Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

npr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 199 posts

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#21

Post by stefantalpalaru »

Someone1234 wrote: post #11

Couple of off the cuff thoughts: Why can't people use the expression "niger" in context? It was clearly meant as a racial insult, and I think people need to remember that that is the way it is commonly used. Replacing it with a placeholder doesn't make racism go away or make the word less racist, all it does it soften the racism used in that instance. His TSA story is more likely fiction. Is he saying that there are…

> make the word less racist

You want to associate racism with words? How about "race" used as a synonym for "ethnicity"?

> Is he saying that there are "TSA" in London?

He could have been screened by the TSA prior to departure from US.

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#22

Post by Someone1234 »

ctdonath wrote: post #16
Someone1234 wrote: post #11

Couple of off the cuff thoughts: Why can't people use the expression "niger" in context? It was clearly meant as a racial insult, and I think people need to remember that that is the way it is commonly used. Replacing it with a placeholder doesn't make racism go away or make the word less racist, all it does it soften the racism used in that instance. His TSA story is more likely fiction. Is he saying that there are…

Been a while since I flew England to USA, but yes there was/is a TSA contingent operating their own screenings on US-bound flights. ETA: "TSA" including any entity providing TSA-style screening at the behest of the TSA.

They're actually contractors, not TSA.

I've been stopped by them before. They would have no way of knowing my name BEFORE they stopped me, as they sit physically too far away from ticketing to hear anything and don't appear to have any communication equipment.

They just pick out mostly men to run secondary checks on.

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#23

Post by rburhum »

I guess, for me, I never associate the name Jamal with black - to me it is arabic like Gamal Abdel Nasser. Then again I was born and raised in South America, so Gamal was not a curious name. It was the name that my "white" brother was given to by my middle eastern dad!

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#24

Post by josu »

stefantalpalaru wrote: post #14

> [horrific racial expletive deleted] Nigga please... The only horrific things about a word coming straight from the latin root for "black" are the linguistic segregation behind it and the fact that this segregation is now willingly enforced by the minorities themselves.

I wonder who censored the word, if it was The author, the original blog or NPR.

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#26

Post by kingmanaz »

If one's going to play the ethnic etymology game, why not start with the NPR staff's overwhelmingly Jewish surnames? Why is every chance for black/white/hispanic/asian/male-female grievance mined and exploited by NPR, but their own ethnic nepotism swept under the carpet? Why don't NPR's Jews judge themselves by their own standards?

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#27

Post by stefantalpalaru »

rfrey wrote: post #20
stefantalpalaru wrote: post #14

> [horrific racial expletive deleted] Nigga please... The only horrific things about a word coming straight from the latin root for "black" are the linguistic segregation behind it and the fact that this segregation is now willingly enforced by the minorities themselves.

Etymology is irrelevant in emotionally charged discussions. Context matters.

Etymology is always relevant in the analysis of natural languages. Emotions? Not so much.

> Context matters.

It does. The context is a relatively progressive media organization that is afraid to write certain words because they might interfere with the nation-wide policy of linking their acceptable usage to the color of the speaker's skin.

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#28

Post by amyjess »

mathgeek wrote: post #13
viach wrote: post #2

My english is far from perfect, but there are effectively 7 words, no?

There are six words, but it isn't a proper sentence. That was the part that I immediately noticed.

If you add punctuation, it'll work: "My name is Jamaal; I'm white."

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#29

Post by _delirium »

stefantalpalaru wrote: post #27
rfrey wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Etymology is irrelevant in emotionally charged discussions. Context matters.

Etymology is always relevant in the analysis of natural languages. Emotions? Not so much. > Context matters. It does. The context is a relatively progressive media organization that is afraid to write certain words because they might interfere with the nation-wide policy of linking their acceptable usage to the color of the speaker's skin.

In modern linguistics, etymology is given far less weight than it was in the pre-scientific days of philology. So no, etymology is not "always" relevant; arguments based on etymology are typically given weight only in historical contexts (e.g. tracing language evolution, or lexical borrowings). They give very little insight about present meaning, and especially not about pragmatics.

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#30

Post by happyscrappy »

Silicon Valley is a ridiculous festering pool of hypocrisy. Instead of trying to train and hire underprivileged blacks from right next door, Oakland, they fly or outsource them from half way around the world in India. Yet they think they are liberal and caring because they upvote stories like this.
Post reply on HN