As an answer to the entreaties to give "Duck Dynasty" a chance and re-assess the show patriarch's clown-hood: until a week ago, I had never seen the show. But, since this nasty cold I've been fighting all December left me with some unexpected viewing time that coincided with the uproar, I tried watching a few episodes.
Just my opinion, and maybe I just watched a couple of bad episodes, but it's a crappy show and a waste of my time. It's obviously staged and poorly executed. Mildly humorous, pandering junk designed to make other inbreds feel good about their chromosome shortage.
In other words, just a typical "reality" show. The fact it pivots on some swamp tick who looks like the spawn of Minnie Pearl and Ezekiel the Prophet, and growls, stomps, and slobbers like a mean, ol' pecker-wood, is a novelty I can do without, but I can see the marketing appeal.
Hell, I can see the "entertaining" aspect of the show...nothing more fun than watching a good ol' monkey shit-fight at the zoo.
But, yeah...the guy's a clown. A performer. A comedic actor.
He dresses up in his costume and performs for the camera. It puts money in his pocket. More power to him. I never said he was an idiot. There is no truth in that; he may have mentally-paralytic compliance bias, but he's not a fool. Just a clown.
The conservative movement, following precedents set by Rush Limbaugh, Ted Nugent, and Sarah Palin, decided he was clown enough to be considered one of their standard bearers.
So when he spewed his hateful and uninformed bullshit in a magazine interview, and A and E did the same thing to him that MSNBC initially did to Nartin Bashir and Alec Baldwin, the conservatives blew their self-righteous gasket, and decided to make it a "first amendment" issue.
It wasn't. And it isn't. Even clowns are subject to whims of their employers, if they wish to stay employed. They can't go into the boss's office, piss on his file cabinet, and expect the boss to laugh it off.
So here's the deal...this guy wants to espouse exclusion and call it his spirituality, that's his shtick, his choice. Whatever gets one through life, I'm for it. And if he can parley it into a television career and make some coin on top of things, more power to him. I don't have to respect it or him, but I respect anyone's right to act like an ass and yammer like a fevered baboon all they want. God knows I've done enough of it, myself. Free country. And no one, left or right, has said otherwise.
Hell, he may truly love others, no matter what their situation. I don't know what's in the man's heart. I sense he's probably more of a good guy than a huckster. I give him that benefit of the doubt. Most clowns are good people.
But when the right-wing noise box decides to turn him into some sort of iconic figure, to say that he represents what is good and pure, and that anyone who disagrees, in any way at all, is deserving of social marginalization, at best, and eternal damnation, at worst, then it's time we all take a step back, look at things with reason, and say:
"Whoa...let's all calm down...it's only a clown".
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
True Conservative Colors: When Logic Fails, Piss on the Dead Guy
The conservative reaction to the death and funeral of Nelson Mandela, including the politicization of the actions of President Obama, has been even more ignorant, cowardly, and vicious than I ever would have imagined. I mean, I knew many conservatives, especially the louder ones, were lacking in intellectual firepower and testicular heft. But they surpassed even my meager expectations.
One particular friend, whom I have known since I was a little kid, chimed in with this little nugget of Facebook brilliance:
In the "for what it's worth" column...It’s uncommon for the U.S. flag to be lowered in honor of foreign leaders’ deaths. Obama issued a statement of mourning earlier this year after the death of Margaret Thatcher, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, but he didn’t order the lowering of the American flag. In fact, the last foreign dignitary to be memorialized with the flag was Pope John Paul II in 2005.
Thatcher was an elected official, and a polarizing one, in her own country. She is not remembered well, certainly not as fondly as Reagan is in this country. She was, however, a staunch conservative whose policies have been long since discredited and dismissed, and an ally of Reagan's. Bringing her up as an example is only the first indication of the ridiculous "dog whistle" intent of this statement.
