Words

Now, I'm not adverse to using dirty words. I strongly believe in the concept of "It's not what he said, but how he said it". In fact, sometimes, it is impossible to convey the proper meaning/emphasis without using "dirty" words.

Take, for example, the word, "fuck". If you stub your toe, you might say "fudge" because it's a relatively minor thing. If you run over your toes with a lawnmower, really, only, "FUCK!" will do, unless your last name is Flanders. The same is true when using "fuck" as an adjective. "My job sucks" and "My job fucking sucks" or "My fucking job fucking sucks" convey different degrees.

And that brings us to the strange case of Michael Richards. While I don't necessarily agree that a non-black person using the n-word automatically has some explaining to do, I believe that Michael Richards does. The fact that he was saying those things in anger, in a rage, means that's probably what he feels deep down. Just like being drunk doesn't make you convey feelings that aren't there, Mel Gibson. In excess, rage and alcohol only lower inhibition and good sense, and let all your deepest, darkest feelings come to the surface. They don't hide who you are. They hide who you want the world to think that you are. In fact, they expose the real you, and there are always part of the real you that should never see the light of day, or in this case, a cellphone camera.