Monday, November 11, 2013

on veterans day....,


Locker rooms all across the NFL sound similar to the one in Miami, and every team in the league has an Incognito on its roster.  To be a fly-on-the-wall in any NFL program would expose us to language and culture harshly redolent with racist, misogynistic, homophobic, and any other sort of inflammatory language you can imagine hearing. Despite laws to the contrary and a buttload of lawsuits to show for them, how many of our workplaces are completely absent of any and all behaviors that, if made general public knowledge, could be seen as a breach of etiquette, ethics, and law? Is the chattering class serious that we must respect Jonathan Martin's feelings and needs and make our assessments of Incognito and the Dolphins exclusively on that basis? 

Where men are required to depend on one another, the spoken word doesn't even come from the same psychological spigot as it does among a bunch of food-powered, make-work sissies dressed up in suits and acting important. Soldiers within a unit can say and do whatever they want with each other, because what appears as hostility in the slack-jawed world appears to the soldiers as a means of alleviating tension and building interpersonal rapport. At a very fundamental and objectively real level, the language doesn't matter, because at the end of the day, actions speak louder than words. The derogatory nature of the language loses its offensiveness when seemingly antagonistic soldiers are literally putting their lives in each others hands when engaging the enemy. It doesn't matter what color or ethnicity or religion the man next to them is, because, once the bullets start flying, everyone's lives are in the hands of the "other."

Now the NFL locker room isn't a barracks, and despite all the militaristic language we use when describing the gridiron, the line of scrimmage will never be the same as a killing field.  That said, have we reached a point where the perception of society's rules is entirely defined by society's weakest link(s)? The Miami Dolphins players are majority black. Of those players, only one has voiced offense regarding Incognito's behavior.  Accusing all these other players of speaking the way they do to keep their employers happy, labelling them sellouts and uncle Toms, and pretending that the extremely odd man out in that context is the bellweather for truth - is.a.priori.ridiculous.  The logic of fellow Dolphins in defending Incognito has been similar to that found at a military squad level. Epithets lose their meaning, because for many teammates, they know that Incognito is going to back them up and support them on the field, in the bar room, and every place else their collective dirt gets done.

Blacks and whites who are all dressed up but with nothing useful to do would of course never dream of using the "n-word". These same dressed-up, spineless, slack-jawed saducees will scurry across the street with a quickness to avoid encountering an unfamiliar black adolescent in a hoodie. These very same "diversity" and "difference" respecting judges and jurors of "the rules of the rest of society" never use a racial epithet while engaged in their food-powered make-work, but when you get right down to it, their stuck-up and craven response to an unfamiliar adolescent in a hoodie is vastly more offensive than the unvarnished barracks-room/locker-room trash talk coming from men of action.

Wherever sausage is made, wherever wheels meet the road, wherever teams are gelled and stuff actually gets done, all manner of "politically incorrect" stuff gets said as a matter of course. Team members embarked on missions of destruction are not, however, the only people who let their hair down with one another. The process of creating involves paring back all the dampers and baffles that keep a stick permanently up the butts of those firmly ensconced in the land of do-nothing, pretend respectibility and constant, reflexive lying.

Toxic masculinity emanating from the barracks has done more over the course of the past 70 years to foster, promote and defend diversity than all the slack-jawed and perpetually aggrieved academics, scandal-chasing lawyers, and lying politicians combined.

18 comments:

ken said...

"Toxic masculinity emanating from the barracks has done more over the course of the past 70 years to foster, promote and defend diversity than all the slack-jawed and perpetually aggrieved academics, scandal-chasing lawyers, and lying politicians combined."


I think that's about right, I remember way back, probably 25 years ago now, after a basketball game talking with two guys from my team in the locker room, who were black. I was trying to describe the only black guy on the other team we just played against. I was trying to be so careful, I tried to describe what color shirt he had on, the color of his shoes, hairstyle anything else I could think of, and then one of the guys who I was talking to, said, oh you mean the black guy...yeah I said, and they laughed and said, cmon ken just say it...