Mandela was far more than an mere elected official or bureaucratic functionary. He was a revolutionary figure, one who was imprisoned for fighting against an oppressive social machinery, and whose message of tolerance, equality, and (most importantly) forgiveness gives him the rightful status as one of the leading humanitarian figures of the last century.
Not unlike the cited Pope John Paul II...the flags weren't lowered to celebrate their position or their accrued power; it was to celebrate their accomplishments as human beings. Maggie simply doesn't make the cut.
Oh, yeah... Mandela was black. Like Obama. You hearing that dog whistle a little clearer now?
So, a couple of his more "enlightened" FB followers chimed in.
"That tells us that POTUS identifies with a anti-colonialist, (never renounced} communist"
"It is unfortunate that, by definition we are "required" to pay any attention to anything this man says or does...Sad days for our Republic."
"He makes me sick!"
"This was stupid, showing once again that he is the WORST President EVER!! His loyalties disgust me."
And a couple of his other followers gave the "thumbs up" to these pearls of pig-shit ignorance.
To the first gentlemen...I'm not sure why pro-colonialism would be such an enticing concept. You must see something in the oppression and eradication of a culture that I just don't get. Or maybe you're just a dick.
Yeah, I'm going with the latter.
And Mandela was never a Marxist; he allied with an also-outlawed communist party that aligned itself, like Mandela's ANC, against apartheid in South Africa. Such alliances, in times of conflict or for political expedience, are nothing new. The United States allied itself with Stalin, to cite the despot who exploited Marxism to the most dramatic and tragic effect in history. Of course, some called Roosevelt and Truman, who championed that alliance, communists, as well...with the same dazzling lack of accuracy as those who say the same about Mandela.
Mandela never, at any time, claimed or endorsed the concept of Marxism, not in his private letters or public statements, and there is not even a shred of anecdotal evidence to suggest otherwise.
So later, another friend, who I have known for almost two decades now, and like a good deal, started harping about Obama "Taking selfies and cutting up at a funeral".
To which some fuckwit replied: "I would have been asleep at that funeral. so freakin boring hear how horrible whites were.... he was sentenced for a reason...LOL"
and (same guy):
"I think Obama really is thanking his ancestors for being taken to America. he has it good..LOL"
Let's forget the obvious racial undertones of this yammering squirrel monkey, and examine the "facts" as presented by this little round table...
A) It wasn't a funeral. It was billed as a memorial service and celebration of Mandela's life. It was closer to a pep rally than a funeral, with bright colors, chants, singing and dancing going on in the audience, even while the speakers were talking. Had you watched it, rather than tossing off groundless insults, you probably would have known that. More comparable to an Irish wake than a funeral.
B) There were no words demeaning whites or any race at the service. In fact, the sight of whites and blacks dancing and hugging, in South Africa, and the messages given by the speakers I heard, was quite inspiring.
C) Obama is not the "descendant" of African-American slaves, but of a Kenyan father who lived in the United States of his own design. Doesn't this guy know he's mucking things up for his "birther" buddies?
D) The fact that conservatives are jumping on this, and his micro-second handshake with Castro, just illuminates how empty their policy arguments are.
One more thing...all of you left wing pages that keep reminding me that Dick Cheney and Ronald Reagan and a bunch of other stodgy old white men voted to keep apartheid in place? Shut the fuck up. Anyone with any sense of history knows that. But this was a time to celebrate Mandela, and what he did, and what he represents, not a chance to excoriate political foes.
Because in the end, to me, anyway, what Mandela is to be celebrated for is not merely his willingness to fight for what he believed, or the strength and resilience he showed during his twenty-seven year imprisonment, or his political and legislative skills as the President of his country.
It was in the showing us, ultimately, the astounding and beautiful power of unconditional forgiveness.
So, I guess I should forgive the dumbfucks I have quoted here.
Doesn't make 'em any less of a dumbfuck, though.
