Meg,
Being from downunder, I googled what Imus said , what the hell is a nappy-headed hos, and is something offensive if you don't know what it means?
Well, first of all, nappy is a word that some black people use to refer to the texture of their hair. I went to school with a girl named Penny who was nappy headed and she was white. So, it's not necessarily referring to blacks, but it usually is. A ho a term that came from people who speak the black vernacular meaning whore. So, apparently, a nappy headed ho is a frizzy haired whore.
40 years ago, words were offensive if the person saying the word meant it to be offensive. Today, words are offensive if the person you say them to perceives them to be offensive. That's what Imus forgot. I don't know what was in his heart when he said it so I don't know if he meant for it to be offensive or not. But, in America today, anything a white person says is open to interpretation by others and therefore, we have to walk on eggs when we say things because anything we say can be taken out of context.
I work with a lot of black people and I never have a problem with any of them...we all get along fine and if there is any prejudiced, it's kept under my radar. I think that one on one, blacks and whites get along fine but the problem comes when idiots like Sharpton and Jackson get out and try to stir up all the animus that they can.
Although what Imus said was stupid, I don't think it was any more stupid than anything else he says and I don't think he meant anything racist, that's just the way Imus speaks. The only thing that surprises me is that this didn't happen sooner. But, as I said, we'll never know what was in his heart.
When I was the Assistant Director of Nursing at a facility near here, one of my jobs was to plan and deliver the orientation to new employees. In the list of things that I HAD to mention, along with proper body mechanics, infection control and patient confidentiality...management had me give a little speech on the fact that we should always be concerned with how our words or actions are PERCEIVED. I thought that was so stupid because one person has no control over how another person PERCEIVES what he does or says. We can use our common sense and hope for the best, but I would never offend anyone on purpose...I have done it because, being from the North, I can be a bit curt. I was basically in charge of the clinical area, I always mentioned anything that I saw that was wrong...it was my job. I said things quickly and to the point. Then, I'd walk away and go on about my business not realizing that 4 people just thought that I yelled at them. It was fine, I got the job done because everyone was afraid of me. But if I was going to yell at someone, I'd take them in my office, I wouldn't shout it out on the floor. I was just pointing things out as I walked down the hall.
So, although I meant no harm and would have forgotten the incident in 5 minutes, people PERCEIVED me to be angry at them. I can't stop that, either you know me or you don't. If you don't know me, you might wonder how to take me for a while but eventually you would learn that I'm just a woman who speaks her mind 24/7.
There are some things that people say that are stupid and are offensive, that's a given. I hear black people saying things that offend me all the time. Not at work...we all act professionally. But, if I were to judge all black people by the way black people on TV and radio speak, I would think that they were all gun toting thugs who had no respect for women, never knew their fathers and came from filthy neighborhoods. But the blacks that I meet are all hard working family people whom I respect.
Nevertheless, while the normal blacks are quietly living life, the lunatics are out there getting angry at their PERCEPTION of what you might say. The man who used the word "niggardly" lost his job. The stupid word means cheap, nothing else. This guy meant "cheap" and the lunatics PERCEIVED him to mean something dreadfully offensive.
I don't know why I don't have the freedom from being offended that others seem to have. I was raised to be offended when I hear the "N" word and to this day, I cringe when I hear it. My parents didn't teach me that it was only OK for blacks to use...they taught me that it was the very worst word that you could possibly use. That's how I was raised. I never heard that word growing up, I grew up in a nice, quiet, peaceful suburb of Chicago and no one there was tacky enough to use the word. If they did, they certainly didn't use it in public so I never heard it. Although I have heard it a few times being in certain areas of the country, I hear it constantly by blacks on TV, radio and the movies.
I submit that I am more offended at the word than would be people who use it themselves. How offended could you be by a word that you use in everyday converstaion? I never use it...I shouldn't have to hear it.
I do understand the idea of using a word and taking the power out of it by making it your own...but the fact that it offends some people doesn't change. And I know that you may not MEAN anything racist by it, but I PERCEIVE it to be racist.
One more thing, if black people can use these words (like nappy headed ho) and not mean anything negative, they should understand that other people can use them innocently as well. I can sit in my house and say, "nappy headed ho's" all day long and it won't matter. It won't make me racist. I can even say it around other white people...they know that we can say that stuff and still NOT be racists. It's too bad that Sharpton won't give others what he tries to give his own people...the right to be assholes and speak freely. Sharpton would have us believe that freedom of speech does not give us the right to actually speak freely. What a scary dude.
Oh, by the way, Sharpton needs to stay off of TV shows that challenge him at all, he doesn't stand up well to any thinking person. I wonder how he fools it to so many people? I would have thought that people were smarter than that. I guess if it's something that you WANT to believe, you will believe it.
See ya, I have a house to clean. I'll be back when I take a break.
Meg
Being from downunder, I googled what Imus said , what the hell is a nappy-headed hos, and is something offensive if you don't know what it means?
Well, first of all, nappy is a word that some black people use to refer to the texture of their hair. I went to school with a girl named Penny who was nappy headed and she was white. So, it's not necessarily referring to blacks, but it usually is. A ho a term that came from people who speak the black vernacular meaning whore. So, apparently, a nappy headed ho is a frizzy haired whore.
