5 ms·

It's a PR trick to downplay it. Try how it reads like this: >>At the time, our investigation identified a number of conflicting accusations and counter-accusat

by ahoka 9y ago

It's a PR trick to downplay it. Try how it reads like this: >>At the time, our investigation identified a number of conflicting accusations and counter-accusations between several African-American and Hispanic individuals, alleging use of racial language, including the "nigger" and "wetback" towards each other and a threat of violence.<<

riffraff 9y ago
yeah but why is it necessary to do this? why not >> At the time, our investigation identified a number of conflicting accusations and counter-accusations between several African-American and Hispanic individuals, alleging use of racial slurs towards each other and a threat of violence.
- kbenson 9y ago
  Not all racial slurs are equal in everyone's eyes. What some people consider racial slurs, others say out of ignorance (less common, in today's sensitive reaction to them). Consider "colored" compared to "nigger". Colored will definitely be seen by some as a racial slur, but to others it may be the appropriate for the time, not necessarily racially charged, correct terminology they initially learned. For that matter, "nigger" was a fairly neutral term originally, but changed over time, as the circumstances of the people it referred to changed and they preferred a different, less loaded moniker.
- toephu2 9y ago
  ...does it really matter? I prefer the companies tell it how it is, and not to censor information.
  - thephyber 9y ago
    > I prefer the companies tell it how it is, and not to censor information. At the risk of being equally pedantic... Does that really matter? And is there a company on Earth that will tell you everything with radical honesty? Is there any value in that? Does Tesla tell you how bad their batteries, plastics, or leathers are for the environment? No. They focus on the positive aspects of the product and the company. We prioritize and value what we need to know versus what we might like to know versus all of the other noise. And there is a lot of noise. Far too much noise for almost any of it to be useful. In fact, this is a tactic that large law firms use against small ones -- they DoS attack the small firms with too much paperwork during discovery in hopes that the small firm can't use it effectively and exhaust client expenses just trying to read through the material. I imagine it would just make it easier to build lawsuits against the radically honest companies and the only ones that survived would be the ones with the weasel words or diplomatic silence. Almost like a darwinism where the fitness function isn't relevant to any of the current economics that we observe or product features we care about. I find similar arguments against "political correctness" similarly tiring and fruitless.
Al-Khwarizmi 9y ago
Maybe because I'm not American, but it sounds fine to me. Whoever wrote the text is not using those words, just reporting. When there is a murder with a knife everyone says person A murdered person B with a knife, not "he m'd person B with a k-thing". How come people can cope with describing murder and violence and not slurs?
- mercer 9y ago
  I suppose the difference is that in the case of words, the weapon is the meaning of the word. A knife, on the other hand, does not 'mean' murder or violence.
- Cthulhu_ 9y ago
  American puritanism, PC culture, and double standards I guess; I mean why are people fine with violence but not the sight of a nipple on TV? Why is fuck and shit bleeped out - but partially, so you still know what they're saying - but crap etc aren't? It's not to protect the children, they pick up that shit from school anyway. Same with "PG" swear words, I mean, flipping heck it's not like the gosh darn intent is any fudging different. Racial slurs are a different category from "regular" profanity though. I think in this case they wanted to indicate it was two marginalized communities flinging racial slurs to each other?
- katastic 9y ago
  >Maybe because I'm not American, but it sounds fine to me. Whoever wrote the text is not using those words, just reporting. Yeah, you'd think that. But then you'd be living in a place that uses it's brain instead of replacing it with political correctness. Here, it's literally "wrong" for me to write out a direct quote of a racial slur and I could be fired for it, or chased out of town by protesters. Meanwhile, I can literally call you "one ugly, thieving n-word" (literally saying 'n', 'word') and somehow, under PC guidelines, that's okay, when the context is horrific. [edit] lmao, downvoted in less than 60 seconds. You like downvoting handicapped people? This site is a perfect example. The disable peoples' opinions don't matter. We're to be seen, not heard. Trotted out to make people feel sad and donate. It genuinely makes me smile watching self-righteous white people get offended "for me" and "at me" using my own minority status against me like I'm somehow brainwashed for not believing what some rich white kids think I should think about my ability to succeed in this world. "Oh no, Jim used a racial slur at work. I guess I'll never be a doctor." When did white people become the official spokepeople for every minority group? Damn, I love it when I'm right.
gadders 9y ago
Ah. As a Brit I was trying to work out what the w-word was.
- kwhitefoot 9y ago
  Me too. All I could think of was wop but as no Italians were mentioned it didn't fit.
  - gadders 9y ago
    I was thinking "Wanker" but a) that's not racial, and b) I don't think it's that widely used in America.
    - kwhitefoot 9y ago
      I think it is more common in the US online at least now that the internet has made British slang more visible to the world.
      - gadders 9y ago
        It is a great source of pride for this ancient nation: http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/british-swearing-still-the-best-in-the-world-2013070374748 http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/british-swearing-...
- comex 9y ago
  Anecdotally, as an American I've never heard it before.
  - kbenson 9y ago
    Anecdotally, as a Californian, I've heard it before. Mostly in High School. Although another term was more common for Hispanic people.[1] I don't hear it anymore, but I imagine a large part of that is that I'm forced to interact with or be in audible range of people that would use that language far less now. 1: https://www.google.com/search?q=define+spic https://www.google.com/search?q=define+spic

by ahoka 9y ago

riffraff 9y ago

yeah but why is it necessary to do this? why not >> At the time, our investigation identified a number of conflicting accusations and counter-accusations between several African-American and Hispanic individuals, alleging use of racial slurs towards each other and a threat of violence.

