It’s Your Language
Political Correctness; Posted on: 2007-06-27 09:06:31 [ Printer friendly / Instant flyer ]
Political Correctness run amok
by Winston Smith
The Political Cesspool
If Michael Richards’s “n-word” rant made race-issue rhetoric boil, then Don Imus’s “nappy-headed hos” remark blew the lid off the pressure cooker that is the race issue in America these days. And now, whenever a White person’s speech hints that he or she is anything less than totally given to the quasi apotheosis of the Negro in America, the ensuing orgy of indignation, real and faux, that follows is so grotesque that it takes on the atmosphere of a carnival side-show exhibit. I can hear the barker now: "Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Step right up and watch a most amazing metamorphosis! See how certain magical words proceeding from thin Caucasoid lips can instantly transform a random assemblage of descendants of Ham into a collective grand maul seizure of synthetic incredulity and breath-taking illogicity! It’s Pavlov’s discovery on display! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!”
A Caucasian doesn't even have to say the n-word to pay an heavy price - he need only say a word that sounds like the n-word. In 1999 a Caucasian aide to the Mayor of Washington DC was forced to resign his job after he used the word "niggardly" in reference to the city budget. "Niggardly” means "in a stingy or tight-fisted way," and has nothing to do with race. But, a nearby Negro heard the word, lodged a complaint, and voila! - a White man is forced out of his job and his reputation permanently stained, all because an illiterate Negro was on the sniff-out for the slightest whiff of racism.
Even “Negro,” the word used by civil rights kingpins such as Michael (“Martin Luther”) King Jr. and Malcolm (“X”) Little, has become verbum non grata when used by White people. When I broadcast The Political Cesspool, I use the word, because I believe it is the correct word by which to refer to “a member of a major human racial division traditionally distinguished by physical characteristics such as brown to black pigmentation and often tightly curled hair, especially one of various peoples of sub-Saharan Africa. 2. A person of Negro descent." (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, third edition - 1996). A lot of Negros believe likewise, which is why there are organizations like the United Negro College Fund, the National Council of Negro Women, the Universal Negro Improvement Association, the National Negro Business League, the National Negro Bowling Association, and an host of others. And we still refer to institutions like the Negro Baseball League and the music known as “Negro spirituals.”
But the n-word has taken on the effect of what one commentator called “the epithet with no equal,” meaning that there is no word that is more offensive. The n-word has achieved the status as to worst insult of all. Which is why we Whites can’t seem to understand why Negros can use it with impunity. Negros can call each other the n-word all day long and sleep none the worse for it. But when a White person uses it, well, that’s a different matter. Consider these remarks by Negros on the subject:
“In the black community, it's like a pet name. We use it as a way to communicate with each other. You may hear it thousands of times a day.”
“Right now, the only power it has is if a white person calls a black person a 'n---er'.”
“When (the word is) coming from our people, I don't take it personal. But when I hear it from white people, I take it personally because of how the word was used by whites during slavery.”
“Blacks want the n-word to be an in-house term. So when it goes outside the house, we get upset.” (1)
As far as Negros are concerned, the argument comes down to this: Negros and Caucasians use the n-word differently, with the Negro use being the only one permissible. In other words, the n-word belongs to them, and no one else. In a larger sense, this means that Negros are carrying out an effort to develop a language of their own, an essential step towards establishing a distinct and separable culture, that is, a segregated culture. It’s a weird thing being done by people who have defined themselves as the race that continually fights against segregation.
And it’s not just Negros who are trying to staple the lips of White people. Ruben Navarrette Jr., a Mestizo with the San Diego Union-Tribune, has had it with Negros hogging all the rights to being offended when White people speak, and he wants the “w-word” to be elevated to the offense-worthiness as the “n-word”:
“It's time for a national dialogue on the "w-word." I'll give you a hint: It's an offensive term that is meant to imply that all Mexican-Americans arrived in the United States by swimming across a river -- something that comes across as doubly offensive to immigrants who came to the country legally or those whose families have been here for generations. (2)
Furthermore, not content to be offended by the just the “w-word,” the “m-word” – Mexican – is not to be used when referring to people from Mexico:
“Pipe welder Bill Hendeley Jr. said he was fired from his job Wednesday for using the word "Mexican" in describing a person from Mexico. . . Hendeley asked the safety supervisor if calling someone from Mexico a Mexican offends him. The supervisor answered "yes," according to Hendeley.” (3)
And here’s one that slipped under the radar - the dreaded “o-word,” which has been criminalized in at least one state:
“Hence the word “Oriental” was spoken with derision. To Asian Americans who know its historical reference, the term is as repugnant as the “N” word used to slur African Americans.”
