Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

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Confederacy of Dunces

La Shawn Barber has a big thought about the Virginia Senate race, and a race word. (via Instapundit). 

Discussions - 18 Comments

Fairly telling, isn’t it, that the modal response from this guy’s readers is relief for actually using the N-word?? How does one characterize that kind of readership?

this GUY’S readers...

Fung, your ignorance is underwhelming.

Yea, they are all so happy to be using that word. They want to join the crowd of people who use hateful, derogatory terms for whole classes/groups of people (e.g., bubba).

Good catch Dain.

Was this La Shawn’s "big thought"?:

"So what if they both called black people ’niggers’ back in the day? Who hasn’t? We all have a past. Even if they use the word today, as long as they don’t do it in public or let any black person hear them say it, what difference does it make?"

That’s craziness. So she has no problem if either of these guys might say, for instance, "What are we going to do about these niggers?" as long as they don’t utter it within earshot of her or another black person? She’d have no qualms with voting for one of them even if this were so? It seems safe to say that there are probably plenty of white supremacists around who don’t utter the word in public, but would still be pleased if the U.S. were devoid of black people (one way or another). I guess it’s fine as long as they keep it under wraps (ok, sick pun intended)? Would she be equally nonchalant about all of this if her family were the recipients of George Allen’s deer head-in-the-mailbox surprise (which I’m sure was placed on a purely random, color-blind basis!)?? I suppose she probably also believes that Allen’s display of a noose in his office was a benign symbol indicating his principled support for the death penalty, too? An utterly obtuse little rant.

It’s the race & politics equivalent of Ann Coulter questioning the merits of women’s suffrage.

dain - The fact that Fung confused the gender of the author (who, let’s face it, has an ambiguous-sounding name - might as well be Terry or Pat!) is of no real significance. His point about the readers’ reactions to HER blog-post is still sound. (Yes, yes, I know - troll-juice, you’re an expert on this subject, any idiot can see you’re correct on everything, your arguments are airtight and of impeccable scholarship yet still not properly recognized by the corrupt, leftist-dominated Ivory Tower, etc.)

Well, excuuuuuse meeee!

So, you got me. The point still stands about the kind of readership that is relieved to have the N-word floating about more, rather than less.

Dain, there is a big difference between (a) terms for groups who embrace the willful pursuit of ignorance, and (b) racial epithets. You have thrown around a number of insults referring to the Left, for instance, but even you stop short of using the N word. Your brand of racism is much more subtle and insidious and polite.

Silly me! I thought Fung would slither off into the darkness after being caught is such bald-faced hypocrisy, but I clean forgot that Leftists are shameless. Well, I guess that shows me.

As for being a "polite" racist, bite me, pal. The reason all those bloggers found the use of the word nigger refreshing was not because they are racists, but rather because our society only recognizes the Leftist pieties and taboo words. You can call a white man a wasp, cracker, honky, bubba, redneck, or hillbilly, and that’s ok. But use some of the Left’s taboo words and you are burnt at the stake, pal. It’s a galling double standard to many on the Right, and using those Lefty taboo words was, in the minds of these bloggers, a refreshing act of rebellion. Didn’t have squat to do with racism, you dumbass.

Ah, yes, now that was refreshing.

Craig/Phil/Abbie...if you don’t want to be treated like a troll then pick an identity and stick with it. Moreover, make only reasoned remarks, no sniping, and you’ll be taken seriously. Until then, quit dripping on me...yuck.

Actually, La Shawn is a fairly common woman’s name, but then you don’t run into a lot of La Shawns around the country club, do you Craig?

Mr./Mrs./Miss/Ms. Color Blind - It gets tedious to have to get into it over petty details like this, but simply because LaShawn may be a "fairly common woman’s name" does not preclude it from also being a common man’s name
, also (3 examples, 3 min. search). I have never even visited a country club, CB, so I’m not sure your attempt to "gotcha" me as elitist really panned out, but perhaps you inadvertently made the point that black people are not a common sight at such places (so maybe you were really trying to pull a Rove and paint ME as a RACIST?). Perhaps LaShawn Barber is a member of one somewhere, though, and maybe she goes golfing with this LaShawn. I don’t know.

Sorry about your vision impairment, though, CB; if it’s not severe, I’ve heard that there are special lenses or contacts that can help. Moving on...

The ever-clever dain offered "But use some of the Left’s taboo words and you are burnt at the stake, pal." Oh, come on, dain! Just go all-out with your faux-victimhood line. Next time skip the burning and say "...you get lynched!"

OK, trollboy, you get lynched. Remember the guy who was tarred and feathered for using the word "niggardly?" The murdering jerk OJ Simpson was released, in part, because some cop used the WORD at some point in his career. I don’t remember hearing about any hillbilly murders who have been released under similar circumstances.