Nakajima Kikka said...

None other than JT Tran himself has your back, sub-san:

http://www.abcsofattraction.com/blog/the-racist-bullying-crisis-why-54-of-asian-american-children-are-targeted-by-bullies/


Me thinks this--not standing up for ourselves--is why Caucasians "respect" us so much. This is the true meaning behind the term "model minority". And why the Tiger Mom Strategy for raising Asian-American kids, especially boys, is a dead-end. But I digress.


Maybe Martin just wasn't very good at playing the Dozens.

CNu said...

I was trying to be so careful


There it is in a nutshell, the deleterious end-result of feminized, passive-aggressive domination of social intercourse - and you will either submit and conform - or - we will ostracize you. Every institution infected by this scourge has been diminished and devolved in the process. Nowhere more so than in the political sphere in which lying and dissimulation have become the paramount tools of success. Feminine authority is the antithesis of merit, integrity, and virtue....,

CNu said...

This had proceeded well beyond the dozens. Simply put, Martin didn't have the testicular fortitude to bust Incognito in the mouth and make him raise the phuk up off of him. If he couldn't handle his bidnis in the locker room, how would he handle it __________________?


Don't get me wrong on this one though. I'm the LAST person in the world to advocate on behalf of team, gang, fraternal, collective imperatives. My resistance to forcible assimilation and conformity borders on the pathological, so much so, that I've rejected at least 3 life-changing gift horses because I insisted on looking them in the mouth.

DD said...

Yep. It's a way to keep races from having *meaningful* friendships. How can I be your friend if I can't bust your balls? If I can't call you an asshole, you're just someone I don't trust and have a surface-level relationship with. I'm very nice to clients I don't like, I only act unpleasant with people I like--because I'm being real.

makheru bradley said...

Every time we hear about a story like this, be it Incognito, Riley Cooper, soldiers in Iraq or whomever it’s the white boys using the “N-word.” If all language in the locker room or on the battlefield is fair game, as Bro. Nulan suggests, why don’t we hear about Black players/soldiers using derogatory terms like “crackers,” “peckerwoods,” “honkies,” or “devils?” Why is that? White supremacy?

“Where men are required to depend on one another, the spoken word doesn't even come from the same psychological spigot…” That is pure unadulterated, historically revisionist, bovine excrement!

From the War on Iraq

[Most of the white troops call Iraqis and even the Arabs who are our allies ‘sand niggers’ and they don’t bother to hold their tongues in the presence of the black soldiers” (Spicer 1991). More recent reports of the use of this term include a senior officer’s statement on entering the Iraqi city of Tikrit that “The only thing these sand niggers understand is force and I’m about to introduce them to it” (Gordon & Trainor 2006: 447). Like ‘haji,’ this term has not been reserved solely for Iraqi combatants; Muslim members of the US armed forces report that they have encountered this phrase from fellow members of the US military (Golden 2004).]

[“When I first joined the Army, we were told that racism no longer existed in the military. A legacy of inequality and discrimination was suddenly washed away by something called the Equal Opportunity Program. We would sit through mandatory classes and every unit had this EO representative to ensure that no elements of racism could resurface. The Army seemed firmly dedicated to smashing any hint of racism. And then September 11th happened and I began to hear new words like 'towel head' and 'camel jockey' and the most disturbing: 'sand nigger.' And these words did not initially come from my fellow soldiers but from my superiors: my platoon sergeant, my company first sergeant, battalion commander. All the way up the chain of command these terms, these viciously racist terms were suddenly acceptable. And I noticed that the most overt racism came from veterans of the first Gulf War. And those were the words they used when incinerating civilian convoys. Those were the words they used when this government delivered any targeting of civilian infrastructure; bombing water supplies knowing it would kill hundreds of thousands of children. Those are the words the American people used when they allowed this government to sanction Iraq. And this is something many people forget. And we can't forget.”] -- Michael Prysner

From the Spanish-American War

[Black Americans, wanting to fight for their country, got there only to hear White American soldiers call the Filipinos “niggers” day after day. Many white officers called the war “nigger killing business”. One white soldier said: “Our fighting blood was up, and we wanted to kill niggers. This shooting human beings beats rabbit hunting all to pieces.” Some black soldiers, like David Fagen of the 24th Infantry, deserted and fought for the Filipinos.]

