Michael Jackson Is Dead!!

There really isn't anything wrong with the word negro..there is The United Negro College Fund or the Negro league in sports. negro even means "black" in Spanish, Portuguese, and ancient Italian.

OK. I want you to go to the next African American person you don't know ( assuming you're white) and call him/her a Negro. Then come back here and tell me what happens.

__________________
I have been formatted to fit this screen.

r66-The member who always asks WHY?

If a black person knew what "negro" meant he/she wouldn't get offended in the first place. If you called a black person a ni**ger for any reason that's uncalled for.

True.

Which came first:

Hold the phone, Joan. White, Black, Asian, Indian, Native American, African American is not editorial nor opinion. What you're talking about is the style for a particular newspaper. Every publication has a style book that makes sure everyone writes "employe" instead of "employee" or abbreviate Apr. but not March. Or to use the specific date July 21 instead of Tuesday, vice-president instead of vice president, black instead of African American unless it's in a direct quote. I don't know about TV--maybe they fly by the seat of the pants and say whatever pops into their heads. But news publications use a style book, usually the one developed by the Associated Press, to make sure we are consistent in spelling, abbreviations, punctuation, and use of words. Got nothing to do with opinion or prejudices.

Well, if being a reporter was making you angry, then with all due respect, you weren't doing it right. You were losing your objectivity, getting involved, taking sides, and that's not what a reporter is supposed to do.

Got it.



Agreed.
Where were you when I needed you?

What, you think blacks are beligerent, quick to take offense, ready to fight, prone to violence???? What a terrible stereotype!

If you had been around as long as I have, you'd know that the "proper" or popular polite designation for black people has changed many times, like any other fad. Negro is still totally acceptable. So is the more broadbased colored, as in the National Association of Colored People. Personally, I prefer black, although people aren't really black or really white; we're all just colored different shades. However, I have never known a black person to object to the term black. Not my 2 black buddies I roomed with in the Army (me being the sole white in that room. We used to discuss this very subject). Not the black cops and criminals I encountered on the police beat, or the virtually all-black custodial staff who used to come up to the press room to watch TV on their break. Certainly not the Black Panther members I interviewed. Or my black coworkers in the past and present. I've used black in newspaper articles and never got a single call or letter in protest. I've even used it online (here and in other places) and in an international publication when appropriate in writing about the fighting in the Niger Delta of Nigeria.

If I ever meet a black who asks me to refer to him as African-American, I'll try to do so. Personally I don't like hyphenated American titles. Sounds like you're subdividing Americans, like creating ghettoes apart from the main group. People born in the Western hemisphere or who have become naturalized citizens are all Americans as far as I'm concerned.

OK.

If ever I meet a person I will refer to him by his name.

Really? My 80 year old grandpa always calls a black person "colored".

"I met a nice colored gal when I was walking down the street."

I always thought that was bad.

Do we have any African American members here? I remember once, Yoda had said a black member was upset at the word MoFo....

It's just an age thing. My elderly relatives have always said "coloured" as that was the polite or 'right' word to use when they were young. Had they called someone "black" they may've taken offence or it would've been deemed derogatory. Obviously it sounds very outdated here now, but I've yet to hear a black person take offence to it because they know that.

Of course, were she to say it to an American tourist, they may well take offence or think she were racist, as it's not the word to use there.

You know, when I was a kid, I remember thinking that I was extremely lucky to have been born a white male. I thought, gee, I'm glad I wasn't born black because black people have to deal with so many racial issues. And WOW, to top it off, I was male. I didn't have to deal with the problems women have. I didn't have to have periods. I didn't have to go outside and worry about getting whistled at by construction workers and I didn't have to worry about getting raped. I thought I was one lucky SOB and the world was my oyster.


Now I have to take self esteem classes just because I'm not a pair of Jake Gyllenhaal's underwear!!!



GRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!

Well, I think, all told, I spent about $100.00 on Mr. Jackson since he died.

You can check out some of it here. Amazing stuff, I recommend them to any fan:

http://www.movieforums.com/community...014#post553014

So I went a bit crazy.

I wanna buy Michael Jackson's remains. I want to sleep with them in my hyperbaric chamber. Plus, my monkey needs a babysitter and I can't imagine a better substitute mother figure for my monkey.

I heard there's a discount on Michael Jackson's remains because it's missing a nose.

That's the gayest thing I heard. Oh wait....

That's not gay. I was just talking about sleeping with a dead man's corpse... and I'm using the word "man" to describe Michael Jackson very lightly. It's more of a necrophiliac thing to hear. But I was just making a funny, although maybe nobody laughed.

So what is this post supposed to prove?

You're right, I didn't laugh.

Yeah it is..the expresion when something someone says or does is "gay"... it usually means stupid, idiotic or assinine. And that is a perfect example. lol

I am goofing on Michael Jackson because he apparently wanted to purchase the Elephant Man's remains, so what if someone wanted to purchase his? If it's true that MJ tried to buy the Elephant Man - I dunno, but it wouldn't surprise me - it would be perfectly okay if someone wanted to buy Michael Jackson's remains. The Elephant Man would see that as justice, I think.

I'm sorry if you didn't laugh. The first part really isn't that funny, but I love the part about Michael Jackson's remains having a discount because it lacks a nose.