40 years ago, words were offensive if the person saying the word meant it to be offensive. Today, words are offensive if the person you say them to perceives them to be offensive. That's what Imus forgot. I don't know what was in his heart when he said it so I don't know if he meant for it to be offensive or not. But, in America today, anything a white person says is open to interpretation by others and therefore, we have to walk on eggs when we say things because anything we say can be taken out of context.
I work with a lot of black people and I never have a problem with any of them...we all get along fine and if there is any prejudiced, it's kept under my radar. I think that one on one, blacks and whites get along fine but the problem comes when idiots like Sharpton and Jackson get out and try to stir up all the animus that they can.
Although what Imus said was stupid, I don't think it was any more stupid than anything else he says and I don't think he meant anything racist, that's just the way Imus speaks. The only thing that surprises me is that this didn't happen sooner. But, as I said, we'll never know what was in his heart.
When I was the Assistant Director of Nursing at a facility near here, one of my jobs was to plan and deliver the orientation to new employees. In the list of things that I HAD to mention, along with proper body mechanics, infection control and patient confidentiality...management had me give a little speech on the fact that we should always be concerned with how our words or actions are PERCEIVED. I thought that was so stupid because one person has no control over how another person PERCEIVES what he does or says. We can use our common sense and hope for the best, but I would never offend anyone on purpose...I have done it because, being from the North, I can be a bit curt. I was basically in charge of the clinical area, I always mentioned anything that I saw that was wrong...it was my job. I said things quickly and to the point. Then, I'd walk away and go on about my business not realizing that 4 people just thought that I yelled at them. It was fine, I got the job done because everyone was afraid of me. But if I was going to yell at someone, I'd take them in my office, I wouldn't shout it out on the floor. I was just pointing things out as I walked down the hall.
So, although I meant no harm and would have forgotten the incident in 5 minutes, people PERCEIVED me to be angry at them. I can't stop that, either you know me or you don't. If you don't know me, you might wonder how to take me for a while but eventually you would learn that I'm just a woman who speaks her mind 24/7.
There are some things that people say that are stupid and are offensive, that's a given. I hear black people saying things that offend me all the time. Not at work...we all act professionally. But, if I were to judge all black people by the way black people on TV and radio speak, I would think that they were all gun toting thugs who had no respect for women, never knew their fathers and came from filthy neighborhoods. But the blacks that I meet are all hard working family people whom I respect.
Nevertheless, while the normal blacks are quietly living life, the lunatics are out there getting angry at their PERCEPTION of what you might say. The man who used the word "niggardly" lost his job. The stupid word means cheap, nothing else. This guy meant "cheap" and the lunatics PERCEIVED him to mean something dreadfully offensive.
I don't know why I don't have the freedom from being offended that others seem to have. I was raised to be offended when I hear the "N" word and to this day, I cringe when I hear it. My parents didn't teach me that it was only OK for blacks to use...they taught me that it was the very worst word that you could possibly use. That's how I was raised. I never heard that word growing up, I grew up in a nice, quiet, peaceful suburb of Chicago and no one there was tacky enough to use the word. If they did, they certainly didn't use it in public so I never heard it. Although I have heard it a few times being in certain areas of the country, I hear it constantly by blacks on TV, radio and the movies.
I submit that I am more offended at the word than would be people who use it themselves. How offended could you be by a word that you use in everyday converstaion? I never use it...I shouldn't have to hear it.
I do understand the idea of using a word and taking the power out of it by making it your own...but the fact that it offends some people doesn't change. And I know that you may not MEAN anything racist by it, but I PERCEIVE it to be racist.
One more thing, if black people can use these words (like nappy headed ho) and not mean anything negative, they should understand that other people can use them innocently as well. I can sit in my house and say, "nappy headed ho's" all day long and it won't matter. It won't make me racist. I can even say it around other white people...they know that we can say that stuff and still NOT be racists. It's too bad that Sharpton won't give others what he tries to give his own people...the right to be assholes and speak freely. Sharpton would have us believe that freedom of speech does not give us the right to actually speak freely. What a scary dude.
Oh, by the way, Sharpton needs to stay off of TV shows that challenge him at all, he doesn't stand up well to any thinking person. I wonder how he fools it to so many people? I would have thought that people were smarter than that. I guess if it's something that you WANT to believe, you will believe it.
See ya, I have a house to clean. I'll be back when I take a break.
Meg
posted by Meg Kelso | 5:16 AM
5 Comments:
And use of the N word just means that one is uneducated and quite ignorant.
Although 100 years ago cracker was just as insulting...or redneck...and now we use those words as part of our everyday language.
Just a thought.
"...uneducated and quite ignorant..."
You took the words right out of my brain.
Meg
how would you like if someone called you a nappy head hoe? that would be so different then wouldnt' it?
Meg, this is an excellent post, and everyone who constantly uses the race card should be forced to read it -in a published text book. (Not to say that discrimination doesn't exist, but I'm referring to people who love to use race to stir up animosity)
My opinion is that unless you come from a highly religious background, the influencing factor will most likely be money. Money changes your outlook, your behavior, your education, your experience, your health, and even who's opinion you'll be inclined to listen to.
If someone called me a nappy headed ho, I'd be delighted! It would imply that I have more hair than I currently have! Bring it on.
P.S. Hoe is, I do believe, an implement one uses in the garden. Therefore, it is not possible to have a nappy headed garden implement, unless it is so encrusted with soil it is growing moss. I can definitely see a case for that.
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