January 25, 2014

Bill Maher: Calling Richard Sherman "thuggish" is racist

As you've probably heard, the biggest pre-Super Bowl story remains Seattle Seahawk cornerback Richard Sherman's alarming postgame interview with some blonde sideline reporterette. Now, the media has transmuted the story into their favorite topic -- white racism -- because some people have called out Sherman for acting "thuggish," which as we all know is a racist code word for black males no different from the N Word. For example, Bill Maher has jumped in to turn the spotlight on less enlightened whites:
Maher Defends Richard Sherman, Blasts the ‘Underground’ Racism of ‘Thug’ Label

A reader writes:
I've been following this Richard Sherman drama and the discussion of the putatively racialized term "thug" (which was mostly uttered by anonymous Useful Bigots on Twitter), and I've been wondering: did white people use "thug" as a euphemism for scary black people prior to the hip-hop era?
My impression is that the word was appropriated by rappers (e.g. 2pac Shakur) and then white people starting following their lead, referring to swaggering, asshole-ish black guys as "thugs" because that's what swaggering assholes in the rap game called themselves. This is in keeping with their idolization of white ethnic mafia types. Am I wrong about this? 
Did white people during the 70s crime wave typically refer to black criminals as "thugs"? 
Or does the thug euphemism for black go back even further than the 70s?

I'm only in my 20s, so my political memory doesn't begin till, say, Monica Lewinsky. 

The term thug comes from the murderous Thuggee cult in India, which provided villains for two great action comedies, 1939's Gunga Din and 1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Despite that, Indians are almost never described as "thugs." 

In Britain, "thug" was used to refer to white soccer hooligans, as in the well-known 1990 book Among the Thugs by American journalist Bill Buford about English soccer outfits.

In America, "thug" was used to refer to semi-organized muscle, adult bully boys: from labor wars with management, we have "union thugs" and "Pinkerton thugs." "Thugs" often was used to refer to white mobsters and their hired goons, as in this 1953 Bugs Bunny cartoon about gangsters. Bugsy, Mugsy, and Thugsy. Yes, its 1990s appropriation by blacks like 2Pac Shakur is likely related to black gangsta rappers' love for all things Mafioso.

So, for a couple of decades, some famous blacks have been boasting tirelessly about their own thuggishness, but the Real Problem is that some whites have finally Noticed.

As for Richard Sherman, may I suggest that the fact that he has a documented 3-digit IQ (SAT scores on 400-1600 tests of 990 and 1060 and a Wonderlic IQ test of 24 where 21 is the mean), admirable study skills (salutatorian of his Compton Dominguez class), and a Stanford degree should not excuse him from apologizing for his outburst. Instead, the fact that he's smarter and better educated than the average NFL cornerback means that he should try harder than average to behave in a more gentlemanly fashion since he has the personal tools to behave better.
   

76 comments:

fish said...

Who is Bill Maher?

countenance said...

I didn't join the chorus of criticism of Sherman after his outburst, because I didn't care about it. It was a non-issue. Andrew Cuomo can order people with badges and guns around, Sherman cannot.

But, as I learned the hard way in 2012, but learned it well, when you're in the middle of only a very light controversy or a non-troversy, don't add fuel to the embers by acknowledging it. Sherman shouldn't have said anything about it after he actually did it. By going out and complaining about people calling him "thug" and complaining that "thug" is the new n-word, he did just that.

Thankfully, for his cause, Justin Bieber got arrested later on in the week. The low information undertow moved on.

DavidtheDuke said...

Very good last point Sailer.

allbino bobb said...

Come the revolution, Maher will be the first to feel the love.

Anonymous said...

John Boehner called Vladimir Putin a 'thug' on Jay Leno.

Harry Baldwin said...

Yes, its 1990s appropriation by blacks like 2Pac Shakur is likely related to black gangsta rappers' love for all things Mafioso.

I thought their love is for all things Tony Montana.

Anon87 said...

I actually enjoyed the outburst. An unexpected WWE outburst sure beats the cliché fests that sideline babe interviews typically are.

And in a sports context, "thug" is used in lilly white hockey all the time.

Anonymous said...

