Ace of Spades HQ

« Poland To Reduce Force Size, But Keep Troops In Iraq | Main | Comic Book Cover Photoshops At Something Awful »

December 27, 2005

New Word You Can't Say: "Thuggishly"

More absurdity from those whose skin is so thin you wonder that you can't see their spleens:

Four days after the city's transit strike ended, Mayor Michael Bloomberg was still coming under fire for his use of the word "thuggishly" to describe the actions of the leaders of a union that is mostly minority. "Michael Bloomberg, don't be nasty and mean," attorney Norman Siegel said Monday, standing on the steps of City Hall. "Be positive. Together, we can improve race relations in New York."
The civil rights attorney noted that more than 70 percent of the Transport Workers Union's 33,000 members are "of color." And while he didn't believe Bloomberg's use of the word was in itself racist, Siegel said, "The perception out there is that it is racist. And the reaction has enormous racial overtones."

Oh, the perception.

Bloomberg used the word Dec. 20 during a briefing on the first day of the three-day strike that forced millions of riders to spend extra hours commuting. The mayor complained that union leaders had "thuggishly turned their backs on New York City and disgraced the noble concept of public service."
Some criticized him for using the word, saying it was racist in the context of a mostly minority union. A Bloomberg spokesman said it was wrong to bring race into the situation.

Siegel challenged the mayor to use the dispute over the one word as a "springboard" to focus attention on racial issues in the city — especially the fact that the mayor is surrounded by top advisers who are mostly white, and that the top managers of the Metropolitan Transit Authority that runs subways and buses also are mostly white.

Ahhh... Bloomberg says "thuggishly," so we have to direct more attention -- read "money" -- to "racial issues." Is that how it works?

Of course that's how it works. It's really too bad that Bloomberg brought race into this dispute. Unlike, say, one of the leaders of the transit strike, who compared his cause to Rosa Parks'.

posted by Ace at 12:18 PM

Comments

Any takers on a bet that the TWU will not be obligated to pay their illegal strike fines?

Posted by: Bart on December 27, 2005 12:25 PM

Thank G-d he didn't call them articulate or we might have a full riot on our hands.

Posted by: Defense Guy on December 27, 2005 12:26 PM

Sucker's bet.

Posted by: Slublog on December 27, 2005 12:26 PM

All black people are thugs. What's the controversy?

Posted by: PCLiberalProgressiveWhiteAsSnow on December 27, 2005 12:37 PM

Am I correct in thinking 'people of color' means predominantly black in this situation? I could see a bunch of Indians getting upset at being called thugs, but anyone else having their racial sensibilities bruised makes about as much sense as a black guy crying racism over being called a redneck.

Posted by: Cautiously Pessimistic on December 27, 2005 12:53 PM

Who was it who got in trouble with the PC police for using the term "niggardly?"

Posted by: dulce on December 27, 2005 12:58 PM

This guy.

Posted by: Slublog on December 27, 2005 01:01 PM

Crap. Sorry about that. Bad link.

Try this instead.

Posted by: Slublog on December 27, 2005 01:02 PM

Hmmm, the first thing I visualize when hearing about a thug, is some underling for a Mafia boss... Granted that still makes me racist but in a good "wop" kind of way.

Posted by: JFH on December 27, 2005 01:38 PM

I could see a bunch of Indians getting upset at being called thugs

Actually, this makes more sense than you might think, the word "thug" comes from Hindi word "thag" which means literally "thief"

Posted by: JFH on December 27, 2005 01:41 PM

Hey, anyone who's watched Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom can tell you the origins of the word 'thug'. :/

Posted by: Cautiously Pessimistic on December 27, 2005 02:05 PM

Cautiously Pessimistic and JFH make a good point: while "Thug" calls up memories of 30's and 40's gangster movies, it is a reference to Thuggee, a cult from the Indian subcontinent which "worshipped" by theiving and murdering. Why would "people of color" have a special reaction to a reference to an obsolete Aryan group?

Posted by: John Anderson on December 27, 2005 02:09 PM

I was just thinking the same thing, CP!

And, judging from the "Munich" item just two posts down, Spielberg is now trying to atone for his gross insensitivity. Because when you show a man pulling a live, beating heart out of someone's chest, you stereotype him.

