>Yes times have changed. Today one Black can and often
does call another Black
>a nigger. But if the same is uttered by a White, or
an Americian Indian for
>that matter, watch out. But when a Black calls a
White a Cracker does the
>White react the same as a Black being called nigger
by a White? I think not.
>Chandler simply wrote his stories on the
acceptability (ugh! Political
>Correctness) of his day.
Gee, some of you really have something up your butts about
political correctness.
But political correctness has nothing to do with not calling
blacks
"niggers" -- that's just common courtesy, respect and
tolerance. You know, old-fashioned stuff like that. Maybe
some of you younger pups can read up on it.
Yeah, there are some PC types who overdo it, zeroing in on
imaginary slights where no offense was meant or intended (and
it's these zealots who the term "politically correct", coined
by liberals themselves, actually referred to), but surely
most people find such terms as wetback, spick, redskin, kike,
wop, nips, chinks, frog, offay, cunt, Pepsis, faggot and the
like objectionable. And they were considered objectionable
long before anyone had ever heard of the phrase "politically
correct," even in the "good old days."
And the lame defense that some members of some group use some
term among themselves has nothing to do with it. I'm sure
most of you are called things by friends you'd rather not
have your mother call you. Just because you shit in your
toilet, doesn't mean you should shit on the sidewalk.
Anyway, was Marlowe racist? He was a man of his time, and
yeah, he fell into some sweeping over-generalizations, and
used some unfortunate slurs, but he was smart enough, for the
most part, to rise above it. He certainly showed more
sympathy towards the
"coloreds" in FAREWELL, MY LOVELY than towards the cops who
dismiss the incident as "just another shine killing." As
someone else pointed out, there's a healthy (and pretty
obvious) amount of irony in Marlowe's comments, when he uses
racist terms.
--
Kevin Burton Smith The Thrilling Detective Web Site http://www.colba.net/~kvnsmith/thrillingdetective/
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