Thread: So many people are reacting with surprise to the NY Times's firing of a star journalist with the explanation that "intent doesn't matter". That's insane! they exclaim. How can any reasonable person think that? Well, I've got news for you: This insanity is not at all new.
There are so many cases like this one, of people being punished even though there was absolutely no offense intended. In fact, in some cases, they were even trying to highlight how *bad* the word is! It's the collective shrugging of our shoulders when these outrageous...
....incidents happen that allows this standard to become the new normal. If you disagree that "intent doesn't matter", don't stay silent the next time this happens. Here's a sampling of many other such cases where people were punished even though no offense was intended.
1. A University of Illinois law professor was placed on administrative leave and had his classes cancelled for writing a blanked out reference to the n-word. He literally wrote n----- (not spelling out the word, but using blank placeholders). (chronicle.com/article/is-thi…
2. A professor of communications was suspended because students complained that in a lecture he used a Chinese word ("niege") that sounds like the n-word. reason.com/volokh/2020/09…
3. An arts center that had appointed a folk singer to lead its new residency program removed the artist from the post after complaints that he had used the n-word in a song highlighting the problem of racism and xenophobia in America. omaha.com/entertainment/…
4. UCLA launched an inquiry into a teacher for reading aloud Martin Luther King Jr's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" because the civil rights document includes the n-word. reason.com/volokh/2020/06…
5. A prominent composer's performances were cancelled from a music festival (and her merch removed) bec she gave a talk that referred to certain musical compositions by their actual names - compositions which deliberately had the 'n-word' in the title. quillette.com/2019/06/27/pub…
6. This professor was fired for making the mistake of using the n-word during a discussion in which she was admitting her own shortcomings about race. She didn’t use the word maliciously: She was, quite literally, checking her privilege. thedailybeast.com/pc-hysteria-cl…
7. A Netflix executive said the n-word in the context of talking about offensive words that can't be said on TV. (eg, "The word n----r is a word we can't ever allow on TV.") Even that was unacceptable, and he was fired for it. hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/jona…
8. The head of the Human Rights Campaign’s educational arm was fired (oops, "resigned") for using the n-word in the context of discussing it's offensiveness. metroweekly.com/2018/08/head-h…
9. In an episode of @TheBARPod podcast, an incident is recounted of a stagehand who thought she had just heard the n-word said during a rehearsal, and said in shock, "Did she just say n----r?" Suspended. Incident starts at around 2 minutes in. barpodcast.fireside.fm/bonus2
10. A major league soccer coach was fired for uttering the n-word while singing along to a song being played in the team's locker room. (Also, he is Dutch, which might mean that he was totally unaware of the cultural norm.) theguardian.com/football/2020/…
11. Due to a student complaint, an investigation was launched over a professor saying the n-word when discussing James Baldwin's work; she said it when quoting his actual words. theguardian.com/books/2019/aug…
12. An Emory University law professor was suspended and faced a termination hearing for using the n-word in a class discussion of a civil rights case, and in a follow-up discussion with a student. thefire.org/emory-law-prof…
13. A high schooler held on to a 3-second video of a 15-year-old girl saying the n-word (seemingly in the context of parroting the lyrics to a rap song), and released it three years later so as to ruin her future. reason.com/2020/12/28/new…
14. In the context of explaining the idea of reappropriating slurs, a professor uttered the n-word. It sparked outrage which resulted in an investigation and calls for her resignation. thefulcrum.ca/news/professor…
15. A prominent CBC News host was suspended from hosting her show, pending an investigation, after she "used a word that should never be used" during an editorial discussion about race.