Posted by: Guy T. on December 27, 2005 02:11 PM

Hey, I wouldn't be so upset about the whole pulling-the-still-beating-heart-out-of-a-guy's-chest thing. I mean, we've all been there at one time or another. My big complaint would be over the chilled monkey brain desserts. Everyone knows you don't serve monkey brains with a dessert spoon. Does Spielberg think they're all savages down there?

Posted by: Cautiously Pessimistic on December 27, 2005 02:47 PM

And by the way, having "commuted" to work across and back the Brooklyn Bridge on foot twice last week, I can say that the majority of the people most inconvenienced by the THUGS were people of color. Who's more likely to live in the outer boroughs? Oh my bad, like the TWU said, this was a strike for the people of New York.

Posted by: Mister Tan on December 27, 2005 03:01 PM

Unlike a real racial slur like the N word (and no I don't mean "niggardly"), "thug" was chosen by hip black people as the latest synonym for "badass" (the last one I can recall was "freak"); so unlike the N word, thug has no roots in a Jim Crow past.

This therefore has nothing to do with racism and everything to do with some black people who are desperate for something to find racist, and a host of opportunistic lawyers and politicians more than willing to play to their psychoses.

Posted by: Scott on December 27, 2005 04:47 PM

amazing how people will complain about a republican administration not having enough "people of color" but then as soon as they see one they scream about how he;s a "traitor to his race"

Posted by: ramms on December 27, 2005 04:53 PM

THIS IS THAT SAME IDIOT WHO BLAMES THE nra FOR CRINIMALS SHOOTS COPS HE REFUSES TO KEEP IN PRISON WHAT A JERK

Posted by: spurwing plover on December 27, 2005 09:14 PM

Taking this minor uproar to its logical conclusion, does the terming of the union members as "thugs" also mean that, since that terming was racially motivated, you can't belong to the union without being a person of color? Seems to me that's what Jerko is saying when he says the comment was racially motivated.

Maybe it's time to see the unionists for the racist, bigoted butts they are.

Posted by: Carlos on December 28, 2005 12:02 AM

Amazon.com Widgets

Now Available!
The Deplorable Gourmet
A Horde-sourced Cookbook
[All profits go to charity]

Top Headlines

Funniest thing I've read about the Virginia mess. Back when they were hustling the referendum through the assembly both Senators, Warner and Kaine, advised them to go slow and play by the rules. Louise Lucas said she respected them but didn't need advice from the "cuck chair" in the corner. The gerrymandering was overturned and Louise is heading for the big house. Edward G. Robinson voice "where's your cuck now?"
Posted by: Smell the Glove

I posted his post on twitter and it's gotten 25K views so far. Thanks, Smell the Glove

Chris
@chriswithans

"Ahhhhh ahh I put my career on the line for Louise Lucas and Jay Jones thinking they'd vault me into presidential contention and we ended up costing Democrats 20 House seats and unleashing a Reverse Dobbs ahhhhh ahhh"

Forgotten 80s Mystery Click That Sums Up the Democrat Communist Party Today
Something is wrong as I hold you near
Somebody else holds your heart, yeah
You turn to me with your icy tears
And then it's raining, feels like it's raining

TJM wonders about world building in stories, mostly The Hunger Games

"It's f**king f**ked."
-- reportedly a genuine comment offered by a "senior Labour source"
Correction: I wrote that Labour is losing 88% (now 87%) of the seats it is "defending." I think that's wrong. The right way to say it is the seats they are contesting -- that is, they don't necessarily already hold these seats, but they have put up a candidate to run for the seat. It's still very bad but not as bad as losing 87% of the seats they already held.

Basil the Great
@BasilTheGreat

🚨ED MILIBAND [a Minister in Starmer's government] SAYS KEIR STARMER WILL RESIGN AS PRIME MINISTER

He has reportedly reassured Labour MP's that Starmer will be resigning following the disastrous results tonight

It's over

"The end of the two party system in the UK" as first the Fake Conservatives and now Labour chooses political suicide rather than simply STOPPING THE INVASION
Incidentally, the only reason this didn't already happen in the US is because of the Very Bad Orange Man (who is right on 85% of all policy calls and extremely, existentially right on 15% of them)

No political party that is NOT also a doomsday religious cult would EVER choose a cataclysmic loss -- and possible extinction as a party -- to support a toxically unpopular favoritism of NON-CITIZEN ILLEGAL MIGRANTS over actual citizen voters.

