larry wilmore built a career off the same thing. and he's less funny than maher.

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'Your AT&T Universal Card has arrived'? Oh God, Kick-fucking-ass, I got a Master Card! I don't believe it, man. Life is kinda cool sometimes.

Wilmore's "career" died because he couldn't differentiate from racial topics, and his writers were atrocious.

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Every time anyone correctly identified that Wilmore's show was not very comedic for a show on Comedy Central, people replied "IT'S NOT FOR YOU!" What, it's not for human beings who like to watch jokes on TV? I think even black folks would have appreciated some jokes. I mean, Perspectives With Lionel Osbourne was played for laughs.

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Comedy Central is so fucking stupid. You have John Stewart and Dave Chapelle... And your next moves are all about going for the cheapest idiot.

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

He rose to fame using that word. So he's in no position to "confront" anyone.

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Why are only 14 percent of black CPS 11th-graders proficient in English?

Well ice cube got his jabs in.

But he did say the n word is for black people only. They own it now.

I know its only one word, and there really isnt any other word that hold that amount of weight... but isn't saying "we own it" part of the problem? I dont understand the need for 'the black community' to segregate themselves like that. Who is 'the black community'? You don't hear of any other ethnicity group banning together like that, unless its for the wrong reasons (skinheads for example, or ISIS). I wish maher would have brought that up, and Im sure he was just staying quiet because sometimes you just need to shut up and take it... but if we are ever going to get over racism we need to stop pooling vast amounts of people into groups that dont even exist.

I grew up in a very white town... only a few black kids. But we didnt even know they were in 'the black community' because they were just in our community. i remember as a kid not even thinking about it... all i remember is everyone jealous of the girl with dark skin because it looked so perfect all the time. we were raised sheltered, and didnt understand the whole black community thing until 4th grade or so... I know white people started the problem, but its not going to be fixed by sticking to sides.

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

The guests lecturing Bill was beyond embarrassing. Ice Cube called him a redneck trucker. Using the n word is "like a knife" if a white person uses it, but Ice Cube can launch his career selling it to white teenagers as a protest word against the establishment.

Symone Sanders said that Bill "would have been the slave master" had he lived in those times, which is pretty major misunderstanding of the actual economics of the era.

We've reached this strange era were we cannot look at facts or measure "damage". If people claim to feel injured then they can say whatever they want, and demand all sorts of public shaming.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bil ... 026879abe2



If you cut through this guy's bullshit, being white is original sin. There is no coalition building or compromise when we have arrived at this type of thought. It's just protest, outrage and shutting down. If your identity is getting revenge for past crimes that you were not even alive for then your identity will be perpetually seeking signs of "oppression".

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Why are only 14 percent of black CPS 11th-graders proficient in English?

Here's the cold hard fact of American television: if you don't have a horde of predominantly white viewers you aren't likely to remain on the air for very long.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I'm surprised that there aren't other voices on this thread....I wish they were here to push my thinking....

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"OMG I can't understand why MANY black people get upset when white people say n-word. This is so unfair! " This level of complete fucking stupidity is frightening.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

It's funny who gets so hot and bothered over the "right" to use language that makes them look like a complete ignoramus and asshole.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

What about as a comedian? (Or white comedian?) Some were suggesting that makes it a different issue than just a white person saying the N-word. (Are there split stats on context?)

I guess the reactions (like the one Waiting for Ruffcorn quoted) are another issue.


There are a couple lines I wouldn't cross...the N-word being one...I can't think of a comp.

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I'm still kind of conflicted, but with each passing year I bristle more at the word, in most uses, especially in music.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

That's the thing about arguing over things like freedom of speech and appropriateness, etc.: The freedom-to-say-anything crowd has strange bedfellows and often comes off really poorly. (The other side often does, too.) Interestingly, some of those strange bedfellows go nuts when you say "goddamn" or "shit."

As a teacher, I've been nailed on curse words (even when they were in the text). As a teacher, I would sometimes read aloud the N-word if it was in the text I was reading aloud, but eventually I moved away from it and just said "N.". It sounded strange to read Faulkner aloud when doing this ("Dilsey is an N"), but people react differently to it. You insult a student, you've lost her or him forever. More importantly, you don't want to insult or anger a student.