I must be mistaken. From time to time, Steve has mentioned that Harvard-Westlake is a very prestigious public school in So Cal. Compton HS is nowhere in the same academic ballpark as Harvard-Westlake. Yes, they produce some athletes as does Harvard-Westlake.

NFLer and former Sherman teammate Jonathatan Martin, for instance, graduated from Harvard-Westlake so I assume he has the legitimate IQ to have graduated from Stanford with honors which is not a given slam dunk in the case of Sherman.

And notice, who has the street cred among both blacks and whites? Sherman or Martin?

Which NFLer is pitied and which one is respected?

Ultimately, Sherman has succeeded since there's no way anyone's going to accuse him of acting white, Stanford notwithstanding.

Brilliant self-marketing and packaging. Thuggish behavior in pop culture = mucho bucks.
Brilliant strategy.

Deion Sanders is impressed and perhaps a bit envious cause Sherman is truly the new Sanders.

Shouting Thomas said...

I was nodding my head in agreement with you until the end, Steve, and then you lost me!

I thought it was a pretty entertaining rant.

Funny.

Anonymous said...

Thug was not a widely used term, even in rap music, until Tupac popularized it. When I was growing up in a predominantly black urban area in the 80's, I never heard the term.

Cleveland's illustrious sons, "Bone Thugz-n-Harmony" continued to extol the virtues of being a Thug as standard bearers for a new generation of rappers who were not exclusively from NYC or LA.

"Thug" became the near universal self-descriptive term for young black man around the time that rap music was dropping is original New Yorkese vocabulary and intonations.

Since then, I've witnessed the bizarre phenomenon of young blacks in NYC changing their speech to imitate rappers from places like Saint Louis and Memphis.

Anonymous said...

Remember how Bill Maher's television show was called "Politically Incorrect"? I'm fairly sure he wasn't being ironic there. Exactly what part of his worldview does he think is politically incorrect?

sunbeam said...

Kind of curious that no one has noted another possibility.

That this was a planned outburst, a la "I'm going to Disneyworld."

I have a theory. For a while we were getting snatch shots snapped by papparazzi right and left.

Invariably some young female starlet/famous because she's famous/singer type, wearing a short skirt and getting out of a limo or something.

I just found it curious that so many young women forgot to wear underwear when they were going to such and such a function with lots of cameras. Or maybe 'commando' was some kind of trendy thing, dunno.

But I figured it was for the publicity. Let's face it, doing that around papparazzi is like throwing red meat to dogs.

Not going to argue the utility of it, think it goes without saying. You can do the Playboy/other mag thing, but that seems like it is over. Unless your career requires you to strike some kind of pose of wholesomeness or something, it was a very useful thing to do. Till it got old I guess.

But you know Richard Sherman is mentioned a lot in the news now. He is talked about and blogged about.

He was pretty anonymous before, relatively speaking, playing for a team in the Northwest area, one that despite it's success has one star so far, Russel Wilson.

Wanna bet he is more marketable now? Let's see: graduated with honors from Stanford, majored in communications.

Sounds like a career move to me. Got street cred, and instant attention prior to the biggest sporting event of the year.

Man ain't dumb. Bet he lines up a number of endorsement deals based on that performance.

Read that statement he issued about the incident.

Anonymous said...

>>Sunbeam said:
""Wanna bet he is more marketable now? Let's see: graduated with honors from Stanford, majored in communications.

Sounds like a career move to me. Got street cred, and instant attention prior to the biggest sporting event of the year.

Man ain't dumb. Bet he lines up a number of endorsement deals based on that performance.

Read that statement he issued about the incident.""


I said all these things in the post about Sherman, nice to see youre lifting from others.

sunbeam said...

Anonymous wrote:

"I said all these things in the post about Sherman, nice to see youre lifting from others."

Okay. I never saw your post, so it's not lifting. Is it in this thread?

Okay, you are the Anonymous above Shouting Thomas right?

Anonymous said...

Sherman has already cut a commercial running which has him stopping answering questions from the media when the "thug" word is uttered...and the music plays "I'm a man, I'm a man, I'm a manannn......". It's an ad for some music system. Kaepernick had an ad too.