One particular friend, whom I have known since I was a little kid, chimed in with this little nugget of Facebook brilliance:
In the "for what it's worth" column...It’s uncommon for the U.S. flag to be lowered in honor of foreign leaders’ deaths. Obama issued a statement of mourning earlier this year after the death of Margaret Thatcher, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, but he didn’t order the lowering of the American flag. In fact, the last foreign dignitary to be memorialized with the flag was Pope John Paul II in 2005.
Thatcher was an elected official, and a polarizing one, in her own country. She is not remembered well, certainly not as fondly as Reagan is in this country. She was, however, a staunch conservative whose policies have been long since discredited and dismissed, and an ally of Reagan's. Bringing her up as an example is only the first indication of the ridiculous "dog whistle" intent of this statement.
Mandela was far more than an mere elected official or bureaucratic functionary. He was a revolutionary figure, one who was imprisoned for fighting against an oppressive social machinery, and whose message of tolerance, equality, and (most importantly) forgiveness gives him the rightful status as one of the leading humanitarian figures of the last century.
Not unlike the cited Pope John Paul II...the flags weren't lowered to celebrate their position or their accrued power; it was to celebrate their accomplishments as human beings. Maggie simply doesn't make the cut.
Oh, yeah... Mandela was black. Like Obama. You hearing that dog whistle a little clearer now?
So, a couple of his more "enlightened" FB followers chimed in.
"That tells us that POTUS identifies with a anti-colonialist, (never renounced} communist"
"It is unfortunate that, by definition we are "required" to pay any attention to anything this man says or does...Sad days for our Republic."
"He makes me sick!"
"This was stupid, showing once again that he is the WORST President EVER!! His loyalties disgust me."
And a couple of his other followers gave the "thumbs up" to these pearls of pig-shit ignorance.
To the first gentlemen...I'm not sure why pro-colonialism would be such an enticing concept. You must see something in the oppression and eradication of a culture that I just don't get. Or maybe you're just a dick.
Yeah, I'm going with the latter.
And Mandela was never a Marxist; he allied with an also-outlawed communist party that aligned itself, like Mandela's ANC, against apartheid in South Africa. Such alliances, in times of conflict or for political expedience, are nothing new. The United States allied itself with Stalin, to cite the despot who exploited Marxism to the most dramatic and tragic effect in history. Of course, some called Roosevelt and Truman, who championed that alliance, communists, as well...with the same dazzling lack of accuracy as those who say the same about Mandela.
Mandela never, at any time, claimed or endorsed the concept of Marxism, not in his private letters or public statements, and there is not even a shred of anecdotal evidence to suggest otherwise.
So later, another friend, who I have known for almost two decades now, and like a good deal, started harping about Obama "Taking selfies and cutting up at a funeral".
To which some fuckwit replied: "I would have been asleep at that funeral. so freakin boring hear how horrible whites were.... he was sentenced for a reason...LOL"
and (same guy):
"I think Obama really is thanking his ancestors for being taken to America. he has it good..LOL"
Let's forget the obvious racial undertones of this yammering squirrel monkey, and examine the "facts" as presented by this little round table...
A) It wasn't a funeral. It was billed as a memorial service and celebration of Mandela's life. It was closer to a pep rally than a funeral, with bright colors, chants, singing and dancing going on in the audience, even while the speakers were talking. Had you watched it, rather than tossing off groundless insults, you probably would have known that. More comparable to an Irish wake than a funeral.
B) There were no words demeaning whites or any race at the service. In fact, the sight of whites and blacks dancing and hugging, in South Africa, and the messages given by the speakers I heard, was quite inspiring.
C) Obama is not the "descendant" of African-American slaves, but of a Kenyan father who lived in the United States of his own design. Doesn't this guy know he's mucking things up for his "birther" buddies?
D) The fact that conservatives are jumping on this, and his micro-second handshake with Castro, just illuminates how empty their policy arguments are.
