suzie]

True I guess, so even the press is tied to that and not what happened now.

[Wolfcounsel]

"True I guess, so even the press is tied to that and not what happened now." --Suzie

GAIA forbid that a snot-nosed booger-eating school boy be capable of threats toward a bus driver! The sissy press derails the story on purpose.
<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

[Lubbock]

What happened, what is described in the article, is "the word" that we're talking about.

That's why we're having this discussion.

Frankly, I think the discussion has been good. Prez, being a black woman, has probably had this discussion many times in the past with her white friends. I know I've had the discussion with my black friends.

Now . . . if we want to really get something started, I'll tell you about some of the discussions I've had with my Hispanic friends on the issue of Illegals --or as one dear Hispanic friend referred to them . . . WETBACKS.

I remember like it was yesterday, the very first time I heard a black person call another a Nigger.

I had a lot the same reaction when I heard Wetbacks come out of my friend's mouth.

[Suzie]

"True I guess, so even the press is tied to that and not what happened now." --Suzie

GAIA forbid that a snot-nosed booger-eating school boy be capable of threats toward a bus driver! The sissy press derails the story on purpose.
<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

They really don't even mention what the kid said that was threatening... guess that could be because he is a minor and she was supposed to be the adult.

[Rhino]

They really don't even mention what the kid said that was threatening... guess that could be because he is a minor and she was supposed to be the adult."He said he was going to bust me in my face."

[Suzie]

That's what was in her testimony. You would think they could have someone who saw this and could say what they saw from both sides. This just sounds like her trying to defend what she said to him. Of course I guess that's the whole point of everything now. What she said. I wonder why no one had to put forth in the trial what the kid said? And if they did, why isn't it in this story? The kid was nasty, have something to back this poor woman up if he was threatening her.

They also included...

"I'm a Christian. ...

They could have helped her show that a little better and gave support with back up against the kid.

I just don't like this story at all. :lol:

[Rhino]

That's what was in her testimony. You would think they could have someone who saw this and could say what they saw from both sides. This just sounds like her trying to defend what she said to him. Of course I guess that's the whole point of everything now. What she said. I wonder why no one had to put forth in the trial what the kid said? And if they did, why isn't it in this story? The kid was nasty, have something to back this poor woman up if he was threatening her.There was no trial. All they had was a hearing. And all the hearing addressed was the conduct of the driver, and her being fired. The conduct of the kid wasn't an issue, so it wouldn't be necessary to require testimony about it. As was mentioned before, all attention has been focused on the word itself, rather than any behavior on the part of the kid. And according to her, she didn't say it to the kid anyway. She muttered it to herself under her breath, but another student overheard it. The kid in question never even heard her say it, so it's not like she was directing it at him.

And by the way, the judge at the hearing ruled that the driver was not guilty of misconduct. Stupidity maybe, but she herself admits that.

[Suzie]

It's a shame one word can do all that. I guess I just can't believe that would happen. Nothing gained, plenty lost.

[Wolfcounsel]

"Now . . . if we want to really get something started, I'll tell you about some of the discussions I've had with my Hispanic friends on the issue of Illegals --or as one dear Hispanic friend referred to them . . . WETBACKS." --Lubbock

Not all "Hispanics" were born in Mexico or other parts south of the border, or even countries like Spain. A wetback is called a "mojado" (moh-HAH-doh). It means "wet one". It refers to someone who got wet getting here illegally, and does not apply to a legal immigrant who came here legally during a thunderstorm. Another word, "gringo" (green-GO) applies to all foreigners in Mexico, and not just those of Anglo or white Caucasian race. An Australian aborigine (Caucasoid) would be considered a gringo in Mexico. The "endearing" term that bad-meaning people of Hispanic blood use for those of the Anglo people or white Caucasian race is Gabacho (gah-bah-CHO), or Bolio (bow-LEE-oh). A Hispanic person born in the United States who considers himself rightly so an American is called a Pocho (POH-cho), by a bad-meaning Mexican national. I call wetbacks "cockroaches", but you can call them "people" if you don't mind them sneaking here illegally and using your hard-earned money for welfare, food stamps, and other benefits, which not even lazy-assed legal U.S. citizens deserve, kids or no kids.

