Comments by "L.W. Paradis" (@l.w.paradis2108) on "Ryan Grim: UNDERSTANDING Debate On NYT Firing Reporter Who Used N-Word In ‘Non-Derogatory Context’" video.

@adrianhoraciosantanavaldes1908 THIS. Best comment yet!
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@EchoJ Books don't contain tons of slurs against other ethnic groups because no other ethnic group was enslaved! No comparison. This wasn't done to anyone else. I agree with not teaching Twain unless you also teach James Baldwin in the same unit. (CONTEXT!) And don't give credit unless all assignments in that unit are completed.
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@kg-ke1fw Every required book in a public school needs to be justified. Trendy slogans like "trggered" are not arguments for assigning one book over another.
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Maybe the point is NOT to accomplish anything of substance?
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@EchoJ Have you read Huckleberry Finn? Jim is the only full human person in the book, and the only one who knows that Huck is an orphan. Jim raises Huck to manhood, and saves Tom Sawyer's life. At the end of the book, Jim tells Huck his father is dead. Huck then decides to leave the United States because he can't stand so-called "civilisation." He's had it. It's a radical book. The Russian revolutionaries liked it. Slave owners who separated African American families did not talk pretty, except when they invoked Jesus on Sunday to justify their crimes against humanity.
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@EchoJ Too bad Huckleberry Finn is so badly taught. I am not shocked. LOL Who points out that Huck, the quintessential American boy and "rapscallion" hero, can't bear to stay in the US because he can't stand the hypocrisy? It is not worth it. THAT teacher would be fired for sure.
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@Top_Weeb Shhh! Don't ask, don't tell.
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@malapertfourohfour2112 This is what I think people suspect -- that he mentioned the word on purpose because he wanted to say it, and not for any educationally valid purpose. But what if he did mention (not use) the word for a valid purpose? (There is no reason to use the word, but there could sometimes be a reason to mention it.) This happened several years ago. When, exactly? Also, in an employment discrimination suit, if someone used the word at work, it has to be quoted verbatim in court. Same thing in a criminal trial for child pornography. The jury must see the actual pictures. I'm not saying that's easy. It is not easy, and that's the point. We have to build a thicker skin for exactly that reason, the better to punish real transgressions.
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I feel SO reassured when NYTimes editors do not know the difference between "use" and "mention," or arbitrarily decide to ignore it when they feel like it. Mark Twain, James Baldwin, Robert Lowell, and a ton of other outstanding writers cannot be quoted verbatim in America. I don't believe worse censorship isn't coming.
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