Sherman planned that outburst, I am convinced, knowing he'd get an ad. He said "thug" is the new "n" word.
Funny, I was rooting for him until now. Now he's just acting like an "n" word.

Anonymous said...

Yo, American public be conned, man:

http://www.ibtimes.com/was-richard-shermans-postgame-interview-pr-stunt-heres-evidence-beats-dre-commercial-was-no-1546935

Anonymous said...

RE: Sherman's intellect, a few observations from Alexander Hart's VDARE article:

"So according to both conservatives and liberals, graduating second in your class in high school, attending Stanford as a star football player, and having a 1400 on the SATs is evidence of genius. For non-Gen Y or childless VDARE.com readers, the SAT added a writing section, so the top score is now 2400, not 1600.Sherman actually scored 990 in 2006, on the old style of test. "

So, Sherman's Sat real SAT score (no one pays any attention to the writing section) is 990.....Does anyone think that we would be commending a White or Asian athlete for having a SAT score of 990?

As for his High School ranking:

"What about graduating second in his class in high school? Sherman attended Dominguez High School in Compton, which is 13% black, 83% Hispanic, 1% Asian, and 0.1% white. A grand total of 6.3 % of students are proficient in Math and 27.5% are proficient in English. Being valedictorian or salutatorian in these circumstances may mean painfully little."

Finally, his wonderlic score:

"However, the NFL has all incoming players take the Wonderlic test, which is a very accurate proxy for IQ. Sherman scored a 24, which is equivalent to a 108 IQ."

Anonymous said...

Funny thing is Sherman really isn't a thug. Pretty beta for a black-- he kinda reminds me of Spike Lee.

He just loves to obnoxiously run his mouth (braggadocio particularly) and got caught up in the moment.

Even his rant was akin beta male rage ("Crabtree called me names") rather than a darker dominant-aggressive (e.g. OJ Simpson personality).

Auntie Analogue said...


So Richard Sherman pulled a Cassius "I am the greatest!" Clay. So, big deal.

The Main Event, the Big Shebang, the modern-day parallel of the 'Triumph Des Willens" 1934 Nuremberg Nazi Party Rally - the Stupor Bowl - comes eight days hence. I thank God that on that evening at eight o'clock 'Masterpiece Theatre' will telecast Episode 5 of Season 4 of 'Downton Abbey.'

Anonymous said...

"Let's see: graduated with honors from Stanford,"

Are you sure of this? I saw one article say this when it was clear they meant high school.

Anonymous said...

As I always say, Steve Dawg: I didn't choose the thug life, the thug life chose me.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous countenance said...

1/25/14, 4:28 PM
=================

This is a large part of what I was going to say. Most people didn't care that much - yeah, I winced at him behaving that way in front of a lady, but I'm old fashioned. (But didn't it look kinda...calculated?)

But it's like they're doing everything in their power to push every white button going. At the very least, Sherman's not a goddamn victim. Or does dog whistling not count if it's done by the pee-see side of things?

Bottledwater said...

Steve, why don't you post about Dinesh D'souza's arrest? Many are calling it politically motivated. And in an amazing (suspicious?) coincidence, the prosecutor is also Indian. And has D'souza's anti colonial theory of Obama proved right or wrong?

Mr. Anon said...

Despite what that noxious little toad, Bill Maher, thinks, the term 'thug' has been in use for years. And it has been applied to whites as much, if not more than, to blacks; nazis were called thugs, communists were called thugs, mobsters were called thugs. All manner of thugs have been called thugs.

As for its recent identification with black thugs - that might have something to do with them having adopted the term. Tupac Shakur referred to himself as a thug, and extolled the "thug life".

candid_observer said...

Anonymous said,

"I said all these things in the post about Sherman, nice to see youre lifting from others."

Anonymous, doesn't it strike you as a bit odd that you might be touchy about being properly credited when you call yourself "Anonymous"?

Anonymous said...

I can't get upset for a guy who stole Hulk Hogan's post match interview style.

Harry Baldwin said...

Exactly what part of his worldview does he think is politically incorrect?

I figured Maher thought "politically incorrect" sounded cool and edgy so he appropriated it even though he's only about two percent non-pc. In other words, Maher is about as non-pc as you're allowed to be and still be embraced as a liberal. Every once in a while he strays a few feet from the reservation, like when he defended Clint Eastwood's bit at the GOP convention or acknowledged that Muslims are violent and dangerous.

Anonymous said...

>>"However, the NFL has all incoming players take the Wonderlic test, which is a very accurate proxy for IQ. Sherman scored a 24, which is equivalent to a 108 IQ."


Which is STILL not high enough for Stanford non-athletes from a pure academic perspective.

So. Special admit in a bogus major suggesting clustering.

YES, Sunbeam, I'm the one above Shouting Thomas. Maybe I'll chose that as a monniker.
"Above Shouting Thomas" or "way too cool to shout".

PC Makes You Stupid said...

Racist means White person. The sooner White people understand that the sooner they can drop the silly code words and just call a spade a spade.

Anonymous said...

Sherman is like Obama –when the heat of condemnation goes up – he cries racism.

A thug is someone who uses a superior position to coerce someone into doing something they would not normally do. Sherman tried to force Crabtree to shake his hand – then when de didn’t, Sherman went ballistic – bad form – sportsmanlike form – thug form.

The dominant cultural behavior of black athletes to get in the face of opponents and celebrate, is inferior to the white sense of sportsmanship – end of story.

Anonymous said...

"""The dominant cultural behavior of black athletes to get in the face of opponents and celebrate, is inferior to the white sense of sportsmanship – end of story.""


Sportsmanship, that's a laugh. In his case it worked. he got what he wanted and a wk later people are still talking about him. If he has a good game next wk, he'll get even more publicity and some endorsements on top of what he's lining up right now.

The media also had a role. They could've simply ignored the "diss" between Sherman and Crabtree AND they could've cut away during post-game interview when Sherman was acting up.

But they didn't. Wonder why? Why promote it and then claim to be shocked? And then continue to promote promote and promote Sherman in the process.

Brilliant marketing.

Welcome to the new Deion Sanders.

PRIME TIME

stari_momak said...

The 'East End Thug' character from Scottish (!) comedian Armando Iannucci is a classic. The dude looks like he can hurt you.

Anonymous said...

Right on cue, front page on NY Times:
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/sports/football/seahawks-richard-sherman-is-much-more-than-just-talk.html?hp&_r=0&referrer=

Also citing his high school GPA from a crappy high school is meaningless, have we forgotten our friend, Kashawn? You know the valedictorian from a S . Central High School who couldn't hack it at UCLA.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-c1-cal-freshmen-20130816-dto,0,4673807.htmlstory#axzz2rUCAUly2

This is not to say I think Sherman is a thug or even that I found his interview objectionable but folks are getting a little carried away with citing his intelligence as evidence of him not being a thug. Jonathan Martin is smart this guy not so much.

Drawbacks said...

And who can forget the unfortunate incident where Arnold Kling's libertarian hyperbole was sorely misunderstood by some contemporary thought leaders?

Anonymous said...

Compared to other races, Black people tend to be motivated by revenge and responding to provocation more than shame and defensiveness, like East Asians, or self promotion, like Whites. (look at the MAOA and social sensitivity / warmth genes).

So it's so not surprising that Black dudes go off on delusional tangents about getting back at others / revenge / don't mess with me etc after they've been in a high stakes situation where they've had to pump themselves up, even when there is absolutely no one "messing with them".

They need to get into a "get back at the haters" mindset to motivate themselves to succeed.

An endemic psychological need for revenge (or at least triumph over adversity) to motivate towards achievement probably explains a lot of black culture - why they act as they do and why they focus on what they focus on.

conventional wisdom said...

If you are white and you don't like any individual black person, you are a racist.

Anonymous said...

"I can't get upset for a guy who stole Hulk Hogan's post match interview style."

Agreed, these guys are entertainers as well.

The real story behind Sherman's comments about Crabtree is the bad blood between he and Harbaugh at Stanford and then Harbaugh proclaiming Crabtree had the greatest hands in the history of football. Sherman is an outstanding DB, Harbaugh shouldn't have issued a veiled challenge. I think Sherman was partially directing his comments towards the Broncos receivers as well. Makes the SB that much more interesting.

sunbeam said...

Geez.

The guy isn't Richard Feynman or Kurt Godel.

He may not be the smartest black athlete of all time, or maybe even the smartest that sent to Stanford.

But you know, if Richard Sherman somehow found this little corner of the internet, and decided he wanted to post here...

Why he would fit right in. Of course he is like most foks that attend a school like the Ivies or Stanford.

His prose is stilted. I'd have to "John Riggins" him, and say "Loosen Up Ritchie Baby, Loosen Up!"

James Kabala said...

I do think "thug" should probably be reserved for people who have actually done something violent or illegal, which Sherman has not (as far as we know and so far - could be just a matter of time, of course). There are plenty of good words for his actual actions - unsportsmanlike most obviously, also rude, crass, etc.

Sorento said...

Are you suggesting that a Scots-Irish could willfully be trying to blame white men for self-induced black problems? What are you a racist?

Uncle Jesse's Depends said...

"I said all these things in the post about Sherman, nice to see youre lifting from others."

Yes, because its completely impossible that two different people might ever read a blogpost and come to the same conclusion.

Pochinko said...

"John Boehner called Vladimir Putin a 'thug' on Jay Leno."

I guess Boehner figures that having a coalburner daughter makes him an honorary black and entitles him to toss around the 'T-word' however he likes.

Hizzle said...

Tupac spent his teen years choreographing dance moves to Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights" at the lovely Tamalpais High-School. Go back far enough into Jay-Z's past and you'll find another cardboard gangsta:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5G05v-3CME

Sonny Robinson said...

"I thought their love is for all things Tony Montana."

Mario Van Peebles tells the story of meeting Oliver Stone at an industry party and approaching him to tell him how much he admired his work.

Stone was dead-drunk, and he replied, "I bet you love Scarface. All n------ love Scarface."

Prof. Woland said...

And what should we call them, Bill?

Automatic_Wing said...

Bill Maher: Desperately trying to remain relevant since...whenever it was he became relevant.

Chicago said...

The word 'fool' might be a suitable replacement.

Anonymous said...

"As for Richard Sherman, may I suggest that the fact that he has a documented 3-digit IQ (SAT scores on 400-1600 tests of 990 and 1060 and a Wonderlic IQ test of 24 where 21 is the mean), admirable study skills (salutatorian of his Compton Dominguez class), and a Stanford degree should not excuse him from apologizing for his outburst."

Gandhi referred to this as "Knowledge Without Character."

bdoran said...

"behave in a more gentlemanly fashion since he has the personal tools to behave better."

Education does not provide you with behavioral tools. It may indeed make you a more competent and dangerous criminal.

BTW I didn't get black thug, I got WWE [TV wrestling] off that..

Anonymous said...

ESPN reported this morning that the ad for earphones (Beats by Dre) starring Richard Sherman was shot BEFORE the Seattle-SF game. Thus, it's clear that Mr. Sherman's little rant was a purposeful promotion of the ad coming that would shortly air (if the Seahawks won), and that the ad makers were just hoping and praying the "thug" word would be attached.

Great marketing. Not great for the country, though.

Svigor said...

I didn't join the chorus of criticism of Sherman after his outburst, because I didn't care about it. It was a non-issue. Andrew Cuomo can order people with badges and guns around, Sherman cannot.

Obviously Sherman's chimpout isn't important in the grand scheme of things. And just as obviously, some people are going to make it out to be more important than it was. But it was off-putting, and I'm sure a lot of casual football fans were turned off by it; if you're the type who's on the fence and thinking about giving up on watching pro football because it's too black and thuggish, it was definitely a straw on camel's back kind of moment.

What it was, was bad business, bad marketing.

And notice, who has the street cred among both blacks and whites? Sherman or Martin?

Get a life.

Remember how Bill Maher's television show was called "Politically Incorrect"? I'm fairly sure he wasn't being ironic there. Exactly what part of his worldview does he think is politically incorrect?

From what I could gather, his political incorrectness amounted to a tiny bit of libertarian/neocon spice in his liberalism, but more often, taking liberalism to the extreme (e.g., defending Clinton getting head from an intern in the Oval Office as a presidential perk).

I said all these things in the post about Sherman, nice to see youre lifting from others.

Get a life.

