The Nigger in the Woodpile

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They thought they could chain it down…

…they thought they could fling it overboard…

…they thought they could whip it into a bloody mess…

…they thought they could lynch the motherfucker!

Failing that, they tried throwing some fucking tyres round it and setting it alight.

Well, that failed to keep it down, thus they thought they could cordon it off, bar it from polite society, scribe and enforce laws against it…

…which only made it all the more attractive to those on the outskirts; the marginalized, the discordant, the uncouth.

The most hilarious attempt? That of the NAACP to box’ ‘n’ bury the poor fucker!

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I guess the NAACP and the bedsheet-wearing contingent finally agree on something: the only good “nigger” is a dead “nigger”.

It seems some didn’t get the memo:

There Mel Gibson is, having a nice, civil telephone spat with his ex, Oksana Grigorieva, with the usual innocuous accusations of whorishness, level-headed appraisals of “stupid”,”ridiculous” breast implants and complimentary comparisons of his ex to “some Vegas bitch”…

…and then he has to go and offend the Western media with this:

If you get raped by a pack of niggers, it’ll be your fault

I mean, it’s all well and good to blame the (potential) rape victim for her (potential) defilement—not to mention, break her two front teeth and threaten to “bury her in a rose garden”–but, dayum, couldn’t he have been less of a dick in describing her (potential) rapists? Couldn’t he, y’know, have not used…that word?

“Which word?”

That one.

“Huh?”

Look, don’t make me say it again…

“Say what?

You know…“nigger”!

“How could you?!? You reprobate!”

Such has been the level of discourse I’ve encountered in regard to this latest slice of celebrity sensationalism (and, after her media airing of a private spat, it’d be gross imprudence on Gibson’s part to go back on his final words).

Look, I’m hardly the number one fan of the word “nigger”, seeing as it could very well be used as a slur against members of my family, a few of my friends and, of course, myself; all the same, I do recognize a crazy little thing called context which plays a hand in influencing how a word is used.

I mean, there’s a difference between the way Gibson used it in his little rant (What would Murtagh say?) and, for example, how Marilyn Manson uses “nigger” in his ‘Irresponsible Hate Anthem’…

…and how DMX spits it in ‘Bring Your Whole Crew’…

More to the point, using the word directly in any context differs drastically from quoting someone else’s usage of “nigger”.

Not that certain folk can actually grasp this:

Is it necessary to re-enact a wrong, in order to condemn it? The issue here is that saying “nggr” is not a description of the action, it’s a repetition of the action.

Gee, I wonder just what kind of conditions make “nigger” such an attractive choice of slur for the modern day mismelanist! Not to mention the reprobates with shock valuation coursing through their blood.

It can’t possibly be the *gasp* taboo status the word currently enjoys, thanks, in large part, to paternalistic, hiveminded lefties on a White Guilt Trip.

You’d think that lot, with their struggles against sex-negative, queer-bashing, moral majoritarian, theocratic bigotry would have learned this much: peeps will always find the will and a way to snatch forbidden fruit off the tree.

Permitted pears just don’t make the mouth water nearly as much, after all….

“N-word”?

“That word”?

Nigger, please!

Now, in this context or that, I may or may not be offended by the use of  the word “nigger”; I may laugh; I may growl; I may just roll my fucking eyes (as I did in the case of Gibson)…

…but I will always take exception that context-ignorant culture of censure that gives it, and other verboten words, that hyper-inflated allure.

As long as that allure exists, “nigger” will continue to rise from the dead, ever the meaner for each attempt on its life.

~MRDA~

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8 Responses to The Nigger in the Woodpile

  1. Rachel says:

    This. YES. This.

  2. Chip Smith says:

    Surprised you didn’t link to Louis CK’s bit:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnKLxDlFS5c

    But there really is something curious going on with this one, isn’t there? –I mean beyond the context arguments that make already sense to me, the word seems to have become endowed with a kind of magic power that’s conspicuously absent in every other other contemporary maledictum. I’m jaded as hell, and even I feel it. Why?

    Want to know the most racist joke I ever heard as a kid?

    • MRDA says:

      Honestly, I feel the same; it can still give me a sharp jolt of discomfort when said in certain contexts. I guess it’s the “inherent” malice attributed to the word in the general culture and the expected/prescribed reaction to it, regardless of the intent of the speaker.

      What’s the joke?

    • MRDA says:

      Also, are you on Facebook? I ask simply because I just posted this in another group there, prior to your comment.

  3. Chip Smith says:

    Not on Facebook. I was for a few minutes, then I fled.

    The joke:

    “Question: What’s the difference between a nigger and a pile of dog shit? Answer: A pile of dog shit turns white and stops stinking after a few days.”

    Makes a good icebreaker at social gatherings.

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  5. Randy says:

    Mel Gibson is a wild one…. lol. What a crazy dude.

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