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From:
Barry Crimmins <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 23 Oct 2007 12:17:10 -0400
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My guess is that you are mistaking student irony and sarcasm for some
sort of amnesty for a term that recalls the days when the myth of
white supremacy was enforced by the muscle of unjust laws. Why don't
you try using it in an African-American neighborhood and see what
kind of response you ge? If possible, videotape what happens. Then
post the video on YouTube and watch it 'go viral." (And  to be clear,
what I assume would be funny and popular would be a verbal onslaught
and not any sort of physical violence.)

As I stated in a subsequent post, I might well use such a phrase when
writing or performing humor but I'd be sure that the audience
understood that I was satirizing someone who would employ such a term
without any sense of their own oafishness. I don't believe in banning
any speech.If people can't speak freely, it's so much more difficult
to identify the idiots.

It's interesting that we are being asked to tread carefully when
dealing with the delicate feelings of those who would employ such
arcane and offensive terminology. Such compassion is truly touching!

I didn't call anyone a white supremacist, I said I couldn't abide
them. That said, if the hood fits, wear it. I simply took umbrage
that someone presumed that no one on this entire list would respond
to such insulting provocation. The term clearly and obviously
presumes the superiority of caucasians so hyperbole was not required
to attach the language to its source. And by the way, you don't have
to be out burning crosses to subscribe to the mistaken belief of one
race's superiority over others.

Barry Crimmins

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