One more thing...all of you left wing pages that keep reminding me that Dick Cheney and Ronald Reagan and a bunch of other stodgy old white men voted to keep apartheid in place? Shut the fuck up. Anyone with any sense of history knows that. But this was a time to celebrate Mandela, and what he did, and what he represents, not a chance to excoriate political foes.
Because in the end, to me, anyway, what Mandela is to be celebrated for is not merely his willingness to fight for what he believed, or the strength and resilience he showed during his twenty-seven year imprisonment, or his political and legislative skills as the President of his country.
It was in the showing us, ultimately, the astounding and beautiful power of unconditional forgiveness.
So, I guess I should forgive the dumbfucks I have quoted here.
Doesn't make 'em any less of a dumbfuck, though.
Monday, November 04, 2013
Biff Pocoroba Still Outside Looking in and Other Injustices
WARNING: Tasteless stuff ahead. May be considered misogynist, racist, homophobic, or otherwise politically incorrect. Those with asses too tight to enjoy are encouraged to run on over to pinterest and check out needlepoint patterns of unicorns, while those of us with a stomach for the real world attend to things here.
Major League Baseball, the wacky folks who gave us the Infield Fly Rule, the Designated Hitter, and Bob Davidson, among other affronts to common sense and decent, decided a few years ago to nudge their Hall of Fame balloting a bit. And they may have actually done something right.
Major League Baseball, the wacky folks who gave us the Infield Fly Rule, the Designated Hitter, and Bob Davidson, among other affronts to common sense and decent, decided a few years ago to nudge their Hall of Fame balloting a bit. And they may have actually done something right.
This is the Expansion Era Committee ballot, not to be confused with the suddenly stingy BBWAA ballot. These ballots are chosen by historical review boards, and will include, in the future, separate ballots for the Pre-Intergration (1871-1946) and Golden (1947-1972) era. Soon to come: The Blow Era (1978-1989), the PED Era (1988-2005), and the Sam Holbrrook is a Blind, Fucking Idiot Era (October 5, 2112 through October 5, 2012).
Billy Martin
Joe Torre
Tony La Russa
Bobby Cox
Marvin Miller
Dave Concepcion
Steve Garvey
Ted Simmons
Dave Parker
Dan Quisenberry
Tommy John
Billy Martin
Joe Torre
Tony La Russa
Bobby Cox
Marvin Miller
Dave Concepcion
Steve Garvey
Ted Simmons
Dave Parker
Dan Quisenberry
Tommy John
A lot of managers up for consideration. I figure Martin or LaRussa to go in ahead of Cox, as committees like this just love 'em a drunken guinea bastard with a bad dye job.
Bonds and Clemons are often said to have been probable inductees, even without the PED usage that reinvigorated their careers when they should have been swigging Metamucil and enjoying their farewell tour.
Bonds deserves to go in despite mucking around with his body chemistry enough that he ended his career looking like the Incredible Hulk with a fine mahogany finish. The first two-thirds of his career are deserving. But he won't get in, as the committee and writers invoke the "Asshole Clause".
Clemons, though, without the juice, was Dwight Gooden. Not quite good enough, long enough, to make the cut. Plus, points taken away for bad decisions. Joe Dimaggio? Marilyn Monroe. Bo Belinsky? Mamie Van Doren. Call me old-fashioned, but banging Mindy McCready is bush league, and should be taken into consideration.
And not only does Stenbrenner NOT belong in the Hall, the committee should rent a bus, drive to Hell, and piss on him as he shovels Centaur manure into the bottomless pit.
If I voted on this committee? I'd probably go heavy for non-players. Torre, although he had a playing career worthy of consideration, gets the nod for his overall contributions to the game. And if you had told me, in 1985, that I would be saying that today, I would have asked for a hit of whatever you were smoking. But he gets a vote.
