I'm an easy person to annoy. My impulsiveness leads me to get riled up fairly easily. Friends, family and surrounding people tell me to settle down about small unimportant issues often. Yet, I wish other people would get upset more often: specifically, about issues about racism, bigotry and discrimination.
Despite civil issues making great strides in the past 60 years, members of our society still continue to use archaic terms and phrases, as well as subtle discriminatory views. Specifically, I'm talking about the repetition of three words: faggot, nigger and retarded.
Look at those words. Look at them in all of their disgust and with all of their malice.
Our society, no matter how great it is, has and had issues with discrimination and the usage of words and phrases to isolate and degrade groups. During the Great Migration, signs were posted all over in an attempt to keep immigrants away from the socially accepted community. One of the most reoccurring signs was, "Micks need not apply."
The sign refers to the 3.5 million Irish immigrants who came over. The term "Mick" came from the fact many Irish surnames start with "Mc," such as McMillan or McDonald. Slowly the term faded away, but is still used in some Irish communities although it is seldom used any more in the general public.
In all the progress we, as a nation, have made, these three words and others still creep into our language. Even here at Miami University, where we are supposed to set higher standards, discrimination is present.
I spent two years as a resident assistant (RA) and heard them constantly. The most common was, "That's so retarded," or "That's so gay." At first, I tried to curb the residents from using it. It worked, for a short period. Eventually, I gave up because it was used all the time. My anger from them saying it turned into frustration that I couldn't change their ignorant habits.
In the wake of Don Imus' comments in 2007, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and other prominent members of the black community across the country tried to "bury the n-word." There was a symbolic ceremony and casket, complete with a head stone. It was a brilliantly clever attempt, but has shown little effectiveness.
Kobe Bryant, from the Los Angeles Lakers, a heterosexual, was caught mid-game using the word "faggot" toward an official. He was fined $100,000, without anger management classes. The outcry was minimal from the general public, maybe because he is a star and makes companies millions of dollars in revenue, maybe the NBA thought the "heat of the moment" is a fair excuse for using hateful language. However, can we say if a white player used "nigger," the repulse from the nation would be overwhelming? I think so. Why is it heterosexual athletes who use gay slurs be fined, but when the issue is over race, players are condemned for life by the masses? Discrimination is discrimination and deserves the same outcry from the public during every instance.
In January, uproar was created when the Upcoming New South Publishing Company for Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn announced they were going to replace all 219 instances of the word "nigger" with "slave." Obviously, the publishing company didn't get the point of Twain's usage of the word. Twain used the repetition to show its vileness. In addition, he put it in there to show how often the population at the time used the word. He wanted everyone to recognize "nigger" was an expression of ignorance and abusiveness.
As much as I hate the word, it should be kept in the book all 219 times. Let the book serve as example of history and the word's once-prominence among a large portion of the population.
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Some could argue the connotation or meaning of the words changed to a lesser harshness. Still, the denotation and history makes the trio unacceptable. Just because it is used in mainstream society, doesn't make them any more acceptable.
I am not black. I am not homosexual. I am not mentally handicapped. Therefore, I cannot tell you what those groups exactly think of the three words, but I can tell you what I think. I am optimistic and hopeful these three disgusting words can finally be laid to rest with their hateful messages in the immediate future.
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