kbenson 9y ago
Not all racial slurs are equal in everyone's eyes. What some people consider racial slurs, others say out of ignorance (less common, in today's sensitive reaction to them). Consider "colored" compared to "nigger". Colored will definitely be seen by some as a racial slur, but to others it may be the appropriate for the time, not necessarily racially charged, correct terminology they initially learned. For that matter, "nigger" was a fairly neutral term originally, but changed over time, as the circumstances of the people it referred to changed and they preferred a different, less loaded moniker.
toephu2 9y ago
...does it really matter? I prefer the companies tell it how it is, and not to censor information.
- thephyber 9y ago
  > I prefer the companies tell it how it is, and not to censor information. At the risk of being equally pedantic... Does that really matter? And is there a company on Earth that will tell you everything with radical honesty? Is there any value in that? Does Tesla tell you how bad their batteries, plastics, or leathers are for the environment? No. They focus on the positive aspects of the product and the company. We prioritize and value what we need to know versus what we might like to know versus all of the other noise. And there is a lot of noise. Far too much noise for almost any of it to be useful. In fact, this is a tactic that large law firms use against small ones -- they DoS attack the small firms with too much paperwork during discovery in hopes that the small firm can't use it effectively and exhaust client expenses just trying to read through the material. I imagine it would just make it easier to build lawsuits against the radically honest companies and the only ones that survived would be the ones with the weasel words or diplomatic silence. Almost like a darwinism where the fitness function isn't relevant to any of the current economics that we observe or product features we care about. I find similar arguments against "political correctness" similarly tiring and fruitless.

Al-Khwarizmi 9y ago

Maybe because I'm not American, but it sounds fine to me. Whoever wrote the text is not using those words, just reporting. When there is a murder with a knife everyone says person A murdered person B with a knife, not "he m'd person B with a k-thing". How come people can cope with describing murder and violence and not slurs?

mercer 9y ago
I suppose the difference is that in the case of words, the weapon is the meaning of the word. A knife, on the other hand, does not 'mean' murder or violence.
Cthulhu_ 9y ago
American puritanism, PC culture, and double standards I guess; I mean why are people fine with violence but not the sight of a nipple on TV? Why is fuck and shit bleeped out - but partially, so you still know what they're saying - but crap etc aren't? It's not to protect the children, they pick up that shit from school anyway. Same with "PG" swear words, I mean, flipping heck it's not like the gosh darn intent is any fudging different. Racial slurs are a different category from "regular" profanity though. I think in this case they wanted to indicate it was two marginalized communities flinging racial slurs to each other?
katastic 9y ago
>Maybe because I'm not American, but it sounds fine to me. Whoever wrote the text is not using those words, just reporting. Yeah, you'd think that. But then you'd be living in a place that uses it's brain instead of replacing it with political correctness. Here, it's literally "wrong" for me to write out a direct quote of a racial slur and I could be fired for it, or chased out of town by protesters. Meanwhile, I can literally call you "one ugly, thieving n-word" (literally saying 'n', 'word') and somehow, under PC guidelines, that's okay, when the context is horrific. [edit] lmao, downvoted in less than 60 seconds. You like downvoting handicapped people? This site is a perfect example. The disable peoples' opinions don't matter. We're to be seen, not heard. Trotted out to make people feel sad and donate. It genuinely makes me smile watching self-righteous white people get offended "for me" and "at me" using my own minority status against me like I'm somehow brainwashed for not believing what some rich white kids think I should think about my ability to succeed in this world. "Oh no, Jim used a racial slur at work. I guess I'll never be a doctor." When did white people become the official spokepeople for every minority group? Damn, I love it when I'm right.

gadders 9y ago

Ah. As a Brit I was trying to work out what the w-word was.

kwhitefoot 9y ago
Me too. All I could think of was wop but as no Italians were mentioned it didn't fit.
- gadders 9y ago
  I was thinking "Wanker" but a) that's not racial, and b) I don't think it's that widely used in America.
  - kwhitefoot 9y ago
    I think it is more common in the US online at least now that the internet has made British slang more visible to the world.
    - gadders 9y ago
      It is a great source of pride for this ancient nation: http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/british-swearing-still-the-best-in-the-world-2013070374748 http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/british-swearing-...
comex 9y ago
Anecdotally, as an American I've never heard it before.
- kbenson 9y ago
  Anecdotally, as a Californian, I've heard it before. Mostly in High School. Although another term was more common for Hispanic people.[1] I don't hear it anymore, but I imagine a large part of that is that I'm forced to interact with or be in audible range of people that would use that language far less now. 1: https://www.google.com/search?q=define+spic https://www.google.com/search?q=define+spic