4 ms·

>Thug is historically a racist dog whistle Really? I'm a native English speaker, albeit not American, and I've never heard thug implied to have racist connotat

>Thug is historically a racist dog whistle Really? I'm a native English speaker, albeit not American, and I've never heard thug implied to have racist connotations. The original word comes from a Hindi word for criminal, which was also used for a violent cult: "Devotees of the goddess Kali, the Thugs waylaid and strangled their victims, usually travellers, in a ritually prescribed manner. They were suppressed by the British in the 1830s." >I had trouble caring though, because the only places that happened in are the ones where soldier cops got insanely abusive with peaceful protesters. How does the police being abusive make it okay for the rioters to burn down random buildings?

edmundsauto 6y ago
> How does the police being abusive make it okay for the rioters to burn down random buildings? It doesn't absolve any responsibility, but if you take a step back - the police behavior was the indirect and sometimes direct cause of the other symptom.
mensetmanusman 6y ago
Dog whistle is a useful term, because it gives someone the power to redefine what has been said to mean anything that you would like. E.g. on NPR you hear talking heads speak about “staunch conservatives” like Bill Barr. This term is now a dog whistle on the left that means ‘white nationalist’
- komali2 6y ago
  > because it gives someone the power to redefine what has been said to mean anything that you would like. Like you did in this comment, to the word "dog whistle?" Let me guess, SJWs are the enemy of the people? What shall we call it when a white supremacist waggles his eyebrows and says "those people" then? Willful ignorance is painful to witness. Maybe if staunch conservatives stop being white nationalists, or stopped catering to white nationalists so overtly, or actually spoke out against their white nationalist base (instead of "both sides"ing them), people wouldn't associate staunch conservatism with white nationalism? Just a thought.
  - mensetmanusman 6y ago
    It was tongue in cheek to the fact that words change meaning. The non-GTP-3 agent above was surprised to learn that the word ‘Thug’ now means something else. It’s like the rug was pulled out from under them.
komali2 6y ago
> Really? I'm a native English speaker, Yes, really. > albeit not American That's why, then. America has a long and really terrible history of anti-black racism. > The original word comes from a Hindi word for criminal Neato, "negro" means "the color black" in Spanish. Now go on the English language news in the USA and use it to describe a black person, see how well that goes for you lmao. Here, our linguistic history: https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/thug-tupac-racism-language-reappropriation-20190417.html https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/thug-tupac-racis... > How does the police being abusive make it okay for the rioters to burn down random buildings? How does protesting the murder of citizens at the hands of police make it ok for police to show up with "less lethal" weaponry and brutalize protesters?
osobear 6y ago
Well said.

edmundsauto 6y ago

> How does the police being abusive make it okay for the rioters to burn down random buildings? It doesn't absolve any responsibility, but if you take a step back - the police behavior was the indirect and sometimes direct cause of the other symptom.

mensetmanusman 6y ago

Dog whistle is a useful term, because it gives someone the power to redefine what has been said to mean anything that you would like. E.g. on NPR you hear talking heads speak about “staunch conservatives” like Bill Barr. This term is now a dog whistle on the left that means ‘white nationalist’

komali2 6y ago
> because it gives someone the power to redefine what has been said to mean anything that you would like. Like you did in this comment, to the word "dog whistle?" Let me guess, SJWs are the enemy of the people? What shall we call it when a white supremacist waggles his eyebrows and says "those people" then? Willful ignorance is painful to witness. Maybe if staunch conservatives stop being white nationalists, or stopped catering to white nationalists so overtly, or actually spoke out against their white nationalist base (instead of "both sides"ing them), people wouldn't associate staunch conservatism with white nationalism? Just a thought.
- mensetmanusman 6y ago
  It was tongue in cheek to the fact that words change meaning. The non-GTP-3 agent above was surprised to learn that the word ‘Thug’ now means something else. It’s like the rug was pulled out from under them.

komali2 6y ago

> Really? I'm a native English speaker, Yes, really. > albeit not American That's why, then. America has a long and really terrible history of anti-black racism. > The original word comes from a Hindi word for criminal Neato, "negro" means "the color black" in Spanish. Now go on the English language news in the USA and use it to describe a black person, see how well that goes for you lmao. Here, our linguistic history: https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/thug-tupac-racism-language-reappropriation-20190417.html https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/thug-tupac-racis... > How does the police being abusive make it okay for the rioters to burn down random buildings? How does protesting the murder of citizens at the hands of police make it ok for police to show up with "less lethal" weaponry and brutalize protesters?

osobear 6y ago

Well said.