Comments on The "M" Word

If you're the least bit familiar with La Eme's policy of ethnic cleansing in the barrios pf Los, then you understand that what Lopez was doing is not only unfunny, it's incendiary.

This bums me out because he'd been coming correct lately. I thought his TV show was great.

Geeze!

I'll never be able to see his little commercial spots with Dora the Explora on Nick Jr in the same light again. At least now we know that big head of his is filled with fetid hot air.

You guys take so much pride in your 'we're all adults here, we can print swears' policy and you won't print 'nigger'? Not that I'm exactly a fan of the word, but it's germane to this particular post. If you'll hide behind 'the n-word' and 'ni**er', why not just use 'the f-word' in your other posts, or [expletive] like the NYT does?

The most astonishing thing about this post is that the meticulous Señor Scholl let a typo slip into it.

I've met Lopez at a few movie red carpets. He's not a friendly guy.

This episode does and doesn't surprise me.

Huh. I'm from Mexico and I had never heard of mayate used in a racist way. It always referred in some way to the gay stuff.

what is this new word ni**er you speak of - and how do you pronounce it? do the quotes mean it's not really ni**er?

google provides me with very little information. are the stars placeholders or wildcards?

maybe nicker? or nisser?

@ 6 I live in Mexico too and I agree the word is used as a reference to gay stuff but never in a demeaning way to Blacks.
Gringos do not understand that Mexicans make jokes about weight, color of skin, big noses, big heads and they think it is FUNNY! They are not so ridiculously body sensitive as other cultures. Gordita or Morenita are used as terms of endearment but if you said that to a white woman you may get stabbed.
I'm not crazy over Lopez but I doubt this is going to be a big deal.

Greeks use the term "arapis/arapina" for a black person. I have no earthly idea why, but it originally meant Arab. It is minorly offensive. "Mavros" is a more polite term, that won't get one beat up.

As for the military comment, unless you go in "open general" you choose your line of work.

If it is true that latinos are dying on the front in higher numbers-it means they made poor choices in procuring their specialty. It is an inflammatory and false statement to imply that the US Military is somehow placing Latinos in harms way. My unit rotated with a number system-nothing to do with race.

"If it is true that latinos are dying on the front in higher numbers-it means they made poor choices in procuring their specialty."

So the military doesn't use asvab scores to "guide" people into certain M.O.S,'s anymore? And secondly, they don't recruit from, and offer "benefits" to students from impoverished areas at a higher rate than in areas where college/better income is expected after high school?

just asking...

@6 and 8: in the post, I tried to emphasize that the racial mayate is solely a slang term for Mexican-Americans, Chicanos, etc. In the passage from the book at the end of the post, it does point out that the word moved from being a term about sexuality in Mexico itself, to being one about race after it arrived in the U.S.

Your post was great and to be honest I do not have a lot of experience with
State side Mexicans.

I was just pointing out that perhaps Lopez did not mean to cause such an offense.

He could easily get away with it being a cultural blunder so I do not think it will end up being a huge deal.
If a white guy had said it, it would be a big deal. ; )

The most offensive part of this post was the writers' celebration of his uncle's gruesome death as justifiable payback for using a term of putative ethnic derogation.

Oh, gurl! It's not a celebration of his death. It's an indication of humor. It's like slapstick, you know? It's like something that would happen to Wile E. Coyote. I mean Coyotl.

@10

Supply, HR, and administration are some of the safest jobs-and need very low scores on the test.

You are not convincing me.

Minorities join the military for a chance at a better life, one which is often granted in the military to those that EARN it. Many African Americans, american Indians, rural Whites, and yes, Hispanics have found a comfortable life in the military. The military took several of my kinfolk out of the docks and McDonalds, and into the middle class.

What the comedian claimed was that minorities battle at the front while whites get the cushy jobs. People CHOOSE their jobs. Many people, including those from the inner cities and the rural poor often CHOOSE jobs that will give them valuable skills and keep them relatively safe.

BTW, whites are overrepresented as deaths in Iraq. 65 percent of enlistees are whites, 74 percent of Iraq deaths are among whites. The minority overrepresentation thing is a myth.

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RS22452.pdf

I have no beef with complaints about the military. I would just like them to be based in fact.

Who the fuck is Nicholas Scholl and has this letter writer ever gone outside? Sticks and stones may break this person's bones, but words will shatter his/her sense of reality.

Like no one's ever called me a gook to my face before.

Well Nick, an "indication of humor" is, unfortunately, not actually humor. And if I had an uncle who was crushed under a load of telephone poles, I would probably resist likening his death to something out of a Road Runner cartoon. But maybe I'm just a sentimental fool, and need to learn the hard way that an uncle's mild racist proclivities merit a cruel, sudden death, which will eventually be turned into Slog-fodder.

Nick, thank you for the post. I live in a Californian community that is mostly Black and Latino (not near LA). Everyone here knows that mayote is used as an extremely offensive word for Black people. In some ways more hurtful than nigger bc it comes from another oppressed group.

I also appreciate you pointing out that you are *personally* distrubed by the word as a Mexican and human being. Too often people believe that they cannot be offended if the insult is not about them or their "group." Like people who say, "If I were a woman/black/latino, that would really piss me off."

HA Ha! Stupid Niggers! Kill all niggers YESTERDAY! And fuck off all you skanky ass licking Nigger Lovers!!!!

Get AIDS (they are the #1 spreaders both heterosexually and queer)from them and DIE!

wait a minute: other ethnic groups are bigoted, too?

i bet the next thing you'll tell me is that men in other countries oppress women!

Back in da day, La M started learning nahuatl in the joint. They used Mayate to refer to the black guerilla family gang. La M was aligned with the Aryan Brotherhood. The word became popular with the White Fence gang and is been used by Chicanos ever since. It is nothing but a racist term, this vato Nicholas is spot on…

Mayate Angelou WHAT