Reply #552: Good smackdown of a popular line of fallacious thought. [View All]

[DirkGently]

Context, history, and identity matter. No, Dr. Laura, you don't get to toss around the "N" word because "black comedians do it," and no, strange men yelling sexually suggestive things to women on the street is not "complimentary." "N" is what what white people screamed while committing racist atrocities. "Black comedians and rappers" aren't conjuring that scenario when they use the term. And men don't frequently get pulled into vans and alleyways to be beaten and raped by women who leer at them and offer unsolicited "compliments." Silly to even spell it out -- and yet people don't get it, or, more likely, pretend not to to rationalize an ugly point of view. Thus, the cartoon.

Really well done.