And sodomites, those long-time champions of thought-policing, want their own letter in the censorship alphabet soup:
“The F-word [“fag” or “faggot”] is not excusable. We’ve got to start equating the F-word to the N-word. “ (5)
Sweet mother of Sasquatch! The n-word, the w-word, the m-word, the o-word, the f-word. . .is there no letter that doesn’t offend someone? Just to be safe, why don’t we just strike all those letters from the alphabet? That’ll make certain no one uses the banned words!
I must say, however, that Mestizos are pretty darned clever in wanting to “ban the“w-word.” They’ve effectively deprived Whites the ability to claim the “w-word” – White - as a slur against us, though when you think about it, it truly is a slur against us. White is a color, but we are a culture, an ethnicity. To reduce our identification to nothing more than a color is to deny our humanity. We have every right and reason to demand that all other races stop referring to us as “Whites”, the other “w-word,” because it is offensive. Now, I realize that in this essay I’ve used the word several times. But that’s alright. You see, when White people use the word to refer to our race we use it differently than the other races do. When we use the word, we understand the subtle nuances and shades of meaning to which Negros and Mestizos just don’t have access. When “White” comes from our people, I don't take it personally. But when I hear it from Negros or Mestizos I take it personally because they use it to deny our humanity. In other words, “White people” is a phrase for use by White people only, because only White people can truly understand what it means.
Does that argument look familiar?
Another phrase that White people should protest is “people of color.” This phrase refers to every non-White race and ethnicity, that is, it’s used to exclude White people from the collection of the world’s races. “People of color” says White people lack something, and that lack is sufficient to exclude them from the rest of humanity. In other words, “people of color” is a dehumanizing phrase. If there ever was a racist phrase, “people of color” is it, and we Caucasians have the duty to vehemently protest its usage and to demand its immediate deletion from the English idiom bank. That’s right – White people should demand that all other races not be allowed to use the racist phrase “people of color.”
But just try telling Negro America that it can no longer use words that offend White people, and watch what happens. Tell Negro America that it can no longer use certain pejoratives to refer to certain uncouth Caucasians, and be prepared to use those “duck and cover” exercises we were taught in the 1950’s and 60’s. Tell Negro America that it can no longer use the phrase “White people” to refer to Caucasians, Anglo-Americans, or European-Americans. Tell them that white is a color, not a culture, and when they use the phrase they are using a word that is just as insulting to us as the n-word is to them. Tell Mestizos that you are offended when they say “people of color,” because they are using a racist word that denies our humanity. If you do deploy these arguments, chances are your opponent will react with shock. They will resent your demand that they follow the standards they wish to impose on you. You will have exposed their hypocrisy, and they won’t like it. And if your opponent has any decency at all, he or she will resent the way in which your demand seeks to change their thinking and their behavior, just as they seek to control your thinking and behavior by controlling your language. They won’t like it one bit. And you shouldn’t like it, either, when someone tries to control your language. That’s why you should not tolerate it when anyone tries to tell that you can not say certain words.
If you are a White American descendant of Anglo-Saxons, Welsh, Irish, or other Celtic stock, English is your mother tongue. English is the language of your heart, your mind, your home, your people. Your honorable English-speaking ancestors settled this land, and your English-speaking ancestors have on several occasions saved this world from being taken over by tyrants and dictators. NEVER allow someone to tell you that there is a word in your language that you CAN’T use because they find it offensive. Of course, my friends, if you choose to not use certain words, then more power to you. I salute you and I wish you well. But don’t you EVER let ANYONE get away unchallenged who tells you that there is any word in YOUR language that you CAN’T use. If the person telling you that you can’t use certain words happens to be a Negro, you remind him or her that if White Southerners had not taught English to his or her ancestors, then they wouldn’t have known anything about freedom, because they were slaves in Africa before they were slaves here. You tell them that YOU are SUPREMELY offended that they think they have the right take control of your language and your thinking. You demand to know what gives them the authority to restrict your language and your thinking. You remind them that only the worst tyrants in history have resorted to language censorship and manipulation, and in trying to censor your speech they have leagued themselves with the likes of Hitler, Stalin, Kruschev, the Soviet KGB, the East German Stasi, Pol Pot, Mao Tse Tung, Kim Jong Il, Ceausescu, Castro, and every other dictator and organization to ever curse the earth with their presence. You remind them that this is America and NOT Orwell’s Oceania and they are NOT Big Brother and they are NOT the Thought Police. When some belligerent ethno-nazi or race-fascist tells you that there’s a word in your language that you can’t use, you tell them to GO TO HELL, and you tell that person to not let the door hit their ass on their out.
Winston Smith is a staff member of The Political Cesspool Radio Program.
The Political Cesspool
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