Mugabe: A Thug By Any Other Name
Emmy Award-winning TV correspondent and NPR commentator Judy Muller tells us why Mugabe is a Thug.
If you are one of those people who are often the last to hear about the latest addition to the list of politically-incorrect words, this blog is for you. I clearly count myself among your number. Not since I heard that “dutch treat” was considered a pejorative have I been so surprised at the inclusion of a seemingly innocuous term on the cultural no-no list.
I am speaking about the word “thug.” It’s possible that you have not yet heard that it is considered by some to be a racist term. I first learned this a couple of weeks ago while dining out with a group of friends. We were discussing the subject of Zimbabwe and the tyrannical rule of Robert Mugabe. A young African-American woman in the group, a prominent activist, said she was offended when whites referred to Mugabe as a “thug.” “But why?” asked the other (Caucasian) diners. Because, she responded, “thug” is a racist term. After a rather stunned silence, there were protests offered all around. The word “thug,” we insisted, referred to all sorts of nefarious bullies, from muggers to Mafioso. The dictionary (once considered the final arbiter) defines thug as a “cruel or vicious ruffian, robber or murderer.” The young woman did not budge. “Racist,” she insisted. And she kindly suggested that our insensitivity could be chalked up to a generation gap. This struck me as ageist, but not worth debating. Surely, I thought, this is one PC argument that will never go anywhere.
Posted by Wellington Chadehumbe
on January 11, 2009. Filed under Analysis,Politics.
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