Amidst the standard posturing of Jesse and Kramer's Apologypalooza came a genuine surprise, as the N word's foremost champion declared he is renouncing his throne..
...Mooney pledged Monday to stop using the word after seeing the video of Michael Richards using it and other racial slurs to attack hecklers at a recent performance, the Los Angeles Times reported. "I've used it and abused it, and I never thought I'd say this," Mooney said, but Richards "is my Dr. Phil ... he's cured me"
Mooney, who wrote for the late Richard Pryor and the TV show "In Living Color," joined with African-American leaders, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., to get the world to stop using the word...
I don't use the word, and can't say I'd particularly miss it, but I'm not sure what we accomplish by crusading against it. Does making a word taboo ever do anything but increase its power? If we did succeed in eradicating it, would it do anything to change the sentiments or thought process of those who use it? Or does it bring merely a cosmetic change in the vocabulary we use to reveal those thoughts, and make us less likely to put our cards on the table?
To quote another comic known for wielding the word: seems to me that if we do somehow to strike "nigger" out of existence, we'll all find ourselves twiddling our thumbs and waiting for our OJ Prize, in a world just as racist as it was yesterday..
But i'm open to persuasion on this.. what sayest thou? Is this a battle worth fighting?