Many of us on the Right have had it with the way the Left uses its mascot groups to leverage political power. "Boohoo, sob...it’s so hard to be an X (mascot group du jour) in Amerika. Now...hand over your money and, if you want to feel better, vote Democrat, you fascist, racist, homophobic crackers!"

The scam has gotten old, and it’s the primary reason Democrats have been losing elections. The well of "white guilt" isn’t bottomless, as it turns out. So sorry.

Dain, you really are despicable. It’s quite clear from your comments in this thread (as well as plenty of others) that you’re an unabashed racist. Anyone who can’t see any difference in the power behind the words "bubba" and "nigger" is totally blind to some of the most disturbing aspects of American history- you know, slavery, lynching, Jim Crow- all that stuff that you equate to, what, a liberal stand-up comic making fun of NASCAR fans? I’m not talking reparations or affirmative action or anything else- just the fact that the word "nigger" is extremely ugly and powerful and white people who use it shouldn’t be elected to serve in any public office.

Also, shut up about trolls, OK? It’s getting really tiresome. You’ve claimed several times that you were no longer going to read/respond to any comments that you believed were written by "trolls" (which you seem to think is a word meaning "disagrees with the all-knowing dain"), so make good on your threat and stop responding. I post under one name and have never used the names Scanlon or Hoffman, so quit with the accusations of there being one crazy liberal who posts under 3 different names, all in a vain effort to defeat you.

I’m pretty sure you are all the same idiot. Regardless, you all say the same stupid stuff.

Oh no...you called me a racist! I’m gonna cry now. It may be clear to YOU that I’m a racist, but for millions of Americans insisting on equal treatment ISN’T racist. It was what the civil rights movement was supposed to be about, but what it apparently has accomplished is "open season" on anyone who disagrees with black nationalists and their liberal apologists.

Thanks, Craig. I should have kept at it, here, but I was feeling tainted with

eeeeewww, bigot bilge, racist rancidness, bubba barf, Yechhh.

Yea, it’s true you leak, and oh man, the smell!

I shouldn’t need to remind Dain about the standard social science distinction between reference groups and membership groups. It comes from Muzafer Sherrif, principal authur of "The Robbers’ Cave" experiment, and other early social psych classics.

For Sherrif, a membership group is one that we are born in to: gender, ethnicity, and perhaps religion. A reference group is one that we choose, due to a convergence between personal and group values and ideals, such as political party, clubs, and cliques.

To attack a person on the basis of reference group is to attack on the basis of chosen values and ideal. it reflects the person’s choice and volition. To attack on the basis of membership group is to deprive the person of any choice at all. We might as well attack people based on height, or hair color, or eye color.

So, to refer to Dain as a racist is to recognize his choice to align with the attitudes and prejudices that characterize racists. To refer to him as "Bubba" is similar, since there are plenty of White people who choose NOT to align themselves with the ideals of White supremacy and entitlement. But, if we knew that Dain was physically deformed, or that he had been born with no conscience, or with ambiguous genitalia, then of course, that would be unfair and unseemly if we called him names based on those physical attributes, because there would be nothing that Dain could do about it.

Also, none of us have insulted Dain due to his Whiteness. It is his racism that we find abhorrent. This is a distinction that eludes him, and perhaps we should simply be sorry for him until he appreciates the difference between being BORN White, or Black, or tall, or short, and CHOOSING to represent the lowest common denominator.

Fung blows smoke...SOP. Social class is also an ascribed status, and when you add religion, region, language and race, it isn’t really about "attitude" or "choice." Liberals always want to make distinctions between their own hatreds and the supposed hatreds of those they hate, but it just ain’t so.

What’s really funny is that liberals think they are so "above" typical human prejudices, but they are blind to their own bile. And, oh man, when such people finally do take over a society in order to ’remold’ it into a paragon of social justice, the bodies start to stack up.

Rather than hearing more about how dain is living in fear of being lynched and burned at the stake (Why?? Because he doesn’t feel "free" to say "nigger"?), I’d much rather hear from the person who started this thread, Mr. Schramm, to find out exactly what insight he found in LaShawn Barber’s piece. He just sort of tossed it out there, but I wonder if he too feels that it’s no problem if either or both of the Va. candidates currently say "nigger" in private (and by that I mean saying the word and not simply referring to their former use of it or others’ use of it). LaShawn Barber apparently thinks that it’s unimportant if people say the word privately, which is odd in that she cites "careful language" as one of the things she "hates about politicians." Obviously, such careful language is one of the methods employed by the polite, behind-the-scenes racist who might smile and give a friendly hello to a black they might meet in a public setting, but when they are in safe company they will gladly make some vicious remark about the person they greeted earlier, espouse their loathing of blacks in general, wish they were not living in their town, tell "nigger jokes," etc. I’ve known plenty of this kind of racist, unfortunately, even a few in my own family.


Sounds very interesting! I will check this out!

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