Leo saying the N word in a video

[Thestarguitarist14]

3 hours ago, Opo said:

Okay. 

One part of racism is having prejudices about someone on the basis of their skin. 

Everyone has those unconscious prejudices and if only white people work on them the least rasist system that could produce is the one where the whites are in power. Because then if other races don't work on it and they get in power they will abuse it. 

White people are in power.  66% of the U.S is white.  White privilege is real, especially with white women.  Why do you think race equality is still an issue?  Because there ain’t Jack shit that is equal between a white guy and I in 2022.

[mememe]

i‘m going to talk about sth socially forbidden because it’s loaded like a machine gun (some guys here are not only racist but generally have fascistoid tendencies, while some at the same time fighting that, it’s not a problem of skin tone):

what‘s the difference calling out n***** and calling out b**** ?

like really really from how the word is and was used in the past. slavery is only a phenomenon of the past, is a lie. you have a right to get triggered by this, you wonder why the others are (is it for your sake or for the status quo?).

[Terell Kirby]

@Leo Gura thought you should get another black persons opinion (most likely not many of us on the forum or who follow Actualized.org).

Dont take the video down..

I know where you were coming from in being radically honest. Us as Blacks are very sensitive to condescending terminology because we encounter it so much in everyday life..but the work you do is truly inspiring and motivating for us who follow.

Edited January 24, 2022 by Terell Kirby

[Vincent S]

6 hours ago, Koeke said:

 

Could you please attempt to synthesize these seemingly valid but also contradicting intuitions?

First part is about the event that the post has triggered. 
Second is to not have a valuable video being taken down.  
 
(I can understand why the question might arise). 
I guess its just an attempt to help the situation from both angles. 
Its like trying to prevent a fistfight between two people, and ending up getting hit from both.

[vizual]

22 minutes ago, Terell Kirby said:

@Leo Gura thought you should get another black persons opinion (most likely not many of us on the forum or who follow Actualized.org).

Dont take the video down..

I know where you were coming from in being radically honest. Us as Blacks are very sensitive to condescending terminology because we encounter it so much in everyday life..but the work you do is truly inspiring and motivating for us who follow.

What do you think of black people that use the n-word?

[Etherial Cat]

5 hours ago, Pudgey said:

I'm black and I have no problem with this. 

Me too.

In that general context, it seems acceptable. Though, it's clumsy because it sets up a bad exemple and/or could wound some black people. And that's the biggest problem I see.

1 hour ago, Terell Kirby said:

Dont take the video down..

I know where you were coming from in being radically honest. Us as Blacks are very sensitive to condescending terminology because we encounter it so much in everyday life..but the work you do is truly inspiring and motivating for us who follow.

I second this. I'm black too!

Leo's work in general is doing a lot for bettering politics. His social welfare credit score is so high to me, that I am actually annoyed he's made to feel bad to the point of taking down this video.

2 hours ago, Thestarguitarist14 said:

White people are in power.  66% of the U.S is white.  White privilege is real, especially with white women.  Why do you think race equality is still an issue?  Because there ain’t Jack shit that is equal between a white guy and I in 2022.

Yes. Racism is a very real, tiresome problem. And it triggers a lot of pain. But I think here your pain is causing an excessive wrath against someone who ultimately do not deserve such rage and accusations. 

This reaction is disproportional and at the end of the day it only make racial worse. In general, dominant group members coming from good faith should be allowed some tiny mistake/errors from time to time without feeling fearful they'll be cancelled by an angry mob. 

I've read post from Leo on what he thinks about Black America, and he's as progressive as one can be.

 

[bejapuskas]

Guys, especially if you are not black or partially black, stop justifying something you do not understand or have no personal connection to. I think Leo reacted maturely here and he might take that video down. If you ever see that word written somewhere, just say "N-word" out loud, do not pronounce it, or just leave the word with a pause. You do not have the pass. I believe it is ok for minorities to use slurs that are meant to offend them to call themselves these slurs, unless somebody is uncomfortable with that specifically too. Even the people who contribute a lot of value to society like Leo can sometimes make such mistakes and it is good that they can accept criticism and learn. No kind of contributions can give you a justification to use racist slurs, even if you donate billion dollars to an uncorrupt charity that saves million lives.

[ArcticGong]

6 hours ago, Thestarguitarist14 said:

I’m black, I can’t be racist because I have no power over anyone, especially white guys like Leo.