The above mentioned derogatory words all come from the same psychological spigot--the spigot of white supremacy. Epithets don’t lose their meaning, particularly when a specific epithet is repeatedly used by the same group of people with violent intentions.

CNu said...

Meaningful friends can talk about anything with one another rather fearlessly. Clients, on the other hand, are people you suck up to because you want something from them.

CNu said...

lol, Bro. Makheru - as always - your kufi on too tight...,



Instead of arguing with all of that bean pie gas, I'ma go with what uncle John say http://uglyblackjohn.blogspot.com/2013/11/code-red.html and leave you over here with your fist stridently gloved and in the air.

ken said...

"And those were the words they used when incinerating civilian convoys."

Mak it seems from my perspective you use your quotes from a source so biased it's to distracting to
get to where you are going. What were the civilian convoys in the first gulf war? It wasn't Kuwaitis, we didn't
invade Iraq, so the only ones I can think of is the nice Iraqi civilians who convoyed down to Kuwait for a
nice vacation of raping, hanging, burning and torturing Kuwaiti citizens. Wouldn't this be the "civilian" convoy this guy is referring to.

You see when you quote someone like this making a clear propaganda ploy, it would appear to me the person is so motivated to paint someone in a negative light that he believes the truth is less important than his narrative, and then its hard to accept anything he has to say.

And then the Spanish American war, or actually that was the Pilipino war that quote was from, a little over 35 years from our civil war, people used language like that back then. I think we would all agree it was brutal and
wrong, the person you quote however would never think of delivering a perspective that even many of those fighting were wondering if what they were doing was right.

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/58/

As for your point finally aside from all your other distractions; why don't you see black players using derogatory terms like “crackers,” “peckerwoods,” “honkies,” or “devils?”

I think it's because they are outdated and you would seem out of touch using the terms. Instead in the locker room, you would used words like ass hole, motherphucker, I don't know do they still say cunt? I haven't heard
"prick" anymore. I know for our traffic report we have an area that is called the "redneck bottleneck" but it doesn't have people getting all up in arms about the term.

But the term "nigger" is used in rap, and many people I see nodding their heads and mouthing the words to rap songs, it makes it easier for the word to roll off your tongue if you practice mouthing it and hear it in song how to use the word.

I personally don't use it myself, but when I used to play bball on a city court, many of the blacks there would be using the n word just as common as the word phuck, and it seemed like that word (the f word) replaced the word "umm". So on a professional team, with blacks and whites, 10 hours a day, pushing each other to the limits physically and
mentally everyday, you are going to take on the same verbage, and likely even to a degree the same accent. If it is not one of your values to be concerned about the use of the word, you'll end up using it because everyone else around you is.



I think personally the word is offensive, and haven't found myself hanging around people who use the word commonly and can't see myself inviting anybody home talking like that for my kids and the wife, but I have observed people do use the word commonly, and to signal Icognito out for the use of this word (there may be other reasons) would be very hypocritical. You'll have to dig down deeper in our current culture to combat the use of the word.

CNu said...

lol, Bro. Makheru thinks he got jokes...,

CNu said...

Black players and soldiers know those words, but are afraid to use them in an institutional environment. They understand the consequences.

Ain't nobody afraid to say a damn thing. The simple fact of the matter is that there is no power to demean in those words, there never has been and there never shall be. While it's perfectly alright for you to indulge your sincerely held enthusiasm for standing tall on the deck of the decommissioned Starship Kunjufu, don't mistake that hobby enthusiasm for anything remotely approaching consensus reality. Young black men and the collective unconscious they disproportionately shape hold your quaint worldview in the same high regard as bronyism. http://whatisabrony.com/

surrogates of white supremacy have popularized the use of "n-word" via media and honorary negroes like Incognito see no problem using this blood-drenched word, just like their negro brethren.


