Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Friday, March 02, 2007
Watch out: You shouldn't say "nigger" in NYC (oops)
It makes you laugh when establishments that operate ‘zero tolerance’ (for the poor and desperate) and racial profiling tell us all to be nice to each other.
Purveyors of racist institutions and structures offering advice on how to cut out racism is surely a sick joke.
They have political power, how about really doing something.
Posted by Andy on from Shanghai 03/02 at 05:32 AMBanning the word “nigger”; I wonder how that will help solve the problem of racism? Can’t see that as being productive. And I doubt blacks will stop calling each other “nigga” because of some piece of legislature. I would think lawmakers had something better to do with their time.
Andy, from yesterday, mei guanxi. I didn’t get that they called themselves libertarian. I saw “social democrat” thrown around the website and assumed that was their creed. They may say they espouse some sort of libertarianism, but from what you say, in short, I’d say they’re full of $h!t. Like Bush calling himself a Christian. That’s not libertarianism, at least not insofar as I understand it, any more than Bush represents the teachings of Yeshua.
Posted by Jeremy on from Taipei, Taiwan 03/02 at 06:39 AMI think we should ban “exploitation” and “Bush” in addition to the words on your excellent list!
Morning everyone! It is raining here, but rather balmy for an early March morning. I hear the weekend should be nice.
Posted by Deb on from NoVa 03/02 at 08:03 AMMorning all...classic case of concentrating on something other than the actual problem.
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 03/02 at 08:10 AMHello Expendables...from a rainy, rainy NYC. But, like Deb’s neck of the woods, it’s warm for March 2.
I’m not sure I have much to add to the “Libertarian” debate except this: The Libertarians I’ve known speak forcefully about a society in which humans are free from coercive institutions and gov’t authority yet they worship private property, the free market, and unchecked capitalism. The only useful bulwark we currently have against complete corporate control in America, ironically, is gov’t regulation. To imagine a society in which gov’t is relegated to the sidelines while corporate power is set free to achieve its Social Darwinist goals is nothing short of totalitarianism in the name of next quarter’s profits. I don’t like gov’t intervention or corporate power...but I fear corporate power far more.
Back to today’s topic, I must say I don’t think I can endorse Deb’s suggestion to ban “bush.”
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 03/02 at 08:12 AMGreetings from the very cold and icy North to Andy, Jeremy, JOS, Deb and others yet to arrive.
Mickey, your point about fearing corporate power more is well taken but the way I see it corporations and the government are now one and the same. The corporations are in the halls of Congress writing the legislation. Along with striving for the separation of religion and the State, maybe it is also important for the average person to pay attention to keeping Big Business and the State separate. Corporations can be at least as harmful as any religion ever was. There are 650,000+ dead people in Iraq as evidence of that. They died for the bottom line of Halliburton, Lockheed Martin, GE, Raytheon and others. Smedley Butler said that in the 1930s. Mickey says it now, but the Corpocracy still survives.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 03/02 at 08:36 AMNew York City is up to its eyeballs in institutional racism. Maybe that’s why those dipshit lawmakers can’t see how stupid banning a word is. It’s a fucking word.
I think it’s time to link again to Frank Zappa’s appearance on Crossfire in ‘86. Many Expendables may have seen it --- I just like hearing him talk about the futility of censorship. (Plus, for added relevance, I guess he is a libertarian of some sort...)
Posted by Keir on from the hague 03/02 at 09:58 AMIs that Lyndon LaRouche guy a Libertarian? Or Fascist, or whatever you call it. I still see kids out on the street tabling for him handing out propaganda about him and what a great alternative to the establishment he is. Pretty creepy guy from the looks of it…
Are they gonna outlaw “cracker” next?
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 03/02 at 10:18 AMJames...I was stupid enough to give some information to a Larouche guy back in 2003...they called me so many times it was crazy. They were able to hook me in a little on his views on the Iraq war, the more I learned about him the more creepy he got.
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 03/02 at 10:40 AMJames and JOS...I received a lot of calls from the Larouche people. The calls finally stopped when I told them that Larouche is a Capitalist and I am not.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 03/02 at 11:52 AMI can’t help ask, silly question or no, what would you have told them that you were? Socialist? Anarchist? Citizen of the world?
Expendable? Ha, more and more, that feels like the best label of all. Thanks again to whoever first suggested it.
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 03/02 at 12:01 PMJames...I was not very creative. I just told them that I am an anti-capitalist and then I suggested that they check out this blog site and get back to me. I never heard from them again.
CHAIN OF CUSTODY
Keir, Amelopsis and ALL others who have helped me so much during my very long dance with the State, the story has a bit of a twist. Early on, I started to write an article titled “The Secret Life of a Protest Sign”. The article would have told the story from the sign’s point of view. The Sign had a more exciting life than many people. It was confiscated at the time of the arrest, held in the evidence lock-up for years, might be the only protest sign in history that had to be subpoenaed when the government refused to produce it at the trial, was the subject of the Supreme Court Hearing, and was the ONLY piece of physical evidence in the case. I planned to retrieve it and see if it would bring any money on Craig’s List or E-bay. I wanted to split the money and donate half to VFP and use the other half to get some of MIckey’s books for the high school and local library. Guess what...it seems that the police have “lost” the evidence. Maybe that’s why there is not a second trial. Maybe the government did not want its “error” exposed.Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 03/02 at 12:26 PMyou should still write that article, RMJ...or perhaps a short story?
#### tha police...by the way. They always seem to ‘lose’ evidence when it benefits them.
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 03/02 at 01:16 PMOne doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry, Mickey!
Thanks for another great post - and I hope you, Andy, Jeremy, Deb, JOS, Rosemarie and Keir have a good and safe weekend.It is warming up again in Daylesford: about 95F, so we’ll try to stay cool. Take care, all of you wherever you are.