In comedy, the context may be different.

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60 Minutes did a feature on Chris Rock in the early 90s. They discussed his use of the N-word. They interviewed his mother, too. She used it. Her rationale was something like, "Well, some people act like it."

That explanation made a ton of sense to me. Then they interviewed someone else--a community leader, something like that--and he said, "Well, why would you call anyone the N-word?" That made even more sense. (And obviously, if you call a white person that, you have not victimized that person.) It's the example I always use when students want to read the N-word aloud. (I don't teach high school any longer, so it's not really an issue.)

Not sure if the ga word and the ger word are the same. I get it that people take over words--like queer--and they use that to empower themselves. This one might be a little different, though, since so many people willfully misinterpret language.

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The level of sanctimonious outrage certainly has been stupid. If you don't think Ice Cube building a career out of the word then calling someone a redneck for using it isn't hypocritical then I don't know what to tell you. We've reached a point were we can't even have civil discussions without offering some apology for the actions of people generations before.

If we have special use rules for certain words then we are bound to violate them.

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Why are only 14 percent of black CPS 11th-graders proficient in English?

I think it is different for comedians, but I still don't prefer any white comedians saying the word. I was kind of turned off from Louie CK when he used a joke involving the word 4 or 5 years ago. Then I found out he is half Mexican, and I didn't care that much anymore.

Btw, I really think white people need to drop the whole battle to say the N word. If we can't say one word out of the entire dictionary is life really that bad? This isn't like the debate over guns. We aren't gonna lose all the English words to black people if they take away one.

Damn. I just used an analogy. Fuck that.

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Not if you have dark memories of being called it in an area where you really can't defend yourself. It's still funny to hear old tapes of Pryor, Chris Rock and even many of the raunchy long ago types like Redd Foxx, but those guys were better writers/craftsmen and clearly the word carried weight with them. Imo it's fairly rare to hear newer comics using the word with a grasp of it's meaning and effect to at least some of us dying off old bastards.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Hello new teaching quote....

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Odd given that in MANY of those same circles it comes across as profane to call the president and attorney general liars.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Isn't Ice Cube essentially saying what I said weeks ago: it's the intent of the speaker that makes the use offensive?

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I've absolutely hated the village of South Holland for 45 years in part because of it.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

What you call a can of worms. If people discuss it in longform, though, not in sound bites, most of them can straighten it out (provided they listen to one another and speak their minds). It's the soundbites that keep people stupid and angry and ignorant.

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you said that but backtracked so it doesn't count.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

True, but words have baggage....connotations you can't control. Not really fair, especially when you are unaware of the wider connotations, but....I guess listeners have to take that into account, too. We've all been burned by this.

Like when Aussies travel to the USA and call someone a "Caller Bob." Hahaha. I guess the Brits do, too.

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Speaking personally, my wife uses "ger" when describing the pieces of shit killing people and committing senseless crime on the south side of Chicago. I ask why she's being racist towards her own people, and she just says she hates them. Growing up on 115th, she's had too many friends and acquatances killed for nothing by the same types of people it seems.

I can almost understand the justification, but I can't fully relate because I don't know anyone who's been shot to death.

It seems "ga" is more social and acceptable, but still shouldn't be said by white people.

"Ger" is still the derogatory word it always has been. That was Chris Rock's point all those years ago, right?

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Perfect example....also inserted into my teaching repertoire.

Ok, I'll shutup on this thread now.

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No. He's saying that only black people should say it regardless of intent.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

It's a ridiculous double standard that gives all sorts of ammunition to the alt-right.

Also, who gets to define "black"? Someone who is half-black? What about someone who is a quarter black, but "identifies" as black. Beyond that should white people even listen to people saying the word or is that "appropriating" something that does not belong to them?

As soon as we start creating special rules for language bases on race we are entering a divisive and dangerous territory. Bill Maher's joke was stupid, but he clearly wasn't trying to hurt people.

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Why are only 14 percent of black CPS 11th-graders proficient in English?

No. He is just assuming intent when used by a white person. I don't think he is for black people using it with malicious intent.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.