Is "thug" said as an encrypted way of using the n-word?

[Skyhilist]

Richard Sherman, the guy who recently went on that post game rant after the Seahawks victory in a recent interview has responded to some of the backlack he faced. While admitting that his post-game rant may have been immature (it was), he also said something else notable. Commenting on the large numbers of people calling him a "thug" after his rant, Sherman suggested that the word "thug" used in that context is a socially acceptable and modern day equivalent to the n-word. He definitely has a valid point. I mean think about it. Have you ever once heard someone refer to a white athlete who was being immature as a "thug"? I sure haven't. Yet when it's black people like Sherman being immature (especially when he's from Compton), people waste no time calling him one. Clearly it has to do a lot with race, and at the very least seems to be the equivalent of "a no-good black person" the way that people have been using it to pertain to him and other non-white athletes.

Interview: http://colorlines.com/archives/2014/...he_n-word.html

What are your thoughts? Do you agree with him?

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

Of course it is. It has been used this way for some time now.

[helot]

Generally the same is also the case for gangster.

[Skyhilist]

Generally the same is also the case for gangster.

Yes he briefly mentions the use of that word as well.

[helot]

Yes he briefly mentions the use of that word as well.

Fair enough, i've not finished watching those vids yet tbh.

[tallguy]

Richard Sherman, the guy who recently went on that post game rant after the Seahawks victory in a recent interview has responded to some of the backlack he faced. While admitting that his post-game rant may have been immature (it was), he also said something else notable. Commenting on the large numbers of people calling him a "thug" after his rant, Sherman suggested that the word "thug" used in that context is a socially acceptable and modern day equivalent to the n-word. He definitely has a valid point. I mean think about it. Have you ever once heard someone refer to a white athlete who was being immature as a "thug"? I sure haven't. Yet when it's black people like Sherman being immature (especially when he's from Compton), people waste no time calling him one. Clearly it has to do a lot with race, and at the very least seems to be the equivalent of "a no-good black person" the way that people have been using it to pertain to him and other non-white athletes.

Interview: http://colorlines.com/archives/2014/...he_n-word.html

What are your thoughts? Do you agree with him?

I've heard the word thug used at least as much, if not more, to denote a lower working class white person of non too bright a disposition who is probably involved in petty violent crime. You are just inventing shit where it's not there, as is this plonker who sounds like he made a tit of himself and is pulling out the race card to make excuses for himself.

[Comrade #138672]

I believe it is, yes.

I would even go as far as to say that the term "white thrash" is a further extension of this. Besides being obviously classist, I also think that it reproduces [anti-black] racism, although this may seem contradictory at first.

[helot]

I would even go as far as to say that the term "white thrash" is a further extension of this. Besides being obviously classist, I also think that it reproduces [anti-black] racism, although this may seem contradictory at first.

I've never thought of that, care to elaborate? Maybe i'm missing something due to being from Britain.

[adipocere]

thug is in addition to n****r

[Brandon's Impotent Rage]

Yes, I do believe that the use of the term 'thug' by elements of the bourgeoisie and their lackies is essentially being used as a codeword for the word 'nigger'. The word itself isn't said, but the spirit and the context and the malice of that word is channeled into the substitute word 'thug'.

"White trash" is also, to an extent, meant as a sort of classist prejudice against underpriveleged whites, especially in the Appalachian regions, although it doesn't have the racialist intentions of 'nigger'.

....And for the record, I don't use the phrase "n-word". Not because I somehow underestimate the destructivness and malice of the word in question (it is undoubtedly one of the ugliest words in the English language), but because I view it as a sort of liberal coyness about the issue of racism. You can't dance around the issue of racial slurs. You have to stand up, face to face, with this hateful word and punch it in its goddamn teeth. Trying to hide it with 'n-word' is to show fear to this word. Don't be afraid of it, ATTACK IT.

[Manic Impressive]

Must be a culture specific thing, because definitely not in the uk.

[Sam_b]

What are your thoughts? Do you agree with him?

As a white person it doesn't matter if I agree or not. Frankly it doesn't matter what I think when I am not a victim of profiling and racism, it matters what POC think of this.

[Slavic]

I've never heard thug used exclusively for black people. In my area it was always used to describe someone who was a low level criminal, and also used to described someone who is needlessly over aggressive.

I think saying that it is a socially acceptable replacement term for nigger is a far stretch.

[#FF0000]

You are just inventing shit where it's not there, as is this plonker who sounds like he made a tit of himself and is pulling out the race card to make excuses for himself.

Considering how many people reacted with racial comments, I don't think it's fair to say this dude is the one who played the race card.

And obviously, not every use of the word "thug" is gonna be used with that racist caricature in mind -- but do you really believe that that word is not ever used as a socially acceptable term to denigrate black people?

[cyu]

Depends on what the speaker intended the word to mean. If their opinions are hostile towards their target, then it's bigotry. If their opinions are supportive of their target, then they could be joking around, trying to sound cool or tough, or intentionally taking ownership of the word for themselves.

