Fine. I can eliminate the use of the word thug and substitute criminal. Til someone then comes and redefines that to be a racist word.
Pizzagirl, you’re really overreacting. Nobody is telling you to give up using the word altogether. No one is trying to change the denotation of the word. Nobody is accusing anyone who uses the word to be an automatic racist.
All that people are saying is be mindful that in certain contexts, there seems to be an emerging connotation. That’s it.
Pizzagirl, stop getting so hysterical about the issue of words’ connotations.
irony intended
What people are saying is not unlike what PG has said about the rebel flag. Individual people have the right to display the flag but really they should be aware of how it is perceived. You can use any word you want. But if multiple people tell you that it has a particular connotation maybe you should keep that in mind.
I will grant that the rebel flag has been more widely agreed upon as offensive, and for a longer time. For that reason I would make a more negative assumption about a flag flier. But I might look twice at someone using the word thug and question what they meant. Because I have observed it being used in pretty racists ways.
And in both cases if people were stubbornly continuing to do their thing even knowing it was offensive to some, I’d think it was a bit ridiculously stubborn and clueless.
No, the students were not “discussing” the issue.
Screaming "why the F; you are disgusting! " is not “discussing” This was a temper tantrum worthy of a two year old.
If you follow the thread on this topic, it is shown by transcribed material that several students were discussing the issue prior to what was filmed. Before the this one student lost her cool, there had been a discussion between the Master and the students, heated perhaps but not rude. It was the master who approached the students gathered in the quad and began the discussion. The students didn’t start the conversation.
The thread on the Yale incident is very long and covers a lot of ground, but anyone really interested in this specific incident might want to go over there to read and comment.
Straight from Urban Dictionary THE reference of millennials :
thug
As Tupac defined it, a thug is someone who is going through struggles, has gone through struggles, and continues to live day by day with nothing for them. That person is a thug. and the life they are living is the thug life. A thug is NOT a gangster. Look up gangster and gangsta. Not even CLOSE, my friend.
thug
To be a true thug doesnt mean wearing “bling”, listening to rap and talking “black”. Being a gangsta isnt superficial… To be a true thug means you havent had it good your whole life, and you intend to change that, and get out of the ghetto if thats where you are, you do whats right, you dont take from anyone, and stand up for your friends and dont let them take from anyone! You dont have to be a stereotypical “gangsta” to be a thug, a skater can be a thug, a nerd can be a thug, a hick can be a thug, a prep can be a thug, and oldman can be a thug! So forget your stupid stereotypes and thinking that everybody has to fit into one group, and be labeled.
Urban Dictionary is not the reference of my generation tyvm.
But it is the reference of this generation… and if I am reading this right a thug is a good thing to be??
I am a millennial.
It is NOT in any way seen as a good thing.
I don’t know anyone who used Urban Dictionary over the age of like 15. We use Wikipedia.
“Straight from Urban Dictionary THE reference of millennials :
thug
As Tupac defined it, a thug is someone who is going through struggles, has gone through struggles, and continues to live day by day with nothing for them. That person is a thug. and the life they are living is the thug life. A thug is NOT a gangster.”
Tupac whatever-his-last-name-is is of no relevance whatsoever to me and my life. He could have redefined any word any way he liked – hey, now the word popsicle means puppy! - and that doesn’t mean anyone has to pay attention. BTW, given that he used the n-word frequently in a positive light, does that mean I can now use that word freely in a positive light too? Oh whoops - we’ll just take him as the New Definition of Words when we want to.
Really, now, gag. Like I’m supposed to care about the mostly-talentless, droning, no-musicality world of rap and hip-hop and take my guidance on how to speak from them. No thanks.
Wait - that word can’t be used now because someone might misunderstand?
And can we still talk about jack-booted thugs? I think they are usually assumed to be white. Criminal doesn’t mean at all the same thing as thug. Brute?
I don’t know. If you can complain/joke about your parents/children/husband, is it cool with you if I do it about them too?
Are there authorities who should prevent you from doing so?
No, but I would expect pushback if I do, and any white person who uses the n word can expect the same.
http://hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu/hiphop-archive-research-institute
This is an article about the hip hop archive at Harvard. There are many other courses at great institutions that take the profound poetry of this genre quite seriously. I find the comments by @pizzagirl on this thread and the Yale thread extremely small minded and out of touch with present day academia and reality. Completely closed-minded and judgmental.
The likes of Dr. Cornell West and other brilliant minds are prominent in exposing deeply thoughtful social justice and societal improprieties brought out by hip hop and rap talent.
“Gag,” really?? People like YOU are the reason this issue is exploding on campuses and around the country. Complete lack of respect for and understanding of another human experience that is just as American.
PC police is very persuasive in USA. If you want to study and spend your money wisely, go to MIT or Caltech. Avoid politically active campuses like you would avoid Medieval disease. It is not contagious, but looks ugly.
STEM majors, campuses that have more men than women (or equal) - go there. Liberal arts colleges, especially colleges that have far more women than men … parties, hookup culture, advanced feminism, contact allegations of sexual misconduct (from all directions).
I am not afraid of political correctness. If fact, it is a lot of fun. But I am not going to pay $50,000 per year (quarter-a-million per bachelors degree) for something that kids can get free of charge, at any political gathering. Kids want to be engaged in political activism? Volunteer for the local party (they may even pay kids for some intern program).
I am fixed on college education. If kiddo wants to go into “justice for all” - great! Go! But not on my dime. I am ready to pay for some real skills, not for the self-development (in the artificial environment of college, that has nothing to do with real life).
< Do you feel comfortable telling us the name of the institution? >
Google institutions that require training in “privilege”. Kids have to stay in line. Next, instructor tells white kids to step forward, black kids - backwards. Next, children from high income families step forward, low-income step backwards. Same with one-parent / 2 parent families. Educated / non-educated. Incarcerated parents … And goes on.
That is a horrible experience for kids from any backgrounds - whether they are from a stable or troubled family, alike.
If you want to learn the definition of “thug”, you may learn it from rap music. I mean … .I would trust a rapper to define this term, rather than Encyclopedia Britannica.
:-j