Checkmate.

ken said...

""we didn't invade Iraq," Dude you need to step up your game if you plan to challenge the comedic routine of W. Bush."

Mak, please understand the context of your quotes you use..."And I noticed that the most overt racism came from veterans of the first Gulf War. And those were the words they used when incinerating civilian convoys."



Do you see this sir? The first Gulf War, George H, in the first Gulf War, we elected not to pursue the Iraqis into Iraq. So that is why this guy is full of it, he is claiming we were attacking the nice Iraqi civilians taking a leisurely caravan trip across the desert. Why should the first time reader of this guy believe anything he says when he paints history like he did there?

makheru bradley said...

I understand where my consciousness is vis-a-vis the 93% and 96% who voted for Obama. Let it suffice to say that I was way ahead of his game. I'm connecting with the 9% of young Black voters who did not vote for the titular head of global white supremacy.

"Matter fact, they view it as categorically WINNING!" You are correct, but this battle is not over.

makheru bradley said...

Did it ever occur to you that Michael Prysner was referring to veterans of the 1st war who were serving in the 2nd war? Given the fact that you said, "we didn't invade Iraq," that may be difficult for you to comprehend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90OYp2hdTMU

ken said...

"Most of the racism came from the veterans of the first war, those were the words they used when they incinerated civilian convoys"- ending at 55 seconds. I can comprehend that. You can talk all you want of my lack of comprehension, history still has us not invading Iraq in the first Gulf War. And the only convoy who this guy is calling civilians is the convoy of the Iraqi invaders of Kuwait. I bet the Kuwaitis who involuntarily accommodated these Iraqi "civilians" had some choice words for these guys too.

Killed over a million Iraqis...http://www.iraqbodycount.org/



Really the guy is just crap, everything the guy says would have to be checked out. it's useless to listen to him. I imagine Prysner is just flabbergasted that the Iraqi president was just over here asking for our help after they got us hell bent killers out of there.

Tom said...

Ken, clearly you're deliberately pretending to misunderstand Makheru's very plain description. People who served in the '93 war were using the language in question while incinerating civilian convoys in the '01 war.


This tactic is getting old, Ken. When you get in a disagreement here, you create a straw man by pretending not to understand what the other commenter is saying. People get tired of it and stop responding to you, but nobody is buying it and you're not winning any debates.

Vic78 said...

The bullying angle doesn't add up. I'm thinking he wanted to walk away and keep his money at the same time. It's really convenient to say a teammate was being mean to him. He didn't want to earn his check anymore. He's not built for pro sports in any scenario. If he's telling the truth I'll have to quote Kurupt, "you're more of a bitch than a bitch." If he's doing it to not have to play for money, then he's unbelievably selfish and needs to feel a real ass whupping.

ken said...

Well to be honest I may look dense here, but I have never heard of any civilian convoys we incinerated
https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&q=killing+iraqi+civilian+convoys&sa=Search

with this search it's pretty clear we would get a newsflash if we were incinerating whole convoys, when one civilian is news.


Or his other claims we blew up water supplies or targeted civilian infrastructure for the sake of killing Iraqi citizens. Nowhere did we do something knowing it kill hundreds of thousands of children. Seeing as he did this talk in 2008, and today on the high side we have total of Iraqi deaths in the year 2013 on the high side of 130,000. And then the claims of over a million killed and another million before the invasion. The guy is simply not bound by trying to be accurate.


I figured the only convoy I know we shot at was when the republican guard was convoying back to Iraq. I thought the guy was telling about what they said they did to those soldiers then. or maybe how they told of the incidents to him.


I am truly sorry I never understood what you were driving at with the discussion you were trying to open up about Christian brand a while back, but really I just didn't get he was talking about incinerating Iraqi civilian convoys. And I am still not so sure.

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