Is "thug" the new "n-word"?

Discussion in 'Free Speech Alley' started by mobius481, Apr 29, 2015.

  1. mobius481

    mobius481 Registered Member

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    CNN is now running an article exploring this question. I've heard a few hear bring up "thug" as a racist term. However, it's been used as a descriptor for ISIS and Al-qaeda as well as armed militants in Russia and other areas. I just don't see it yet although the word seems to be getting more and more polarizing especially after comments by Baltimore Mayor and Obama.

    http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/29/us/baltimore-riots-thug-n-word/index.html
     
  2. LaSalleAve

    LaSalleAve when in doubt, mumble

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    Yes, I actually had this same conversation with some of my employees a few months ago.
     
  3. red55

    red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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    We had a discussion of this recently on some thread. I think it is a good term for any violent criminal and most people use it without any racial connotation, but MASTERMIND thinks it is a racial epithet. If black leaders are using the word, I don't think it rises to a racist term. What else are we going to call violent criminal troublemakers? Chillrens?
     
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  4. LSUMASTERMIND

    LSUMASTERMIND Founding Member

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    pretty sure i said in some context it is
     
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  5. TwistedTiger

    TwistedTiger Founding Member

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    Somone needs to print a dictionary of words that are ok for white people to use. With the way things are going with every other word hurting someones feelings it shouldn't take much ink to print.
     
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  6. shane0911

    shane0911 Helping lost idiots find their village

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    I agree with Red here, if the shoe fits...i have never thought it to be indicative of any particular race.
     
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  7. LaSalleAve

    LaSalleAve when in doubt, mumble

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    This is probably the correct answer.
     
  8. LaSalleAve

    LaSalleAve when in doubt, mumble

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    I had a friend who moved to Mississippi and he was house hunting (white guy) the real estate agent showing him houses started telling him about certain areas he didn't want to live because they are now filled with "democrats". He was referring to African Americans.
     
  9. StaceyO

    StaceyO Football Turns Me On

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    I'm sure that some people might see it as a racial term. I do not, as I have not heard it used just for people of color; however, others might think differently.

    I also would hate for there to be another rather innocuous word out there that becomes taboo because it seems racist. (n-word, however, was never innocuous, as it most certainly pertained negatively to one race.)
     
  10. LaSalleAve

    LaSalleAve when in doubt, mumble

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    My case in point is Tyrann Mathieu. Had he been a white guy would he have been labeled a thug? Also heard Jordan Jefferson referred to as a thug, but not the white linebacker that was arrested with him.
     
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