shmenguin wrote:yeah...i think froggy's right. some people really just want to be able to use the N word.
This is such a hollow argument. I haven't seen one person post that they should be able to spout racial slurs freely.
This discussion is about two things:
1) Whether Paula Dean is racist. But more importantly whether using the "n-word", a few select times, over a course of 60 years makes you a racist.
But more importantly:
2) Whether or not it's OK for some people to use other racially motivated words just because they themselves are a "protected class".
I welcome any of you to come to NYC. In NYC a blond white male is most definitely in the minority. When I take the subway I'm almost certain to be the only blond white male in the entire car.
Privileged my ass.
I was flying from Tulsa to NY on Friday night and the flight was delayed three hours. I knew that I was going to miss my connecting flight in Atlanta. There was a crowd of people at the ticket counter trying to re-book. The guy in front of me was a 30 something business type of Indian/Pakistan background who told the agent that his final destination was JFK, just like mine. The Black agent gave him a voucher for a hotel room. When I got to the same agent he told me that he couldnt issue a voucher because it was delayed due to weather. I told him that I had heard him give the other individual a hotel voucher. He told me that the system wouldn't let him give me one but let him give the other passenger one.
It wasn't until I told him that I was going to insist on "equal treatment" that he finally pretended to go back and speak to his supervisor (what? Am I buying a used car or something?)
I could share story after story after story on the times I have been treated differently because I was a middle aged white male.
Race shouldn't EVER be used as a reason for special/reduced treatment. There's NO special exemption for African Americans.