[tallguy]

Considering how many people reacted with racial comments, I don't think it's fair to say this dude is the one who played the race card.

And obviously, not every use of the word "thug" is gonna be used with that racist caricature in mind -- but do you really believe that that word is not ever used as a socially acceptable term to denigrate black people?

That's a frankly stupid question since there are any number of otherwise racially neutral derogatory terms that could be used against any number of people of different racial origin. In other words, your question is trivially meaningless and provides no information on whether such a word has specific racist connotations. For that to be the case, such a word would need to be used exclusively, or nearly exclusively, in relation to a specifically defined group of people.

In other words, If someone used the term "dumb-ass" to refer to anyone and everyone (in other words, no-one in particular) they wished to denigrate, then the fact that their use of the term may be randomly distributed amongst people of all creeds and colours would simply mean they were an unpleasant person for using such a term. It would not mean they were a racist simply because some of the people they insulted with that word happened to be of a particular racial origin.

The only qualification to the above would be if the word in question was already in wide cultural usage an an exclusively derogatory term for one particular race. In which case, the person described above using such a word could not hide behind the excuse that they did not use it exclusively against one particular racial group since their use of it, whether they liked it or not, would carry a pre-existing racist cultural baggage. However, at least here in the UK, there is no such pre-existing racist cultural baggage (though, there is a huge class baggage attached to it) in the use of the word "thug" and so here, at least, it is not a racist term.

[#FF0000]

The only qualification to the above would be if the word in question was already in wide cultural usage an an exclusively derogatrory term for one particular race. In which case, the person described above using such a word could not hide behind the excuse that they did not use it so exclusively since their use of it, whether they liked it or not, carried pre-existing racist cultural baggage. However, at least here in the UK, there is no such exclusive use of the word "thug" as a term of derogation to one particular race and so here, it is not a racist term.

Oh wow you stumbled across the point.

In the US, the word thug is used extremely often to talk about black people. Trayvon Martin, a kid who had no actual violent criminal history, was called a "thug" by the right in media. People who dress in a way associated with poor and working class black people are called "thugs". Thug, in the US, certainly does have some vague racial connotations behind it. Same with "gangster", which used to have less racially-charged implications, when it was used to describe criminals in general -- as opposed to today where it's associated with black people.

Obviously sometimes a "thug" is just a "thug", but uh, we're talking about a dude who was second in his class in high school, went to some hella good colleges, and ended up with a 3.8 GPA from Stanford fuckin' University. After all that, he decides to talk some shit off an adrenaline rush after a game and he's a "thug"? I don't see a white dude doing the same thing and getting called a "thug". I'm sure people will criticize them because NFL mean No Fun League but that particular word would certainly not come up.

[tallguy]

Oh wow you stumbled across the point.

In the US, the word thug is used extremely often to talk about black people. Trayvon Martin, a kid who had no actual violent criminal history, was called a "thug" by the right in media. People who dress in a way associated with poor and working class black people are called "thugs". Thug, in the US, certainly does have some vague racial connotations behind it. Same with "gangster", which used to have less racially-charged implications, when it was used to describe criminals in general -- as opposed to today where it's associated with black people.

Obviously sometimes a "thug" is just a "thug", but uh, we're talking about a dude who was second in his class in high school, went to some hella good colleges, and ended up with a 3.8 GPA from Stanford fuckin' University. After all that, he decides to talk some shit off an adrenaline rush after a game and he's a "thug"? I don't see a white dude doing the same thing and getting called a "thug". I'm sure people will criticize them because NFL mean No Fun League but that particular word would certainly not come up.

I can't speak for the specific nuances of US linguistic cultural practice and so will take your word on that. However, to reiterate, in relation to the word "thug", that is definitely not the cultural case here.

Also, as a matter of interest, since when did high scores in exams and a fancy education at a fancy college or university preclude the possibility of someone being a thug? The rather unpleasant hidden implication of your point being that only people who have not got high grades in exams and did not go to fancy college are capable of such?

[#FF0000]

Doing hella well academically with a clean criminal record and no history of beating people up doesn't really sound like "thuggish" behavior in any use of the word I'm aware of.

[tallguy]

Doing hella well academically with a clean criminal record and no history of beating people up doesn't really sound like "thuggish" behavior in any use of the word I'm aware of.

Lot's of people who have fancy educations, no criminal record and who have done very well in life are still perfectly capable of the most heinous of behaviour.

Or haven't you been watching the news over the last five or so years?

Also, as it turns out, most of the people currently running my country belonged to an exclusive club called the "Bullingdon Club", which was social offshoot of one of our most prestigious universities they all happened to attend. A more violently thuggish, sexist, racist, classist group of people you would have difficulty in coming across. Funnily enough, none of those buggers have criminal records either.

Oh yeah, and they are almost exclusively white.