a member of a religious organization of robbers and assassins in India. Devotees of the goddess Kali, the Thugs waylaid and strangled their victims, usually travelers, in a ritually prescribed manner. They were suppressed by the British in the 1830s.
The song, which changed the lyrics to "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown," a 1973 hit by American folk rock singer Jim Croce, was performed at a party organized by a retired LAPD officer at an Elks Lodge in the Los Angeles suburb Glendale on Dec. 15, local media reported.
The video is in the link . It is ####ing disgusting. This is why people are have negative reactions of policemen. Its like they mock you behind your back and don't really care when you see a room full of cops with this music being provided.
Just for reference, these are the lyrics he sang to a room full of LAPD
Michael Brown learned a less 'bout messin' with a bad ass policeman
And he's bad, bad Michael Brown
Baddest THUG in the whole damn town
Badder than old King Kong
Meaner than a junkyard dog
Two men took to fighting
And Michael punchd in through the door
And Michael looked like some old swiss cheese
His brain was splattered on the floor
And he's dead, dead Michael Brown
Deadest man in the whole damn town
His whole life's long gone
Deader than a roadkill dog
LAPD must of felt it was necessary to remind America that they are the reigning kings of racism and corruption, the rest are just pretenders to the throne.
Re Thug: It's obviously not defined racist, but I do think it's increasingly being used in a racist manner, and for young african americans. So do with that what you will. Words do change over time.
Also I think it's also another Canadian/American difference. A lot more racial tensions, especially between blacks and whites down south, which add to the different use of the word. Here, I use it to describe Canuck fans, which is fair I believe.
Re Thug: It's obviously not defined racist, but I do think it's increasingly being used in a racist manner, and for young african americans. So do with that what you will. Words do change over time.
Also I think it's also another Canadian/American difference. A lot more racial tensions, especially between blacks and whites down south, which add to the different use of the word. Here, I use it to describe Canuck fans, which is fair I believe.
Thug has basically become the PC substitute for the N word. It isn't inherently racist, but if casual racism was still socially acceptable, we'd hear a lot less 'thugs' and a lot more 'N-words'.
Completely disagree about thug being racist. White guys can easily be a thug just as much as a black guy. Gangster, thug, criminal, hoodlum. Absolutely nothing to do with skin color. The eagerness to pin the racist label so quickly is political correctness taken too far.
I think the issue with thug is that it has quickly become a dog whistle to people who, to put it gently, are sympathetic to a certain societal arrangement.
In the Brown / Wilson situation, certain voices started describing Brown as a "thug" because that helped impugn his character in the minds of many. He wasn't just a young black adult that was shot... he was a *thug* that got shot.
The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Flames Fan, Ph.D. For This Useful Post:
In the Brown / Wilson situation, certain voices started describing Brown as a "thug" because that helped impugn his character in the minds of many. He wasn't just a young black adult that was shot... he was a *thug* that got shot.
But, I'm sure the use of "thug" to describe him exploded after video was released of him in the convenient shop. And that had much more to do with his actions than his race.
If these 'certain voices' were to call Eric Garner and John Crawford as "thugs," I think there's a very heavy argument to argue they are using it with subtle (or not so subtle) racist connotations.
To describe a man who robbed, attacked, and intimidated a much smaller convenient shop worker as a "thug" though? I don't know if I buy into the argument that they actually want to describe him as a ###### but can't.
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Oling_Roachinen For This Useful Post:
One of my favourite sarcastic lines from Jon Stewart's 10 minute skewering of the American media over coverage was when the guy said
"Why aren't we covering more black on black crime?" Amongst some other soundbytes of media questioning why we don't cover the black poverty issues more and instead focus so much on the ferguson case.
Then Stewart said "Yes, why all the interest in holding police officers to a higher standard than.......gangs."
Same reason black people only riot when a black person is killed by a white person.
But, I'm sure the use of "thug" to describe him exploded after video was released of him in the convenient shop. And that had much more to do with his actions than his race.
If these 'certain voices' were to call Eric Garner and John Crawford as "thugs," I think there's a very heavy argument to argue they are using it with subtle (or not so subtle) racist connotations.
To describe a man who robbed, attacked, and intimidated a much smaller convenient shop worker as a "thug" though? I don't know if I buy into the argument that they actually want to describe him as a ###### but can't.
I agree with you and was not trying to suggest that these people are using thug as a euphemism for the n-word. In fact, the type of people I'm thinking of would *not* use the n-word. They think they're just making an objective appraisal of what's going on rather than overtly promoting racism and discrimination.
Was Brown a thug? Perhaps. I'll leave it to you to decide the appropriate word. But the people describing him as a thug aren't necessarily putting his pros and cons on a scale and deciding that "thug" is the most apt word. Rather, they're describing him as a thug because it (in their mind) aptly describes and segregates him into that "group" that they are not fond of. These are the people who circulate emails and facebook posts showing a picture of Brown posing with a gun; they then have free rein to editorialize about how they're just looking at the "evidence" to show that he's a thug.
Of course the picture that circulated was a fake. But their desire to fit Brown into a preconceived narrative was not. And no, I don't think they were also scouring the internet to see if there were pictures of Wilson acting as a "thug."
The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Flames Fan, Ph.D. For This Useful Post:
Or blanket statements and biases about a certain profession???
Commenting on a profession is not derogatory. Its not attacking a specific race/gender or religion. When the tax dollars pay for the profession people are allowed to be open to criticism whether it is positive or negative.
Last edited by combustiblefuel; 12-26-2014 at 06:21 PM.
The Following User Says Thank You to combustiblefuel For This Useful Post:
But the people describing him as a thug aren't necessarily putting his pros and cons on a scale and deciding that "thug" is the most apt word.
I don't disagree, but I don't think that it's at all unusual for that to happen. Back when the gang violence in Calgary was at it's media peak a lot of the sentiment, sentiment you can easily find on this website, when a gang member or even a person-known-to-police ended up dead was "good." Not many people tried to weigh out the pros and cons of the dead gang member. Once you commit a crime, society tends to focus on the negative regardless of any positive traits you may have - unless you're really good at sports.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flames Fan, Ph.D.
Rather, they're describing him as a thug because it (in their mind) aptly describes and segregates him into that "group" that they are not fond of.
Sure. But is that "group" they are not fond of consisting of young black males who listen to hip-hop and wear baggy clothes or large men who attack smaller men while robbing them of their possessions?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flames Fan, Ph.D.
These are the people who circulate emails and facebook posts showing a picture of Brown posing with a gun; they then have free rein to editorialize about how they're just looking at the "evidence" to show that he's a thug.
These people do exist, and they likely make up a good chunk of people who used the word "thug" to describe Michael Brown. I believe there's also a separate group of people who saw the video of Michael Brown in the convenient shop and decided to call him a "thug" because of his actions, not his skin colour or anything else. But that didn't stop people like oilers_fan coming in and saying that thug is the new n-word in response to a post by AcGold. Which I found a bit funny as AcGold's first use of thug in this thread was in response to a white officer:
Quote:
Originally Posted by AcGold
This guy needs to teach a masterclass on being a policeman.
managed to get a resisting suspected criminal into the car without injuring her, without causing a riot, without giving away her identity or her suspected crime, answered questions courteously and most importantly he acted like a human and not a powertripping thug. The opportunity was there for him to lose his cool and hurt someone and then say he had to but he went out of his way not to.
They should test people before they become a policeman more thoroughly in the US with empathy and humility being 2 prime characteristics they require.
I'm not naive, and I have conceded that "thug" can have racial connotations, but far from always does. So we're pretty much on the same page.