Okay. Back to the little punk-ass who threatened a bus driver, and the weenie press diverted attention by bringing up the corrupted Latin word for "black", which is NIGER (KNEE-gair).

[Wolfcounsel]

Sorry. My computer farted out a double post.

[Rhino]

I hate it when that happens.

[Riverboat]

It's a shame one word can do all that.One of our teachers refers to all his students as booger-eating morons. No racial slurs there.

[DesertFox]

I agree with Blue Moon, who said he refuses to be drawn into the phony quarrel of color. When angry, many, many people say the most cutting thing they can think of, whether it's to their spouse or to a perfect stranger. That's why angry men call women whores and cunts, the most cutting things they can think of. Angry women call men dickless and cowards, the most cutting things they can think of. Angry blacks call whites mutha f*ckas, angry whites call blacks niggas.

Nigga and nigger are indeed uses of the word in inverted fashion. Make it part of everyday speech and it loses its bite. But the blacks who do that only go part way. The word would truly loses all its bite if they accepted it as just another word no matter who said it. Decent black folk don't use it at all, as decent white folk don't, out of respect for the history it implies -- the history of a long struggle for dignity by black folk. That's what it's really all about -- dignity. But getting all sensitive over that word jettisons that history and puts tender egos at the mercy of anybody who can mouth that word.

I for one wouldn't allow anybody that kind of power over me. It's precisely the kind of poor-pitiful-me thinking that leads to the shredding of the Constitution lest somebody's tender little ego be bruised. Poor baby, there there, it'll be alright, here's a lollipop.

How about growing up and being a man instead? I live on a rez, and everybody here laughs when you hum "One little, two little, three little Indians." Little kid stuff and they recognize it as such.

Meanwhile, my approach is that the n-word's a potty word, the kind for which one washes a kid's mouth out with soap. The races DO have differences and we DO have to watch out for each other less we unintentionally give offense -- but in the sense of grown-ups being adult about human relations rather than in the sense of anybody being all that fragile. To be thought unable to handle such language would be a bigger insult than the n-word is.

[Incident_command]

You dont hear nigger often, but when you do its often a result of the persons action more so than skin color. Same as white trash. As in this case. The kid acted like a scumbag thug and the word was used to describe his actions more so than just a slur to his skin color. I cant tell you the last time I heard someone call a black nigger for no reason. Around my parts anyway.
I just call folks like him democrats

[M.C.]

You dont hear nigger often, but when you do its often a result of the persons action more so than skin color. Same as white trash. As in this case. The kid acted like a scumbag thug and the word was used to describe his actions more so than just a slur to his skin color. I cant tell you the last time I heard someone call a black nigger for no reason. Around my parts anyway.
I just call folks like him democrats

Democrat is a far more offensive word than nigger in my opinion.:thumb:

Seriously though, the driver was black and so was the little thug kid. I highly doubt the driver used that word to show hatred towards the black community, as the driver was actually a black person. Stupid story. The only part that bothers me is apparently the kid isn't in trouble, and the driver is gonna get payed for doing nothing.

[Towerpainter]

Hmmmmm now a bus driver gets the boot in just two days, but a piss poor teacher can't be fired because it costs more to fire them than to just move them on to a different school... maybe we have the basis for a da'scrimnation suit here..just a thought...

[DoctorDoom]

Maybe we can get Bullhorn Sharpton to stand outside the punk's house bellowing, "Yo momma is so fat that on a scale of 1 to 10 she's a 747. Yo momma is so fat ..."

[Suzie]

This also feeds into the media's constant Christian bashing mode. They are constantly looking for a Christian target and wait for a chance to give examples of someone professing themselves to be with GOD acting in a way that they do not believe reflects that so they can rake them over the coals. I especially hate it when there seems to be people trying to help feed that effort that shouldn't be.

[CountryGent]

Maybe we can get Bullhorn Sharpton to stand outside the punk's house bellowing, "Yo momma is so fat that on a scale of 1 to 10 she's a 747. Yo momma is so fat ..."

LMAO!! Damn it Doc you keep forgetting the Spew Alerts!:rotflmbo::rotflmbo: