My high school from a red state was like 99% white and also 99% conservative and had this attitude of racism is bad but also racism doesn’t exist anymore then proceeds to make racist jokes and support racist politics (including students who were very academically focused), although it never evolved to anything as stupid as taking a group photo holding up a racial slur. There was a lot of stuff from there though that seemed normal at the time then after I left realized how fucked it was, and I know of other people who think the same thing.
although it never evolved to anything as stupid as taking a group photo holding up a racial slur
The fundamental difference between the Conservative Citizens Councils and the Klu Klux Klan was the veneer of political correctness the former utilized to make the violence they doled out via the police appear legitimate.
There was a lot of stuff from there though that seemed normal at the time then after I left realized how fucked it was, and I know of other people who think the same thing.
Lots of code words and turns of phrase, intended to alienate certain kinds of people and entitle others. Dog whistles are very popular in conservative communities.
We recently had a high school marching band get selected to perform at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. After the students raised $15k to pay for the trip, the Superintendent shut it down on the grounds that “New Orleans isn’t a safe place for teenagers”. Why was our city safe but the majority African American city dangerous? Who can say?
Ku Klu Klan.
Alliteration is fun but in this case it lessen the quality of your comment.
kek
Bur
wow, that’s something I was happy to not have heard in a while
Why? It’s basically just 'lol, isn’t it? Same as the Brazilian ‘jajaja’
it was related to trump bullshit involving Pepe being racist around 2015-16
It’s lol in orcish from wow and pre-dates whichever facepalming shenanigans of… that guy
I just do not understand how anyone involved thought this was a good idea.
Oh I absolutely see how it happened. It’s rooted in that love of “Technically correct.” I can absolutely see one of them saying “All I did was have a picture of a scrabble tile with the letter G on it. Is having a single scrabble tile illegal? You can’t simply keep us from associating with each other, the first amendment protects the right to peaceably assemble!” All the while they know very obviously what they did, it’s just that they thought they could technically get away with it. They figured that if no one of them openly used the whole word, they couldn’t possibly face any consequences.
Surely you were a dumb high school student at one point, no?
Not this level of “putting a needle in your arm” dumb. We did stupid shit like Jackass, not hateful shit.
Not sure thats a great example if you meant to show difference. Maybe you did jackass-lite?
I was definitely a dumb high school student. At no point did I think it was ever ok to use the n-word though.
Sure, but did you grow up in a community with a healthy population of minorities? If so, then you probably don’t really have the same experience as these kids.
When you don’t actually know anyone a slur references, it’s pretty easy to not take it seriously. A lot of my friends in school make “gay” jokes, until we made friends with a gay kid, at which point we stopped because we suddenly had a personal experience with it. That’s how a lot of these types of things go.
Edit: not -> so (first paragraph made no sense)
Yes but also racism and homophobia deserve derision and to be laughed and joked about in ways that don’t hurt people. Hear me out. It’s a weird situation because the people who are offended by it deserve to be and are valid but so are the people that say stuff like “telling people that you can’t say that word gives it power” because it absolutely does.
It’s why myself and my gay partner will jokingly use slurs in private. Because it’s funny and we’re mocking the people that hate us. And by using their words as a joke, we take the sting out of them. Because it’s absurd theyre used seriously in the first place.
So we exist in this weird spot where we’ve said “yes the gays can reclaim their slurs. And yes the minorities can reclaim their words. But no one else can say them” and it’s like sure but then other people aren’t able to properly take the sting out of the words.
Not saying there’s a right answer, I’m just saying that we have weird standards that may not be serving our goals.
The most compelling case I’ve seen for keeping them is to protect against exploitation and commodification. For example, there’s a long history of AAVE/BVE words and phrases that have been considered vulgar and uneducated until co-opted by white communities. “Woke” is a particularly topical example: A word meant to evoke unity and self-awareness in the black community has been co-opted by (mostly) white conservatives to rally against progressive and inclusive policies. Reclaiming the n-word means using its taboo nature as a shield, saying “this is our word, and you can’t have it.” You can’t go on the campaign trail and complain about n*ggers, but you also can’t forget where it came from and what it meant. It’s a living word that carries its history forward into the modern age so we don’t forget the crimes of the past.
I’ve likewise seen use of the f-slur as a rebellion against rainbow capitalism. Companies will take pride flags and symbols and words and sell them on t-shirts and use them in commercials. These are things that were all made with intention and symbolism by the queer* community and flown in the face of danger, but companies really don’t give a shit about that because well-meaning people will give them their money to support a cause. Come July first, though, do you see them selling that merch, donating to LGBTQ+ causes, or supporting their queer employees? Of course not, if anything that all gets thrown under the bus for whatever financial issue the company is having. The f-slur is again saying “this is our word, and you can’t have it.” It’s often used jokingly or even affectionately by the queer community, but you’re not going to see it printed on a mass produced shirt or said in an ad. It belongs to them and them only, maintaining the history of its creation and reclamation without being diluted by commodification.
It’s also important to remember that the words have not lost their sting for many people, especially those who still often hear it said with malice towards the targeted group. We should acknowledge they they are not at a point where they cannot hear the word without those strong, negative feelings, and we can do so by respecting requests not to use it in certain spaces and calling out others who are not as sensitive.
- As a side note, “queer” is a slur that is slowly working its way back into common parlance. It may be that these other slurs go that way eventually, though it’ll take longer for some of the more severe ones.
After reading your whole comment I’m left wondering if you had a point at all, none of that needed to be said…
??? I was explaining the rationale behind reclaiming slurs while making them still exclusive to the targeted group.
If your goal is to make yourself and your partner feel better than I think that makes sense. The other poster is talking about how to effect change in people like those in this picture though, which requires a different approach.
That’s sort of what I was getting at. Obviously we shouldn’t be using those words in public if they’re going to hurt people, but it almost seems like we’ve regressed and given slurs more power by not saying them as jokes like I do at home occasionally. Specifically the word in the photo is a huge no no and for good reason but it’s power isn’t decaying is the point.
So the question I’m poking at is: how do you get rid of the power of slurs without offending people? It seems impossible because I almost think that as a community we should all be able to share in reclaiming language to some extent. Otherwise it can divide us.
Last thing, the word here in this photo is something that is often fine for black people to say but not others. Again I get why. But doesn’t that inherently enforce a divide? Like sorry I actually cannot share in your reclamation culture because I am racially barred from doing so. From my perspective (which could be wrong) I’d rather let people and friends outside my community use those words with me in a casual and inoffensive manner than dividing us by enforcing language rules against them. Just a thought.
I’d rather let people and friends outside my community use those words with me in a casual and inoffensive manner than dividing us by enforcing language rules against them
If that’s what you want, tell them. If you came to me and asked me to use certain slurs with you in a joking way, I’d try my best to do so, but only in private and only with you. It would probably take me some time to get over my barrier to using them, but it’s something I’m willing to do if a friend asks.
But that’s not going to really help the next person. Slurs only have power because we give them power. The solution here isn’t to normalize using particular words, the solution is to educate people about the people who those slurs target. I live in a very conservative area and have very conservative parents, and my neighbors and parents have both softened their anti-homosexual stance due to actually meeting and interacting with LGBT people. In fact, there’s a trans woman at my library, and she seems to be very accepted. This works because people are exposed to real people and understand that using those slurs hurts real people.
Normalizing the terms won’t do anything, bigots will just come up with new slurs. The real solution is greater exposure so people can get past the discomfort and arrive at understanding. That’s what’s likely missing for the boys in this picture, and it’s what we desperately need if we want more acceptance.
Im not condoning it but you were probably born post Xbox 360 Xbox live era.
Real
I couldn’t imagine doing this though. I’m imagining they somehow expected social benefit for this, and that blows me mind SpongeBob
Nah, I’m pretty sure they were just going for shock factor, that’s it. Kids these age acting out like this are generally just looking for attention.
This photo looks fake.
This is the other shitty thing about the prevalence of fake images online. Even though this is easily verifiable, there are people who won’t even bother to look into it before dismissing it as fake. Acting like racism doesn’t exist only empowers the racists.
So you think the Oklahoma town canceled their football for… ?
Rain!
The corrupt liberal propaganda machine in Tishomingo covered it up 😤
This was just an advertisement for Xbox Live that’s all. 🤷
Imagine this photo popping up whenever any one of these idiots tries to get a job.
That long haired kid looks like he means it the most
Not to defend racists or imply this is acceptable in any way but everybody does stupid shit when they’re a teenager and something like this shouldn’t haunt them for the rest of their working lives provided they mature into well-adjusted adults.
The bigger problem is the poorly-adjusted adults in the communities that raise these kids and teach them to be hateful towards people with harmless differences.
The letters they are holding were provided by the school for some kind of event. It seems like these kids thought they could be funny by spelling out a no no word. To any rational thinking human, this isn’t funny, but teenagers aren’t rational think humans. That’s pretty much the definition of puberty.