Only a cult does this.

Now they've lost 84%.

Annunziata Rees-Mogg
@zatzi
If this continues Labour loses 2,148 seats tonight.

That is much worse than the worst case predictions I’ve seen.

Cataclysmic

Update: They've now lost 88% of the seats they're defending. As I mentioned earlier, I think I heard that London will not bail them out, as many of those Labour seats will probably flip to "Muslim Independent" or Green. Detroit's 5am vote will not save them.

Yup, Labour is losing 80% of its seats...

The British Patriot
@TheBritLad

🚨 BREAKING: Labour have lost 80% of all seats contested as of 2:25 AM.<
br> If this continues, Keir Starmer will be out of office next week.

Reform has surged and projected to pick up between 1700-2100 seats.

Wow, up to 1700-2100 seats. It's not incredible that this is happening. It's incredible that the Davos crowd is so absolutely determined to privilege Muslim "migrants" over the actual native population who elects them, no matter how loudly the natives scream that they want to be prioritized, that they will gladly self-extinguish as a party rather than simply representing the interests of their own voters. Astonishing.
Remember, when they call other people "cultists" -- they are the ones so imprisoned in their social reinforcement and discipline bubbles that they will choose political death rather than dare upset the Karen Enforcement Officers of their cult.
Update: Now they've lost 83% of the seats they were defending.

(((Dan Hodges)))
@DPJHodges

Reform are basically wiping Labour out in the North. It's not a defeat. It's not even a rout. Labour are simply ceasing to exist.

Nick Lowles
@lowles_nick

Tonight’s results are calamitous for Labour. Not just for Keir Starmer's leadership, but for the very future of the party

STARMERGEDDON: In early returns, Reform gains 135 seats, Labour loses 90, the Fake Conservatives lose 36 (and I didn't even know they could fall any further), the Lib Dems lose 4, and the Greens gain 6. Note that the only other party gaining seats is the Greens and they're only gaining a handful of seats.
Update: Reform now up 145, Labour down 98.
Labour projected to lose Wales -- where they've ruled for 27 years.
Fulton County Georgia just discovered 400 boxes of ballots for Labour
Update: REF +156, LAB -107, CON -45
Brutal: In four out of five council seats where Labour is defending, they've lost. 80%.
I'm sure it's not this simple, but Reform is straight taking Labour's and the "Conservatives'" seats. They've lost almost exactly what Reform gained. If understand this right (and warning, I probably don't), all of London's council seats are up for election, and Labour might lose hugely there, as their old voters abandon them for Reform, Muslim Indenpendents, and the Greens.
REF +190, LAB -134, CON -56.

Updates on the Labour collapse in council elections -- which wags are calling #Starmergeddon -- from Beege Welborne. There are about 5000 seats up for grabs, Labour is expected to lose 1,800, Reform will probably gain 1,580, up from... zero. So this would be more than that.
People claim that while Labour has adopted the Sharia Agenda to appeal to the million Muslims it allowed to migrate to the country, those voters are ditching Labour to vote for the Muslim Independent Party or the Greens. Delicious. This shadenfreude is going straight to my thighs.
Oh, and if Starmer loses about as badly as expected, Labour will toss him out of a window Braveheart style and replace him. He will announce he is resigning to spend more time with his Gay Ukrainian Male Prostitutes.

Media bias and senationalism are as old as, well, the media:

That was written by Denny O'Neill and illustrated by, get this, Frank Miller. Editor to the Stars Jim Shooter was in charge at the time.
I always thought the gag was original to the comic book, but in fact the "Threat or Menace" headline was a satirical joke about media bias and sensationalism for a long while. The Harvard Lampoon used it in a parody of Life magazine: "Flying Saucers: Threat or Menace?"

Hamas is Humiliating Trump's 'Board of Peace'
[Hat Tip: TC] [CBD]

Tucker Carlson is pretty sure Trump is a wizard

Ted Turner Dies At 87 [CBD]

Podcast: Starting a new season, CBD and Sefton discuss their personal journeys to conservative principles, is Nick Shirley the beginning of a trend?, Iran trying to reignite the war, the Left attacks itself, even on "Best Guitarist" lists, and more!

TJM definitively ranks the films of Billy Wilder, like Some Like It Hot

TJM talks about Billy Wilder