A Stitch in Haste

Having solved all other problems, the New York City Council may now take on racial discord:

The city council is considering a symbolic resolution calling for New Yorkers to stop using the n-word, and supporters say Black History Month is a relevant time to call attention to the racial slur.
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National attention increased after an incident last year involving actor Michael Richards, who played the Kramer character on "Seinfeld." Richards blew up at black patrons in a comedy club with a profane tirade that included the slur.

Okay, I confess, that was a bait-and-switch ("race-bait-and-switch"?): the "symbolic resolution" is geared not toward racist whites but at blacks themselves:

Queens Councilman Leroy Comrie spearheaded the nonbinding measure before the New York City Council Thursday. He appeared with hip-hop pioneer Kurtis Blow Walker on Thursday and said the slur has gained a level of acceptance among entertainers and youths that is troubling.

"So I challenge the hip-hop community, I challenge you to abolish that word during the month of February — Black History Month — and beyond," Walker said.

For centuries, the slur has been used to humiliate and degrade blacks, but more recently it also has become a term of endearment and camaraderie among some.

All tastes and preferences — and tolerances — are subjective, so far be it from me to pass judgment on what urban blacks do and do not choose to call themselves in the privacy of their own "camaraderie."

Having said that, I have never bought into the logic of "disempowering" a word by using it. Jews didn't overcome anti-semitism by "disempowering" the word (i.e., calling each other) kyke. Women didn't overcome discrimination by calling each other bitch or cunt. Asians, to the best of my knowledge, don't call each other gook. And so on. As a matter of simple empirical history, blacks choosing to call each other the n-word doesn't seem to make much sense.

But that's all besides the point: Why do the local hack politicians of New York City feel a need to even be discussing this issue? Either because they have nothing better to do, are not smart enough to find something better to do, or — most likely — both.

Can't we all just get along — without dumb ideas from hack politicians?

More thoughts from Eric (a/k/a Southern Boy) at MetrobloggingNYC.

UPDATE: The resolution passed. Black teens, meanwhile, mock the measure.

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Making the obvious cognitive leap:

[Brian] Thornton's work at the Lesbian & Gay Community Service Center of Cleveland and his presidency of the group that organizes Cleveland's gay Pride festival inspired a moniker that captured his incomparable queerness: Faggoty Ass Faggot.

"Amongst my group of friends, we're pretty free-using of that word [faggot]," said Thornton, whose nickname eventually evolved into his [recently defunct] online alter ego at faggotyassfaggot.com.
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But faggot and the most reviled racist slur in the English language share a legacy of hatred, and appear to be headed toward a similar fate, said Harvard Law School professor Randall Kennedy, author of "Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word."

"Each of these words has been used to humiliate people and sometimes terrorize people," Kennedy said. "When they're used in that way the people who use them should be ostracized."

I repeat: I see no basis in history for believing that "disempowering" a slur is an effective tactic. So, gay or straight, if we ever meet, please do NOT use the rhymes-with-maggot-word around me. Thanks.

For Discussion: Anyone care to chime in on the word "queer," which also rubs me the wrong way, but certainly not to the extent that the rhymes-with-maggot-word offends me. Ditto for gay men referring to each other as "girlfriend" — I have no use for it.

More thoughts at InterstateQ.

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Let's cook up some more debate:

A pub sparked fury by serving a 'Barrymore Pie' — and describing it on the menu as: "Faggots swimming in gravy."

Gay rights groups called for the dish to be scrapped at Mad O'Rourke's Pie Factory.

Peter Tatchell, co-founder of Outrage! said: "This may have been intended as a joke but homophobia is not a subject of fun in the same way racism is not appropriate for a joke."
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[The pub's owner responds,] "These people say this is not funny but their behaviour is turning it into a joke. I am sorry that they are upset but I will not be bullied."

Faggots are a traditional meatball dish particularly popular in the West Midlands.

A party at comic Michael Barrymore's Essex home in 2001 ended with guest Stuart Lubbock, 31, being found dead in a swimming pool.

Again, I don't think it's the place of a [presumably straight] U.K. pub owner to tell gays what they should and should not find humorous, especially when a tragic death is involved. Thoughts?

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Let's end on a light-hearted note:


Do they even make "Nut 'N Honey" cereal anymore?