No idea why Concepcion isn't in. He deserves more than any player on this list, without question. He should have been in by now. He was the best all-around shortstop since Honus Wagner, and his numbers would have been even better had Dave Pallone not been such a vindictive little bitch. He gets a vote.
Miller deserves consideration, although I don't see him as a singularly baseball-centric character. This seems a reasonable way to recognize his contributions, and I think he'll get in. Not with my vote, though.
Bobby Cox gets my vote because he's Bobby Fuckin' Cox, and if you don't like that, fuck you. That's another vote.
Cox and LaRussa would both assuredly get in through the standard BBWAA voting. Martin has not, and this is his shot. For all the drama, he belongs. So he gets a vote.
Steve Garvey, Tommy John, Dave Parker, Dan Quisenberry and Ted Simmons? Nope, nope, nope, nope, and nope. Fine players, all. Just not quite there. Of course, neither was Bert Blyleven, but he whined until the writers finally put his ass in, probably in an effort to shut his yap, once and for all.
That leaves one vote, and LaRusaa ain't gettin' it. Fuck him. That miserable fucker turned a blind eye as his Oakland teams ushered in the steroid era, jacking themselves up with everything from Durabolin to Liquid Plumber, and then he rode similarly junked-up players, like Mark McGwire and Albert Pujols, to tainted success in St. Louis. He'll get in, but, more than any other non-playing candidate, deserves to be given the Unofficial Steroid Blackball treatment.
Fuck it...I'm writing in Glenn Burke.
Bonds and Clemons are often said to have been probable inductees, even without the PED usage that reinvigorated their careers when they should have been swigging Metamucil and enjoying their farewell tour.
Bonds deserves to go in despite mucking around with his body chemistry enough that he ended his career looking like the Incredible Hulk with a fine mahogany finish. The first two-thirds of his career are deserving. But he won't get in, as the committee and writers invoke the "Asshole Clause".
Clemons, though, without the juice, was Dwight Gooden. Not quite good enough, long enough, to make the cut. Plus, points taken away for bad decisions. Joe Dimaggio? Marilyn Monroe. Bo Belinsky? Mamie Van Doren. Call me old-fashioned, but banging Mindy McCready is bush league, and should be taken into consideration.
And not only does Stenbrenner NOT belong in the Hall, the committee should rent a bus, drive to Hell, and piss on him as he shovels Centaur manure into the bottomless pit.
If I voted on this committee? I'd probably go heavy for non-players. Torre, although he had a playing career worthy of consideration, gets the nod for his overall contributions to the game. And if you had told me, in 1985, that I would be saying that today, I would have asked for a hit of whatever you were smoking. But he gets a vote.
No idea why Concepcion isn't in. He deserves more than any player on this list, without question. He should have been in by now. He was the best all-around shortstop since Honus Wagner, and his numbers would have been even better had Dave Pallone not been such a vindictive little bitch. He gets a vote.
Miller deserves consideration, although I don't see him as a singularly baseball-centric character. This seems a reasonable way to recognize his contributions, and I think he'll get in. Not with my vote, though.
Bobby Cox gets my vote because he's Bobby Fuckin' Cox, and if you don't like that, fuck you. That's another vote.
Cox and LaRussa would both assuredly get in through the standard BBWAA voting. Martin has not, and this is his shot. For all the drama, he belongs. So he gets a vote.
Steve Garvey, Tommy John, Dave Parker, Dan Quisenberry and Ted Simmons? Nope, nope, nope, nope, and nope. Fine players, all. Just not quite there. Of course, neither was Bert Blyleven, but he whined until the writers finally put his ass in, probably in an effort to shut his yap, once and for all.
That leaves one vote, and LaRusaa ain't gettin' it. Fuck him. That miserable fucker turned a blind eye as his Oakland teams ushered in the steroid era, jacking themselves up with everything from Durabolin to Liquid Plumber, and then he rode similarly junked-up players, like Mark McGwire and Albert Pujols, to tainted success in St. Louis. He'll get in, but, more than any other non-playing candidate, deserves to be given the Unofficial Steroid Blackball treatment.