But it’s 2024 and kids post everything online, so now it’s gone viral and everyone judges them as racist scum that deserve to never get a job in their lives. Off of a single photo.
The word you are looking for is “consequences”
I agree mostly, but I keep getting stuck on them posing for the picture.
That long haired kid looks like he means it the most
You mean the kid with dreadlocks? Lol
The punishment fit the crime. Let the picture follow them forever and let their fellow students take out the frustration of losing homecoming on them.
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There is a huge difference between a curse word and a slur.
Yep, agreed, but these are teenagers. I did not have much foresight as a teenager, either.
Right, the point is to let them be themselves & correct behaviors that society has decided are useless. Gotta give them the freedom to choose so that you can correct it, same as younger kids.
Teenagers today do. I guarantee there are thousands of kids in that school who know better and would never do this. Being young doesn’t make you racist
No, but it does make some less educated. Not everyone is online a lot. Plenty of people just hang out with their friends without learning anything. It’s very possible they haven’t learned why that is so wrong.
Well with the internet I’m sure they now will have an entire life of dealing with those consequences.
Dumb as I was at that age, I can’t imagine agreeing to do something like that or making friends with anyone who would.
Because we are not the same type of people they are? They just didn’t care as much.
Exactly! They’re racist little bags of shit.
Yup, if you grow up in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma, there isn’t a lot of racial diversity. So this isn’t something they likely have run into in any meaningful sense, so they wouldn’t understand just how hurtful it can be.
You get it. Thanks
Yeah, teenagers are often pretty fucking stupid.
Don’t minimize and normalize this shit. My teenager curses like a sailor but she would be horrified to say a racial slur like that. A swear word and bigotry are not the same thing
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Members of the football team? And that sport usually has the best and brightest of high school students. I’m shocked, I tell you.
at my school at least football kids aren’t really the brightest. They’re just average folks but stronger and with less free time.
I think the above comment was sarcastic
oh… thanks.
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Oklahoma the prototypical red state shithole.
Where if the black community becomes peacefully prosperous, it’s too much for the numerous white inferiority-complex shitkickers to take, they boil and fester like an infection until one night they swarm like a biblical plague of locusts to burn and raze the black community to the ground.
Hollow and ignorant, lazy and angry white madness is synonymous with republican-voting states.
Most of my experience in Oklahoma was in Norman, a fantastic college town. When I would go outside of the Norman/Moore/OKC area to visit the families of my fellow students, it was surprising how much and how quickly things changed.
I mean, I know the dichotomy between rural and urban is everywhere in this nation, but it seemed more stark somehow.
I live in Norman. Only place in Oklahoma that I would live.
I am allways fascinated by people who just have to do things that will cause them a lot of problems.
I get that they lack empathy, that much is clear, but where is their sense of self preservation?
Part of me is envious that they have so few problems that they deliberately make more for themselves.
where is their sense of self preservation?
They’re high schoolers, it hasn’t developed yet lol.
What, you’re trying to tell us that you were never so comfortable with your station in life that you uh… printed off scrabble tiles to make matching necklaces that spell out a racial slur as a teen??? Geeze what a tragically empty life you must have had.
Compared to others, my teens were what they would call empty, but I had a good and calm time in my teens.
I did some things as a teen that would absolutely humiliate me today if blasted on the internet. I even bullied people as a teen, so we’re talking real dirtbag stuff.
Still. I never was even slightly tempted to take a pic with friends and a slur around my neck, so I guess I have that going for me.
Maybe they want to run to be GOP officials, this is a prerequisite
I used to be a reckless teen. I just didn’t use my foresight. The payoff of doing the joke/dangerous thing is more worth it than self preservation when you’re a dumb kid.
Parents.
oklahoma. drop it into a blender and start over.
Because they want to normalize the use of racial slurs yet again, separating it from “real racism”.
That long haired guy thinks he’s the hard G. They should cancel the entire season or kick those dudes off the team. Their choice.
Why did they cancel the entire football game and punish the entire school, instead of just disciplining these kids?
Why not? It’s just a moronic football game and maybe it’ll teach them consequences.
Schools usually punish the person who gets bullied while protecting the bully so of course they don’t know how to handle this.
They might have been forced to forfeit the game for having too few players. There isn’t a game to watch if nobody is playing.
Probably out of some sense of getting the rest of the school to learn a lesson, and creating anger at the racists. Probably misguided.
Because being teenagers is serious business.