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 03/02 at 03:22 PMRe word banning: Yet another case of trying to fix a major complicated problem by addressing the symptom only. Bah!
Won’t they also have to ban words that contain the n word like snigger? How about words that rhyme like bigger, welldigger,swigger or transfigger?Posted by 'soup on from 03/02 at 04:17 PMNo more N-word in NYC? I am SO glad someone has finally stepped up to the plate - all the sleepless nights, endless fret.
In an African-American history class, I was told that the first Portuguese capture of slaves (against a friendly and unsuspecting village) was preceded by the leader planting a sword and thanking God that such a generous bounty was offered by the Almighty. Then the slaughter and capture began.
I propose a ban of the word “God,” on moral and intellectual grounds. Anyone who utters can have their mouth washed with soap like Native American children speaking their own language in alien schools, or saddled with irons like an unruly slave. Call it an intelligently designed ban…
Alternately, we could prohibit corporations or the military from using any word over three syllables to disguise what they’re up to. “Destroying their capability” has long stood in for “bombing,” and I won’t even get into that “unlawful combatant” miasma. The penalty for disobedience? Ten lashes each for Bill Gates and Alberto Gonzalez on pay-per-view.
“If you’re in marketing or advertising...kill yourself. It’s not a joke. I’m not kidding. You’re satan’s little helpers...”
-- Bill Hicks (1962 - 1994)Posted by Zen Prole on from Urth 03/02 at 04:59 PMdead on as usual, Zen.
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 03/02 at 05:10 PMI propose banning the following people/institutions from the using the folloing words until they learn what they mean:
The New York Times : anarchy
GWB : freedom
Politicians : 9/11
Hollywood : art
I could go on...and on.
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 03/02 at 05:20 PMHi Helga, soup, and Zen.
JOS #18… The one that always gets me is how the Press adopted Pentagonese - “collateral damage”, should be “slaughtered civilians”.JOS #13...It is half written but I don’t know how to search for it. It is in Outlook Express. I have over 20,000 e-mails there. The article was written in Outlook because my computer, at the time, lost things in Word. Is there an easy way to do a search in Outlook Express. I know the title of the article.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 03/02 at 07:10 PMGood evening every Expendable,
“People are also denigrating themselves by using the word, and disrespecting their history.”
So the answer is for a municipality/city to suggest that there be a vocabulary ban?? Orwellian, I say. On second thought, ‘bullshit’ seems more appropriate. Even if everyone did stop using the word, would it mean that no one is disrespecting themselves?Wallpapering over social ills does nothing but make you feel more comfortable in the room, it doesn’t change one’s mindset.
And....it’s a fucking colloquialism now! The only problem I have with it is that it’s reserved for use by black people! Why shouldn’t a cracker use the word in the same sense that black folks do? Most Indians will use “Desi” when referring to their fellow brown asians colloquially, although it’s not derogatory, it has more or less the same everyday intention. My complaint with “nigger” or “nigga” is its exclusivity.
It’s all a lot of crap.
So...I’ve missed the last week here at least, which is not nice. Mickey, I hope your trip to Texas land was a good one and that your mom’s comfortable and well. And of course with regards to article commentary, here’s the best place to be for pleasant company; I suppose the reason not many come by here with negative comments is that when they have, no one here will ‘take the bait’ so to speak; instead of a vitriolic exchange, they find themselves posed with thoughtful questions to answer; and they seldom do. It speaks volumes.
RMJ, please do write your story of the lost protest sign....in Outlook Express go to EDIT>>FIND>> and then get as particular as you like in the search fields to find your MIA article in progress; I look forward to reading it.
On a weather note, someone actually mentioned our fucked up weather today by saying (in jest) that it was a sign of armageddon. While I don’t prescribe to any religious notions of being beamed upward without clothing to my final version of Valhalla, I think the notion of the end of the world is indeed unfolding before our very eyes in the form of drastic climate change. We’ve taken things too far and now we’re watching the results of our management skills manifest themselves.
We live in interesting times indeed.And thus ends my blathery catch up.
I hope all Expendables have been, and are, doing well
Posted by Absent Amelopsis on from Canada 03/02 at 07:59 PMMy understanding of libertarianism is that, like MZ said, humans should be free from coercive government, but that, unlike what MZ said, corporations should be regulated. It is my understanding that Libertarians are opposed to the 14th amendment, or at least the interpretation of it which makes corporations legal “persons” and hence grants them the same legal rights and privileges as humans. They also, it seems to me, recognize the fraudulent nature of our monetary system.
RMJ, one and the same indeed. Musolini’s definition of fascism (rightl being called “corporatism") comes to mind.
All I know about Lyndon LaRouche is that he’s got a website, the Executive Intelligence Review, which can be pretty informative. I’ve not spent a lot of time there, but nothing I’ve seen was objectionable.
I’m not sure what a “capitalist” is anymore, but I think I am one. Words lose their meanings, like “free market”. I believe in the free market. But today that is taken to mean corporations should not be regulated by government. The idea of the free market refers to a lack of government regulation of pricing, tariffs, control of supply, etc. It’s Smith’s “invisible hand” at work. It doesn’t mean government shouldn’t prevent corporations from polluting, etc. There’s no contradiction between having a free market and having government protect human rights against corporate abuses.
Posted by Jeremy on from Taipei, Taiwan 03/02 at 09:13 PMJOS, #18 is laugh-out-loud hilarious.
Gore Vidal once quoted an ancient Chinese philosopher, who was asked ‘If emperor, what would you do first?’ “Rectify the language.”
I also move that RMJ find/re-write/invent an article about the sign lost by the fuzz. It could be sign-ificant.
Posted by Zen Prole on from Urth 03/02 at 09:31 PM
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