Fuck it...I'm writing in Glenn Burke.
Monday, August 26, 2013
The Butterfly Effect
...had twenty million of you zipperheads not bought copies of "Achy Breaky Heart" two decades ago, you would not be self-righteously complaining today about Hanna Montana pimping her cooter on the VMAs last night.
Serves you right, goddammit.
Thursday, August 08, 2013
Peckerwood, Puh-leeze
Somebody please tell me...why the hell do some white folks get all bent about being socially forbidden from using the word "nigger" in casual context? What the fuck is wrong with you people?
Is your arrested development so acute that being told you shouldn't use a word just pushes you into a foot-stomping hissy of righteous indignation? Would your miserable life somehow be turned into a heavenly garden of rainbows and unicorn farts if only you could utter the word one time? Is the fact that someone enjoys a certain social loophole that you are denied really grinding your ass that bad?
How about this? You don't use it because it's disrespectful. Isn't that enough?
My dad is almost eighty years old, my mom a few years younger, and both are as politically conservative as they come. They are a decade older than that gravy-pimp Paula Deen, and both grew up in the Jim Crow south. I have never once heard either of them utter the word. When I used the word, as a very young child, they sat me down and told me the word was inappropriate.
Not because it was politically incorrect, or because it was inflammatory and could engender confrontation. But because it was disrespectful. Period.
It's a word of contempt and hatred, of precisely focused fear and violence. What good can come from using it in response to being called a "cracker"? Is it going to reinforce some deep-seated resonance of the rights you enjoy? Does it somehow make things "balanced"?
Hell, no. You're just dusting off your ignorance and taking it out for a stroll down Dipshit Lane.
I mean, I have no problem with it being used in an artistic context. In Quentin Tarantino's hands, or Lenny Bruce's, or Dan Jenkins', to cite three white artists who have used the word in their work, it becomes a term of descriptive revelation and vivid honesty, highlighting the folly and hatred inherent in those who casually use it. Black comedians like Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx used the word extensively, in an effort to soften it's blow.
Hell, if some rapper wants to use it, to take the word back and strip it of it's power to degrade, I'm all for it. He can say it all he wants to. It doesn't magically make me look like less of a four-toed, knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing troglodyte when I use the word.
And frankly, since we're airing our grievances here, the fact that said rapper has to grab his belt buckle and slam it up against his nuts to keep his Levis from hitting the pavement is far more ridiculous, to me, than my being denied socially accepted usage of a six-lettered word. If that makes me an old cracker racist, then so be it...I still think it's simple public decency to just pull. Up. Your. GODAAMN. PANTS.
And I don't give a rat's red ass that Charlie Rangell thought it would be a good idea to trot out the ol' "cracker" tag when he referred to the pig-ignorant fucks who fought, violently, against civil rights in the Jim Crow south. If he really has issues with all white folks (and I don't think he does), he's burning up his goddamn karma points, not mine. And referring to him by such a hateful term, in retaliation, as some have suggested we Caucasians be "allowed" to do, only serves to demean both sides.
"Cracker", or "honkie", or "ofay", or "blue-eyed devil"? None of those terms have the force of history behind them. Sorry. It's hard for me to get too upset. Perhaps if someone called me a "republican", or a "New Orleans Saints Fan", I could work up a little indignation.
I have used the word "nigger", when not specifically discussing the word, at least one other time in my life that I can recall. My friend Tim Lowe and I were at the 328 Club in Nashville, checking out Public Enemy. I think it was 1991. We were leaning on the bar, and I was bopping my head and singing along. I kind of shocked myself when the line "This is what I mean, an anti-nigger machine" rolled effortlessly off my tongue.
Terminator X made me do it. Way to go, Norm.
