Kevin Durant vs Michael Rapaport

You right. If white man say something, he is racist. If black say same thing it's ok. It shows white supremacy, you rite. Fuck logic.

 

Obviously, we'd like to live in a society where offensive racial or sexual references weren't ever used, but unfortunately, that's not the real world. It's interesting that you raise point of the "K word" being specifically designed to evoke hatred and pain. Turns out that that's probably not the case at all. According to Wikipedia, the most likely origin of the term "kike" dates back to Ellis Island:

"The word kike was born on Ellis Island when there were Jewish migrants who were also illiterate (or could not use Latin alphabet letters). When asked to sign the entry-forms with the customary "X", the Jewish immigrants would refuse, because they associated an X with the cross of Christianity. Instead, they drew a circle as the signature on the entry-forms. The Yiddish word for "circle" is kikel (pronounced KY - kel), and for "little circle", kikeleh. Before long the immigration inspectors were calling anyone who signed with an 'O' instead of an 'X' a kikel or kikeleh or kikee or, finally and succinctly, kike."[4]"

Of course, the "N" word too has a relatively innocuous origin, having been derived from the Latin word for the color black, "niger". It's the hatred and the intent to demean those whom you use a racial slur against that makes them the ugliest form of language. I think that's where I'd give the most detestable award to KD in this instance. He deliberately used language against a person with the intent to demean them due to implied sexual preference. Meyers was playing a video game when he managed to use two slurs, "kike" and "bitch", presumably against either the game he was playing or whomever he was playing against. He said he didn't know the meaning of the "K" word, which is possible, but I'm sure that he knew that the term "bitch" is derogatory towards women. Either way, it was a stupid, offensive, and juvenile thing to say, but it seemed it was said in a moment of reaction and not in anger or with derogatory intent towards anyone. From everything we've seen of Meyers over the years, I never detected any malice or racial/ethnic animus in him. I think he had a bad case of dumbshit-itis that day. Not sure that he should lose his career over that. Maybe over his relative lack of basketball skills though.

 

By far Meyers

Meyers was searching for a truly derogatory and slanderous word. KD was trying to verbally hang with a professional comedian and used a word that, although it shouldn’t be used as an insult and was homophobic, is far less taboo in our society.

Rappaport on the other hand is a sniveling coward to let this private conversation go public.

 

[QUOTE="blazerkor, post: 5130147,

Bottom line, the word Meyers used is far more offensive to my Jewish friends than the insults slung by KD is to my gay friends.[/QUOTE]
Did anyone ask me?

 

Did anyone ask me?[/QUOTE]

I don't think so, but I'd be very interested in your take. Since you are both Jewish and a woman, your opinion matters the most as far as I'm concerned.

 

Did anyone ask me?[/QUOTE]
No but what is your take and what perspective is it from? I'm not being factitious, I'd really like to know.

 

As someone who saw his Mom called a “Big nosed kike Jew bitch” when I was 10 (and saw my Dad fuck the guy up), the origins aren’t nearly as important as the hate and vitriol the word holds. Nothing wrong with being interested in the history words but that history shouldn’t be sufficient to excuse or disregard the intent. I know you aren’t, just making a general statement.

 

I'll give you some logic. Having dark skin in the United States of America is actually dangerous... statistically, while having white skin isn't. I will also again point out that no article about this is talking at all about racism. Rapaport takes pride in being part of the urban/black community and I've heard his black friends and comedians talk about how "pale" and "white" he is a lot of times and he thinks it's hilarious. If you are saying that it's a double standard, you're correct but double standards aren't inherently illogical. This one for instance makes sense.

 

Completely agree. It's the intent in Durant's use of language vs. the apparent mindlessness of Meyer's that I find interesting here. On the one hand, Durant used homophobic language that, as you say, is "less taboo in our society", but he definitely used it with intent to demean and insult someone. I'm not sure that the fact that it's less taboo makes it better? The implication is still that a person has less worth because they perform gay sex acts. Meyers, OTOH, I believe used very offensive language without any real intent to demean anyone. After thinking about it, I'm not sure that's any better. If I were the Commish, I'd fine the heck out of both of them, make them take some sensitivity training, and let them know that in this case for the NBA, this is a final warning.

 

Man.... I wish we didn't need to debate the severity of one slur compared to another one.

I just want these dudes to be held accountable for being bigoted assholes. Is that so much to ask?

 

You know what... I'm with you on that last part that should be the action the commissioner takes or even suspend both for a game or two but Meyers isn't very good so the fact that he's cut and likely blackballed by the league shouldn't be shocking and is in no way unfair. If you aren't a very good employee and you screw up, you're going to get fired and if you're a great employee and screw up the same way you might just get a verbal warning. Just think of it as if Meyers had already been written up at a regular job because that's what being benched is like and then he screwed up.

 

The death of privacy is a bad thing.

I don't condone what KD said, but man, if everything we say in a private conversation is now for public consumption, we're all f'd.

 

I mean... if you're a celebrity you have to know better than this. Sending messages like this to an attention whore washed up actor isn't exactly a smart move.

 

I have no idea who Rapaport is or what his beef with Durant. If he is wrong, Durant can speak to that and omit the slurs.
That sexist and homophobic language is more common than racist or antisemitic language does not make it acceptable.
I don't know what is in someone's head, just what comes out of their mouth.
That Durant is a superstar and Leonard marginal should not make a difference but NBA is business so it probably will.
Nazi Germany did not just persecute Jews. They killed people with disabilities, outlawed birth control and abortion, forced women out of university and professions, murdered gays, banned research into sexual variants. The Nuremberg trials decided not to prosecute sexual violence because, in the words of one prosecutor, they didn't want a courtroom full of crying women. Crimes against women were less important and gays unmentionable.
I can't cut myself into pieces. This piece female, this piece Jewish, this piece gay.
If you have a battle with someone, leave their family out of it.
And now I want to watch the Blazers.

 

I understand words matter.
However, language aside, Meyers wasn't trying to hateful at all - he was trying to be 'hip'. KD was the opposite.
Intent matters, too.

 

Very good point.

 

What was hip about Leonard's words?

 

It was absolutely hip in HIS mind. He thought he was being cool.
The rest of the human population understands the opposite.

 

I doubt Meyers even knew what the word meant.