Black people can be racist too, or tribalistic more specifically, which one would consider below racism. If you following current events, you have maybe noticed that there's a war going on in Ethiopia between ethnic groups. I'm from Africa and there you would notice that the corruption fueled by tribalism retards society more than racism. That's a personal reflection, so yes blacks can be racists too. 

[bejapuskas]

I don't wanna be disrespectful here to the black users who are ok with Leo saying this, I understand the context kind of too, but this is a serious problem. Just because some very offensive thing is ok with some part of the population for me does not justify that it should continue to be used. The racists people will see this as a green light to keep being mindless. Just because some women are ok with patriarchy or just because some queer people are ok with jokes targetted at them does not mean the jokes are ok. Consent is key here. Stay open-minded and do not assume something potentially very offensive is OK in public settings where you do not know the people you talk to.

[Tim R]

7 minutes ago, bejapuskas said:

Consent is key here

@bejapuskas And how do you suppose one would generate consent for this?

[Ima Freeman]

1. If you get hurt by someone saying something, isn't your mind hurting you, because it is set up to be hurt by others words?

2. Can someone give me a accurate, contemporary definition of racism? 

[Opo]

20 minutes ago, bejapuskas said:

do not assume something potentially very offensive is OK in public settings where you do not know the people you talk to.

So Elmo can say it in private? 

[Opo]

3 hours ago, Thestarguitarist14 said:

White people are in power.  66% of the U.S is white.  White privilege is real, especially with white women.  Why do you think race equality is still an issue?  Because there ain’t Jack shit that is equal between a white guy and I in 2022.

White people are not 100% in power. So minority bosses with your mindset can still hurt people. 

Racism has a bigger impact than just employment. 

You are trying to justify your own racism with statistics in the same way conservatives do when they start quoting 15/50. 

[Lyubov]

Some of y'all need to stop simping so hard for Leo. Yes it's his site but it's a bit embarrassing. It's simple... if you not black you don't say n*****, especially if you from the USA. Maybe when some stuff changes in the future things wont be so PC and ridiculous. But as of now, that is not where we at. It's common curtesy. 

[mememe]

2 hours ago, Tim R said:

@bejapuskas And how do you suppose one would generate consent for this?

that’s the point it’s not upon victims to decide. 

2 hours ago, Ima Freeman said:

Can someone give me a accurate, contemporary definition of racism?

sorry don’t have a definition. as a psychological phenomenon though you can’t separate racism from other forms of violent discrimination.

historical is different, although one does not legitimate the other.

Edited January 24, 2022 by mememe

[PurpleTree]

4 minutes ago, Knowledge Hoarder said:

And this is where I dissagree.

but it's not for us to decide so....

would it be better if no one used this or these words? probably. i don't know

[Tim R]

I suggest you give this a read (can you access it without a university VPN connection? If not, let me know and I'll send you the whole thing)

Quote

Research suggests that racial slurs may be “reclaimed” by the targeted group to convey affiliation rather than derogation

 

It's somewhat similar to calling your good friend a "son of a bitch". You just can't say that sort of thing to a stranger. Context is everything here. 

With the n-word it's a bit more complicated, because "son of a bitch" doesn't drag this gigantic mass of political and societal connotation behind it, whereas the n-word does. 

It does matter to whom (if at all) you say the n-word and who you are. 

Mind you, there is no right  or wrong answer to this, stay open-minded and try not to drift into ideological modes of thinking.

 

[PurpleTree]

3 minutes ago, Knowledge Hoarder said:

I know that nobody cares, but I do indeed dissagree. Just sayn'?

well i've heard that argument before also by black people. others say that it takes the power away when they use it.

tupac used to say "they used to have us in chains in slavery and now we buy big gold chains" etc.

i grew up with a lot of hiphop so obviously that word is very overused in some sense there

[PurpleTree]

i don't know

this is above my pay grade 

the question is how to take power away from the word so that it won't sting as much when someone uses it imo, because eventually someone will use it

 

[mememe]

@Tim R wouldn‘t be „son of a pimp“ be less discriminative? or wouldn’t be „son of a b****“ at least be the same as „son of a n****“ or is in your world selling out on female/human rights sth to be proud of even? if it doesn’t drag this mass of political connotation behind it (it might be that that’s a false belief)