[Ads-l] thug

[Christopher Philippo]

On Apr 29, 2015, at 8:21 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> Two persons on CNN have averred that those who looted and burned the CVS,
> etc., in Baltimore, are not and must not be called "thugs."
> 
> Because "'Thugs' is the new version of the n-word."
> 
> The word they recommend is "kids."

Kids: rather inadequate and it is a bit dismaying if those who recommended it were at all serious; in their experience do all kids really engage in sociopathic acts?  It is not even accurate unless it is known for a fact that all the perpetrators were minors.

However, I do distinctly remember hearing that claim about the word thugs early last year http://www.msnbc.com/melissa-harris-perry/watch/the-problem-with-using-the-thug-word-127298115513 at which time it had already sounded familiar.  It is in fact easy to find earlier examples of the word being condemned as racist.  Some of the criticism seems fairly valid.
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