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Jacquii Cooke --- a 32 y/o Virgo of Oak Ridge, Tennessee --- is the Webmistress and Creator of Poetry in Color Forum. In her spare time she composes poetry, builds websites, creates digital graphics, listens to lot and lots of good music & drink lots and lots and lots of horrible beer. 
The "N-word" and Censorship...
Posted 08-14-2008 at 12:34 AM by MsJacquiiC
So.... There's a thread over at The Biggest Boards - Size Matters I recently am participating in... The conversation is about whether or not a Forum should censor swear words, derogatory epithets, etc... One of the words deemed a "no-no" is "Nigger" which has most recently been redesigned as the "N-word" 
--- Um... Yeah... Always an interesting conversation.
Of course you all know I designed JPiC Forum's Posting Policy and have put in place an extremely liberal non-censorship policy. A lot of Forum Administrators (even those of other Forums for Writers, Poets & Artistes) do make use of their forum's word censor filters. At anyrate - below is one of the comments I've made that I find just a bit interesting and thought I'd share it....
So I sang 
teehheheheeeeee!
OH SNAP!
I didn't say I sanction the use of the "N" word - but my contention is when you get in to censoring peoples expression - you lend a wonderful way to backalley cliches, horrid double standards and other not-so-wonderful effects... When alcohol was taken away from the general public (prohibition) "crime" in the way of speak-easies persisted. Cause --> Effect. Just a short analogy....
My contention is that if someone wants to offend you and can't particularly call you the "N"word because it is taboo and no longer socially acceptible or politically correct, that person is gonna reach in to their arsenal and develop another word and/or phrase that can be equally offensive if not more so... Please don't let me get out my urban thesaurus LOL - I have quite an extensive vocabulary and I generally cuss like a sailor's winch because I'm not always sugar and spice...
At anyrate - I admire your stance - don't get me wrong - I'm just saying that for JPiC Forum and for Artists in general - the rule of law is "no censorship" --- That's all I'm saying about policy
Click Image To Enlarge
But branching out and looking at the Nword and other offensive words in general (there are plenty of them) - You really have 2 options to consider. I discussed this in an interesting YouTube conversation when someone asked me why Langston Hughes used the word "Negro" in his poem "The Weary Blues" --- You may find the convo a bit interesting: YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. --- I'm PoetJC btw.... Apparently the gentleman didn't realize Langston Hughes was a Harlem Rennaisance era Poet whom passed away in 1967... Oddly enough, though the world has changed substantially from that era, it's interesting to think Langston Hughes' words still offer such a valid testimony for even today's society that someone would think he's still alive...
Anyway - the two options:
1. Give a word or combination of words power to offend.
2. Own the word(s) so that no combination of it can offend.
Not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination. There was actually some irritating asshole ((purportedly from vbulletin.org)) who happened along my personal JacquiiCooke.com website and spammed the shoutbox with racial slurs. It sorta pissed me off. Well - not sorta - I was MAD! Apparently I was not in the mood to own the words that particular day LOL
Um... At anyrate - political correctness is a farce and IMO mostly perpetuates a society of double standards and hypocrisy. Acting like a word, phrase or racial slur never existed is not the cure for ridding the world of sex bias, racial prejudice or other hate-type crimes against humanity. Endowing one with power over the word is, and you cannot accomplish that by simply disallowing a word from being typed on the keyboard.
So yeah - 3 cheers for a wonderful non-censorship policy
Click Image To Enlarge
Jacquii.
[ Source ]
--- Um... Yeah... Always an interesting conversation.Of course you all know I designed JPiC Forum's Posting Policy and have put in place an extremely liberal non-censorship policy. A lot of Forum Administrators (even those of other Forums for Writers, Poets & Artistes) do make use of their forum's word censor filters. At anyrate - below is one of the comments I've made that I find just a bit interesting and thought I'd share it....
Quote:
MsJacquiiC wrote:
JPiC Forum has a strict no-censorship policy - so most things are acceptible... As far as the "N-word" - isn't saying "N-word" the same thing? I mean if you get right down to the gist of the situation - there's a bit of hypocrisy and double-standard by saying "N-word" IMO - The definition is the same. By taking out 4 letters, does that negate the negative terminology. I think perhaps too much emphasis are put on words in the name of political correctness. And wow - yep - There's some issues with that one LOL - too many to go into in this thread possibly - but yeah... As a Black Artiste & Poet I think the best policy for my Forum is to allow fellow Artistes to be free with their words.
Jacquii.
---------------------------
---------------------------
TVDinner wrote:
I agree 100%. there is no difference in saying the "n-word" or actually saying the word. i would never allow that word to be used on one of my sites. (This thread is about word censoring and the word is being used to discuss the topic and not in context) No way you could ever say you did not support the use of this incredibly offensive word. And I don't care about if rappers or other people use it. It is a universally recognized slur that should not be used at all IMO. The C-word is different. It also should no be used in my opinion but for completely different reasons. It just is a slang term that is generally found offensive by many women. Sure some women don't have a problem with it BUT why piss off a big chunk of you current members OR allow non members who are deciding if they want to join or not see it, and then go elsewhere before they give the forum/site a chance.