And one more thing. Why do some keep referring to it as "the N-word", other than in goose-necked attempt at misplaced political correctness? We know what the word is. Coyness doesn't really buy you any points, here. If your credibility in such matters is so wobbly that the mere mention of the word as an objective noun is going to cause others to look at you askance, there's probably a little more going on there than you want to admit.
If I have failed to offend anybody with this late-night rant, I apologize. I sincerely tried.
Is your arrested development so acute that being told you shouldn't use a word just pushes you into a foot-stomping hissy of righteous indignation? Would your miserable life somehow be turned into a heavenly garden of rainbows and unicorn farts if only you could utter the word one time? Is the fact that someone enjoys a certain social loophole that you are denied really grinding your ass that bad?
How about this? You don't use it because it's disrespectful. Isn't that enough?
My dad is almost eighty years old, my mom a few years younger, and both are as politically conservative as they come. They are a decade older than that gravy-pimp Paula Deen, and both grew up in the Jim Crow south. I have never once heard either of them utter the word. When I used the word, as a very young child, they sat me down and told me the word was inappropriate.
Not because it was politically incorrect, or because it was inflammatory and could engender confrontation. But because it was disrespectful. Period.
It's a word of contempt and hatred, of precisely focused fear and violence. What good can come from using it in response to being called a "cracker"? Is it going to reinforce some deep-seated resonance of the rights you enjoy? Does it somehow make things "balanced"?
Hell, no. You're just dusting off your ignorance and taking it out for a stroll down Dipshit Lane.
I mean, I have no problem with it being used in an artistic context. In Quentin Tarantino's hands, or Lenny Bruce's, or Dan Jenkins', to cite three white artists who have used the word in their work, it becomes a term of descriptive revelation and vivid honesty, highlighting the folly and hatred inherent in those who casually use it. Black comedians like Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx used the word extensively, in an effort to soften it's blow.
Hell, if some rapper wants to use it, to take the word back and strip it of it's power to degrade, I'm all for it. He can say it all he wants to. It doesn't magically make me look like less of a four-toed, knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing troglodyte when I use the word.
And frankly, since we're airing our grievances here, the fact that said rapper has to grab his belt buckle and slam it up against his nuts to keep his Levis from hitting the pavement is far more ridiculous, to me, than my being denied socially accepted usage of a six-lettered word. If that makes me an old cracker racist, then so be it...I still think it's simple public decency to just pull. Up. Your. GODAAMN. PANTS.
And I don't give a rat's red ass that Charlie Rangell thought it would be a good idea to trot out the ol' "cracker" tag when he referred to the pig-ignorant fucks who fought, violently, against civil rights in the Jim Crow south. If he really has issues with all white folks (and I don't think he does), he's burning up his goddamn karma points, not mine. And referring to him by such a hateful term, in retaliation, as some have suggested we Caucasians be "allowed" to do, only serves to demean both sides.
"Cracker", or "honkie", or "ofay", or "blue-eyed devil"? None of those terms have the force of history behind them. Sorry. It's hard for me to get too upset. Perhaps if someone called me a "republican", or a "New Orleans Saints Fan", I could work up a little indignation.
I have used the word "nigger", when not specifically discussing the word, at least one other time in my life that I can recall. My friend Tim Lowe and I were at the 328 Club in Nashville, checking out Public Enemy. I think it was 1991. We were leaning on the bar, and I was bopping my head and singing along. I kind of shocked myself when the line "This is what I mean, an anti-nigger machine" rolled effortlessly off my tongue.
Terminator X made me do it. Way to go, Norm.
And one more thing. Why do some keep referring to it as "the N-word", other than in goose-necked attempt at misplaced political correctness? We know what the word is. Coyness doesn't really buy you any points, here. If your credibility in such matters is so wobbly that the mere mention of the word as an objective noun is going to cause others to look at you askance, there's probably a little more going on there than you want to admit.
If I have failed to offend anybody with this late-night rant, I apologize. I sincerely tried.
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