Sportsmanship, that's a laugh. In his case it worked. he got what he wanted and a wk later people are still talking about him. If he has a good game next wk, he'll get even more publicity and some endorsements on top of what he's lining up right now.

He got what he wanted at the expense of the sport. And his race, for that matter. Pyrrhic victory. Or crabs in a pot.

Semi-employed White Guy said...

Anonymous Harry Baldwin said...

In other words, Maher is about as non-pc as you're allowed to be and still be embraced as a liberal. Every once in a while he strays a few feet from the reservation, like when he defended Clint Eastwood's bit at the GOP convention or acknowledged that Muslims are violent and dangerous.

The few feet he strays are never in an area conflicting with tribal concerns. Third world invasion, porn, drugs, homosexuality. Check, check, check and check.

ben tillman said...

I actually enjoyed the outburst. An unexpected WWE outburst sure beats the cliché fests that sideline babe interviews typically are.

And in a sports context, "thug" is used in lilly white hockey all the time.


No, the term in hockey is "goon".

ben tillman said...

Remember how Bill Maher's television show was called "Politically Incorrect"? I'm fairly sure he wasn't being ironic there. Exactly what part of his worldview does he think is politically incorrect?

He's a stupid, sanctimonious, humorless commissar. Here's a video of him with Michael Moore, Richard Dawkins, and Al Sharpton, and good luck deciding who is the most offensive:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLsxnMmhec4

eah said...

...should not excuse him from apologizing for his outburst.

Why the hell should be 'apologize for his outburst'? He's a football player talking smack about an opponent/nemesis; are we supposed to believe there's something wrong with that?

I can understand that the NFL might ask him to apologize. Maybe they have a 'Code of Conduct', or some such, that he's contractually obligated to uphold. And maybe his "outburst" violated that. Other than that ... WTF??

Mr Sailer, please don't contribute to what I can only call the faggotization of America.

For fuck's sake.

Mr. Anon said...

"Auntie Analogue said...

The Main Event, the Big Shebang, the modern-day parallel of the 'Triumph Des Willens" 1934 Nuremberg Nazi Party Rally - the Stupor Bowl - comes eight days hence."

It is true - the Superbowl epitomizes nearly everything that is sick, vile, and despicable in contemporary America.

Anonymous said...

Steve,

How much does cowardice play a role in liberal delusion? I say 75%.

Dan in DC

Anonymous said...

>>""Jonathan Martin is smart this guy not so much.""


Jonathan Martin is no thug and does not command respect from either community. He's an object of pity, nothing more.

Sherman WANTS the thug monniker. He knows being the thuggish Standford dude he goes into a rage will get him paid the bucks. Specially if he continues to back it up on field.

He's the new Deion Sanders. Period.

Whatever it takes to get the paycheck, he'll do it.

PRIME TIME

Anonymous said...

Kinda OT but related to Sherman's teammate Wilson:

http://www.sbnation.com/longform/2013/4/24/4257864/dual-threat-qbs-nfl-reggie-collier-rg3

Apparently, black dual-threat quarterbacks were historically uncommon in the NFL due to racism, not due to the limited utility of running quarterbacks at the professional level. That explains why whites Cam Newton and Terrelle Pryor are in the NFL currently but not the black Tim Tebow.

Also, again due to racism, coaches have only very recently discovered the value of running quarterbacks. That explains why Michael Vick, Donovan McNabb, Steve McNair, Aaron Brooks, Quincy Carter, and Kordell Stewart never got a snap under center in the NFL.

Man, I thought I knew a thing or two about football, but I really didn't. Fortunately, that article was there to set me straight.

wiseguy

Anonymous said...

Give me a break. What Sherman said was no big deal. He said Crabtree was mediocre and over rated. People with a high IQ cannot say this?

David said...

Maher is the epitome of PC and a moron. Who respects this guy?

candid_observer said...

"Mr Sailer, please don't contribute to what I can only call the faggotization of America."

So, Sportsmanship = the faggotization of America

God help us.

I don't even know which side is the enemy anymore.

Anonymous said...

John Boehner called Vladimir Putin a 'thug' on Jay Leno.

Could it be a brilliant psychological ploy to split the black electorate away from Obama-ism via Putin?

Anonymous said...

He's a football player talking smack about an opponent/nemesis; are we supposed to believe there's something wrong with that?



Mr Sailer, please don't contribute to what I can only call the faggotization of America.



Apparently "talking smack" is what real men do, and to criticize it is "faggotization"!


Stick a fork in this country, it's long over-done.

Tommy Hass said...

"I've been following this Richard Sherman drama and the discussion of the putatively racialized term "thug" (which was mostly uttered by anonymous Useful Bigots on Twitter), and I've been wondering: did white people use "thug" as a euphemism for scary black people prior to the hip-hop era?"

Fact: if you have someone who uses "bigot" or "scary black people" you have someone who deserves to be purged from the gene pool. (funny, because the shitlibs who typically mock those on the right for being aware of the propensity for violence by darkies are some of the most cowardly people you could possibly imagine)

And as for Maher, I hope the "Haha, lol, anti semites are merely tinfoil hat wearing conpiracy nuts" are having a nice day.

However, I have to admit that it is pathetic to make a big commotion over a black athlete engaging in trash talk. Those are athletes, not diplomats.

Hidalgo Banes said...

America was long ago faggoted. Let's call it what it is- feminization.

jody said...

"Cleveland's illustrious sons, "Bone Thugz-n-Harmony" continued to extol the virtues of being a Thug as standard bearers for a new generation of rappers who were not exclusively from NYC or LA."

i remember when thuggish ruggish bone came out, maybe the first time i had heard the term used in rap. this was what, 1994 or 1995?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuggish_Ruggish_Bone

creepin on ah come up was in my rotation for a while back then.

Anonymous said...

Maher's whining might be unwarrented, but to my mind, Sherman was just doing a little trash talking. He was giving us a little inside view of the competitive temperment. Him calling Crabtree mediocre is part of the grand tradition. And back in the good old days being called a thug was a compliment, especially when you won.

Svigor said...

The few feet he strays are never in an area conflicting with tribal concerns. Third world invasion, porn, drugs, homosexuality. Check, check, check and check.

But he absolutely, positively, categorically, does not look Jewish - because there's no such thing.

Svigor said...

He's the new Deion Sanders. Period.

Nah. Sanders was a showboat, but I don't recall him ever doing a menacing chimpout like Sherman's.

DWBudd said...

I have to confess, I do not follow football, and had never heard of this guy (Sherman) before this "controversey." I live in France, so news about the NFL is pretty scarce.

I clicked the link, and the funniest thing over there is the reaction in the comments. Peopel defend Sherman (and by extension, Maher) from criticism because of his Stanford degree, his wealth, and his fame on the football field. My personal favourite is the one about how we could neither carry his jock nor his maths book.

Well, I would suggest that it's more than a remote possibility that without football (or professional sport), this guy (Sherman) would not have any of the following credentials. He almost surely would not have been admitted to Stanford (Steve posts his SAT numbers as 1060 - which is way, way below what the typical admit would achieve, I presume), and he would even be less likely to have a fraction of his millions of dollars, and even LESS likely, his fame.

I was a graduate student in maths at Stanford 25 years ago, and in some of the sections I led for the undergrads, would have the occasional football or basketball player - none of the 'stars' mind you, but more the bench warmers and other kids I presume filled out the roster for academic balance. I leave it to you to guess why. Anyhow, even these kids struggled with the material in my sections.

And in those days, Stanford's football and basketball teams were awful. One year, I think the win against San Jose State was the only game they won.

Thus, I would provoke very little risk of contradiction given the socio=demographics of the internet, that Richard Sherman's putatuve math books could be easily carried by the average person posting on the internet.

He's famous and successful because of his ability to run and jump.

eah said...

So, Sportsmanship = the faggotization of America

What the hell does "sportsmanship" have to do with it? Did Sherman play unfairly? Did he interfere with Crabtree? Is he a dirty player?

What Welker did in the Denver/NE game, while not technically illegal I suppose since he wasn't fined, was a lot worse, even dangerous, and certainly more 'unsportsmanlike', than anything Sherman said (for God's sake) after the game. Yet the media dropped that pretty quickly.