Finally, there ARE MANY sites on the internet where they don't care about this and they allow all types of usage of slang and offensive words. That is fine for them and people can go to those sites to make hateful and prejudice posts - but not on my sites.
JPiC Forum has a strict no-censorship policy - so most things are acceptible... As far as the "N-word" - isn't saying "N-word" the same thing? I mean if you get right down to the gist of the situation - there's a bit of hypocrisy and double-standard by saying "N-word" IMO - The definition is the same. By taking out 4 letters, does that negate the negative terminology. I think perhaps too much emphasis are put on words in the name of political correctness. And wow - yep - There's some issues with that one LOL - too many to go into in this thread possibly - but yeah... As a Black Artiste & Poet I think the best policy for my Forum is to allow fellow Artistes to be free with their words.
Jacquii.
---------------------------
---------------------------
TVDinner wrote:
I agree 100%. there is no difference in saying the "n-word" or actually saying the word. i would never allow that word to be used on one of my sites. (This thread is about word censoring and the word is being used to discuss the topic and not in context) No way you could ever say you did not support the use of this incredibly offensive word. And I don't care about if rappers or other people use it. It is a universally recognized slur that should not be used at all IMO. The C-word is different. It also should no be used in my opinion but for completely different reasons. It just is a slang term that is generally found offensive by many women. Sure some women don't have a problem with it BUT why piss off a big chunk of you current members OR allow non members who are deciding if they want to join or not see it, and then go elsewhere before they give the forum/site a chance.
Finally, there ARE MANY sites on the internet where they don't care about this and they allow all types of usage of slang and offensive words. That is fine for them and people can go to those sites to make hateful and prejudice posts - but not on my sites.
teehheheheeeeee!OH SNAP!I didn't say I sanction the use of the "N" word - but my contention is when you get in to censoring peoples expression - you lend a wonderful way to backalley cliches, horrid double standards and other not-so-wonderful effects... When alcohol was taken away from the general public (prohibition) "crime" in the way of speak-easies persisted. Cause --> Effect. Just a short analogy....
My contention is that if someone wants to offend you and can't particularly call you the "N"word because it is taboo and no longer socially acceptible or politically correct, that person is gonna reach in to their arsenal and develop another word and/or phrase that can be equally offensive if not more so... Please don't let me get out my urban thesaurus LOL - I have quite an extensive vocabulary and I generally cuss like a sailor's winch because I'm not always sugar and spice...
At anyrate - I admire your stance - don't get me wrong - I'm just saying that for JPiC Forum and for Artists in general - the rule of law is "no censorship" --- That's all I'm saying about policy
Click Image To Enlarge
But branching out and looking at the Nword and other offensive words in general (there are plenty of them) - You really have 2 options to consider. I discussed this in an interesting YouTube conversation when someone asked me why Langston Hughes used the word "Negro" in his poem "The Weary Blues" --- You may find the convo a bit interesting: YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. --- I'm PoetJC btw.... Apparently the gentleman didn't realize Langston Hughes was a Harlem Rennaisance era Poet whom passed away in 1967... Oddly enough, though the world has changed substantially from that era, it's interesting to think Langston Hughes' words still offer such a valid testimony for even today's society that someone would think he's still alive...
Anyway - the two options:
1. Give a word or combination of words power to offend.
2. Own the word(s) so that no combination of it can offend.
Not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination. There was actually some irritating asshole ((purportedly from vbulletin.org)) who happened along my personal JacquiiCooke.com website and spammed the shoutbox with racial slurs. It sorta pissed me off. Well - not sorta - I was MAD! Apparently I was not in the mood to own the words that particular day LOL
Um... At anyrate - political correctness is a farce and IMO mostly perpetuates a society of double standards and hypocrisy. Acting like a word, phrase or racial slur never existed is not the cure for ridding the world of sex bias, racial prejudice or other hate-type crimes against humanity. Endowing one with power over the word is, and you cannot accomplish that by simply disallowing a word from being typed on the keyboard.
So yeah - 3 cheers for a wonderful non-censorship policy
Click Image To Enlarge
Jacquii.
[ Source ]
Total Comments 1
Comments
|
When Kim referred to this blog entry in the Shoutbox, I knew I had to check it out. What it did was fire my imagination and rile me. I was writing a comment on this entry, which by the way I find truthful, when I realized I was writing a freakin essay instead, so I pulled it out of here, into Word and finished it, I think. Because it's the most controversial, to me, essay I'd written, I sent it to you for your response and your thoughts on posting it. Well, I have and entitled it, Speak Up! http://jpicforum.info/essays/speak-u...html#post37764.
I'm hoping everyone will add their voices to this essay. Speak up! Be heard! Thank you, MsJ for posting this thoughtful, inspuring blog entry. hugs, Gail |
 
Updated 08-17-2008 at 08:22 AM by butchiesmom (Oops!) |
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- My Favorite Quote: Sojourner Truth (03-24-2008)
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