cbc.ca/news/canada/we…
16. UCLA law school dean issues public apology due to law professor using the n-word when discussing details of a case. reason.com/volokh/2020/04…
17. A Calgary Catholic school board apologized for a principal using the N-word in an educational context.
cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…
18. A black man was fired for using the n-word in a discussion where he related a racist incident. nytimes.com/2019/09/06/opi…
19. A black security guard at a high school was repeatedly called the n-word by a student disrespecting him. He told the student, "Stop calling me a n----r. That's an offensive slur." As a result, the security guard was fired. newsweek.com/racism-madison…
20. Emory University investigated a law professor who used the offensive word in the context of explaining how the slurs are used against Native Americans. ajc.com/news/local-edu…
21. A Minneapolis professor was suspended after he uttered the word in class. He said it in response to an uproar that was started after a student had said it when reading a quote from James Baldwin. chronicle.com/article/how-a-…
22. Students walked out of a Princeton anthropology lecture when a professor allegedly asked a question about hate speech in which he used someone calling a black man the n-word as an example.
dailyprincetonian.com/article/2018/0…
23. Jonathan Chait relates another such incident of a person being punished for uttering the n-word in an innocuous context. From this article analyzing the McNeil firing: nymag.com/intelligencer/…
A few more cases of firings for innocuous n-word utterances have been brought to my attention, so here's some updates to this thread:
24. A professor was fired for using the n-word in the context of quoting a Mark Twain historical text. msn.com/en-us/news/us/…
25. A Central Michigan University professor was fired for saying the n-word when quoting the facts of a lawsuit that explicitly revolved around using the n-word.
reason.com/volokh/2020/09…
26. He didn't even say the magical n-word, but merely *discussed* whether people should be fired for uttering it in innocuous contexts like NY Times reporter Don McNeil was. But even that got him suspended. defector.com/mike-pesca-sla…
27. A makeup artist was fired for singing along to a rap song whose lyrics included the n-word. pagesix.com/2021/02/21/out…
28. A UK soccer star thanked his friend on social media with the words, “Gracias negrito,” a term of endearment where he's from. But because he used a word too similar to the dreaded n-word, he was fined £100,000 and suspended for three games. persuasion.community/p/cmo-se-dice-…
29. A NASCAR driver lost a sponsorship due to the n-word being said. Except that he didn't even say it, his father did! And it was said *THIRTY* years ago, before he was even born. And his father (a foreigner) wasn't even aware of its offensiveness. archive.ph/6Ocee
30. A teacher is fighting for his job because the superintendent wants him gone after he reprimanded a student for saying the n-word and, following school protocol, repeated the words to the student so it was clear what he did wrong. whyevolutionistrue.com/2021/07/02/tea…
31. A professor used the n-word in the context of discussing its offensiveness and quoting it in works that analyzed the appropriateness of its use. Students objected. The university responded by suspending him.
reason.com/volokh/2021/11…
32. The CEO of a Planned Parenthood affiliate who worked for the organization for nearly 40 years was promptly fired because she quoted another person's use of the n-word when relating an incident that happened in a meeting. seattletimes.com/seattle-news/c…
33. A teacher of 41 years is fired because she said the n-word in the context of explaining the offensiveness of slurs. This is what "social justice" is about. nbcchicago.com/news/local/mot…
34. Some students used offensive language during a basketball game. The principal made an announcement to the whole school condemning the slurs and during his reprimand, he uttered the n-word. He is now suspended. wcax.com/2022/02/13/eno…
35. Another teacher fired for saying the n-word in a discussion about its acceptability. sacbee.com/news/local/edu…
36. A principal (and educator of over 20 years) was fired because she enunciated the sacred n-word when explaining to kids how terrible the word is. sfchronicle.com/sf/article/SFU…
37. Another professor penalized for uttering the n-word in an innocuous context.
"...the discussion of Huck Finn, reading the forbidden word aloud from the autobiographical Life of Frederick Douglass...formed the basis for the dean’s decision." wsj.com/articles/censo…
38. For the sin of vocalizing the sacred forbidden word when singing along to a rap song, a promising young quarterback lost a scholarship to the University of Florida. si.com/college/florid…
39. A celebrated high school coach of 16 years was forced to resign due to backlash that was ignited in response to him reading the n-word during a lesson where he was instructing the players about the harmful effects of using the word. startribune.com/david-flom-hig…
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