Have you ever played serious tackle football? At any level? It's a tough, hitting game. You have to be psyched up to go out there and be ready to dish it out and take it every down. So what if he talked a little smack after all the emotional and physical energy he'd put into the game? And come out on top.

Get a grip dude. He has nothing to apologize for. What he said was not 'unsportsmanlike'. Except in a faggotized country maybe.

Not long ago, Mr Sailer had a series of posts making fun of - more or less - those pussies who worried about "microagressions". Now here he is saying Sherman has something to apologize for. Why? Because Sherman 'microagressed' Crabtree. I guess.

It doesn't make sense.

I'm sure the NFL regrets all the publicity Sherman's rant has generated. Oh yeah.

Anon87 said...

Ben Tillman - "No, the term in hockey is "goon"

While goon is used quite often for a player who predominantly fights, using the term "thug" in nothing new in hockey. John Steigerwald, a Pittsburgh based right-leaning sportswriter, recently linked on Twitter a long series of hockey players being called "thugs". It has been used often.

Anonymous said...

TO Ben Tillman: NOTE. John Steigerwald is not Jewish, so please do NOT turn this particular post into him being Jewish.

AGAIN, RIchard Sherman is NOT Jewish either, Stanford or no Stanford.




>>>>DW Budd said...
"""People defend Sherman from criticism because of his Stanford degree, his wealth, and his fame on the football field. My personal favourite is the one about how we could neither carry his jock nor his maths book."""

I agree with you and for one have NOT defended Sherman on this basis. I still question whether or not the idea that Sherman is in fact a legitimate Stanford graduate. But bear with us. Its just that so few NFLers actually make it into the starting lineup from an NCAA school known to primarily be academically based as opposed to a mere football/basketball mill.



""""Well, I would suggest that it's more than a remote possibility that without football (or professional sport), this guy (Sherman) would not have any of the following credentials.""""

I've said this over and over and over.



"""He almost surely would not have been admitted to Stanford (Steve posts his SAT numbers as 1060 - which is way, way below what the typical admit would achieve, I presume)"""

Actually, it has been claimed that Sherman's SAT score was around 990. Even lower than what you suggest.



"""and he would even be less likely to have a fraction of his millions of dollars, and even LESS likely, his fame.""""


Now here this is not necessarily the case. Sherman is a good talker and can garner attention to himself quite well. If he could do just as well in an entertainment field then he would indeed make lots of dollars and the fame to go with it.



"""Thus, I would provoke very little risk of contradiction given the socio=demographics of the internet, that Richard Sherman's putative math books could be easily carried by the average person posting on the internet.""""


No question about it.



"""He's famous and successful because of his ability to run and jump.""""


Actually this is only 50% correct. Sherman is successful, yes, because of his ability to run and jump. He is successful because of his ability to run his mouth, via interviews, and social media.

If he continues in this vein he will be the next Deion Sanders.

Prime Time.

David said...

>But he absolutely, positively, categorically, does not look Jewish - because there's no such thing.<

WHAT. Maher is not Jewish. Prove it. I want an affidavit, or else a mainstream-approved study of physical appearances by ethnicity that is studded with footnotes and citations. I want you to explain how an atheist like Maher could possibly be an adherent of the religion of Judaism. I want you to remember that Jesus was a Jew. I want you to explain how Bill could possibly be a Jewish name. I want you to wash your mouth out with soap.

Above all, I want you to know how hurt I am... how your comment makes me feel completely sick to my stomach.

Etc., etc., etc.

Anonymous said...

>>David Said:
"""Etc., etc., etc.""""


Ye, goodness, David. Are you still rabbiting on about Richard Sherman's allegedly being Jewish? Can't you possibly allow for the fact that Richard Sherman (of which this particular post is about) got into Stanford not because of any personal Jewishness on his part, but because, as a special admit on a full time athletic NCAA scholarship, Stanford needed to fill out their roster.

But keep trying ol' boy, keep trying to turn seemingly gentiles (Richard Sherman) into...something else.

But for the record, Richard Sherman, a special admit to Stanford, is not Jewish. And he's also black, not that'd you would have noticed.

I can't help but notice; it is the first thing that leaps out at you, aside from the dreadlocks.