WTF?! Obama drops N-word in Marc Maron’s garage
“And it’s not just a matter of it not being polite to say ‘n——-’ in public.”
Marc Maron knows how to run an interview.
I’ve been listening to his podcast for a while now; I call it cultural anthropology, much in the same way that those who monitor MSNBC and other outlets justify their forays into the gutters of mainstream media. I may not agree with him politically, but listening to Maron draw out the celebrities and entertainment types whose voices populate the podcasts downloaded to my phone every week is an exercise in appreciation for the human element of a terrible and transparent industry. Rarely does he spend much time talking politics; the ‘cast is not a hospitable environment for talking points, and more often than not, guests who go into it with an agenda end up derailing into the gorge of their own humanity. Sex, drugs, rock n’ roll, frustrations, failures, emotions…that’s Maron’s goal.
Unless, of course, you’re the President of the United States. If you’re the president, you get to use your mic time to stump about the obstructionist Congress and preach about gun violence.
I’m not going to pretend I clicked “play” on this week’s episode of “WTF with Marc Maron” expecting to hear about Barack Obama’s secret pain; the same rules don’t apply when you’re President, and I didn’t imagine that Maron would push Obama away from politics.
I also didn’t imagine that, nestled in at about the 46 minute mark, I would hear POTUS lob an N-bomb.
The President of the United States said the N-word. Via Politico [emphasis mine]:
“The legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination in almost every institution of our lives, you know, that casts a long shadow, and that’s still part of our DNA that’s passed on. We’re not cured of it,” Obama said in the interview, posted in full on Monday. “And it’s not just a matter of it not being polite to say ‘n——-’ in public. That’s not the measure of whether racism still exists or not. It’s not just a matter of overt discrimination. … Societies don’t overnight completely erase everything that happened 2-300 years prior.”
Listen:
The internet has officially shot off the rails over this, and I think that the reaction is justified. Obviously, there’s a difference between saying the N-word in the context it was used in the podcast, and saying it from a place of anger or malice. That being said, I don’t think it’s out of line to be upset over it. Personally, I felt nauseated, as I do when I hear that word in any context.
I really enjoyed Deneen Borelli’s take on it. Watch, via Fox News:
I don’t think anyone uses that word, even in a sterilized, talking-point context, without knowing that it’s going to cause a major media meltdown. If you’re the president, you’re particularly aware of this.
I’m interested in what you all think about this: is it pointless to criticize a black president for using an abhorrent racial slur to make what he believes is a point about race relations? Or, is it fair for people of all colors to stand up and say “no” to a word that they believe has no place in modern discourse?
Take it to the comments.
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Comments
Edgy. He’s like the edgiest President evah. I mean, look at him.
Nothing says, “I am a deep and serious thinker on the issues” like dropping an n-bomb on a comedian’s podcast.
There is a good reason we can’t see his college records. He’s a dumbass who got everything in life handed to him and did nothing positive with any of it. A living, breathing refutation of the entire concept of Affirmative Action.
I would not tolerate that word used about you, Sir. I will not tolerate it from you.
“The legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination in almost every institution of our lives, you know, that casts a long shadow, and that’s still part of our DNA that’s passed on.”
That may be the single blackest lie his profligate liar has told.
He got elected President of the United States, twice. And he still claims that this is a racist nation. That’s a bit much, but he needs to do it to keep the money flowing to his party for “community organizing.”
He has a point, of course. He was only elected because of color of his skin.
If I had thought he had the remotest chance of delivering on his pretty promises, I would have voted for him. I figured he knew he was lying his a$$ off, though, and I thought a lie is a poor way to start any relationship, much less a US Presidency.
I guarantee you that, from his point of view, he was elected in spite of the color of his skin. It was his total awesomeness (and looking cool on a bicycle) that enabled him to rise above the inherent racism in this country and be elected to fundamentally change this country and play golf at some really, really great courses.
Don’t forget the “mommy pants!”
It’s just a word, for fuck’s sake, holding no more power than it is given by whomever hears it.
I use the phrase ‘for fuck’s sake’ to illustrate the point. Whether that phrase is profane, ugly, etc., is in the mind of the beholder.
Henry, Obama’s use of The Forbidden Word may have just been a desperate play for attention by the lamest duck president we’ve seen in a long time.
Forbidding The Forbidden Word is to me little different than forbidden religious graphics, such as that of Muhammad.
Now take it easy Henry… ’cause it sure looks like you’re talking to yourself again!
I’m the only one who listens to me. Now GO GET A HAIRCUT.
The president is scared that there may be some racial healing from this tragedy rather than the racial animosity that he wants in order to set the narrative. So he desperately needs to push for racial disharmony, and this is the shortest route.
Astute observation. I’m guessing the ol’ stompy-foot got cranked up right about the time the senior religious leaders in Charlotte starting talking forgiveness.
I’m not a big fan of Social Policy by Hysteria. If somebody choses to use a somewhat obsolescent word meaning “black” in some European languages, well … so what? Genuine primitives believe that some words have magical powers beyond their syntactical meanings. They also believe that there are evil spirits in cameras. There’s little excuse for mature intellects to share these delusions.
Besides, Obama isn’t all that black …
No, Obama isn’t too “black” for a Saudi……
Snark!
The people of Charleston have shown much more class in the aftermath of this tragedy than Obama has.
and a heck of a lot more class than their governor.
Amen to that. Wish SHE could be removed.
I must have missed something. Why is Nikki Haley classless and why must she be removed?
Because she dared to suggest that the Confederate flag be removed from flying in front of the State Capitol. I guess she finally realized that that flag is an affront to 1/3 of the population of South Carolina. That flag was specifically flown over the Capitol building in 1962 in opposition to the Civil Rights movement. It was removed in 2000 and as a compromise placed front and center of the Capitol grounds on the confederate memorial located there. As a South Carolinian it is way past time to place it in the confederate museum along with all the other artifacts from 150 years ago. To many in South Carolina that flag represents hate and treason and it sure doesn’t say “Southern Hospitality.”
Actually, that flag was a slightly different one. It was the flag of the Ku Klux Klan (and also a more rarely used and elongated battle flag)
And then they discovered this week that it couldn’t be put at half mast, because how that flag was to be displayed was cemented into law – nnothing could change except by a 2/3 vote of the state legislature.
It says, or seems to say, that South Carolina is still like it was in 1860, when it seceded.
In the year 2000, they replaced the Ku Klux Klan version of the Confederate battle flag, with the more standard one.
It’s been pointed out that most South Carolina Confederate soldiers didn’t fight under that flag, either, but some kind of a state flag, so it’s not really historically accurate to have at a war memorial.
How is its current location, at a war memorial, different from a museum? Isn’t a war memorial a kind of museum?
Anything can have been “pointed out” by some liar, but that doesn’t make it true. The actual battle flags of the 15th, 21st, and 25th South Carolina at Bentonville can be seen here, and they are identical to the one flying at the memorial.
That is NOT it at all.
It is because she is judging before the pubic trial.
She made a cheap ploy to garner votes.
That is NOT it at all.
It is because she is judging before the public trial.
She made a cheap ploy to garner votes.
So they’re calling the Governor of South Carolina classless and demanding her removal from office for suggesting that (as is the case in Florida) the Confederate flag be relegated to a more appropriate place, such as a history museum? It’s up to the state of South Carolina, of course, but I’m having trouble seeing why that’s such a horrible thing.
I think that South Carolina, unlike Ferguson or Baltimore, has so far done pretty well at comporting herself with grace, dignity and unity in the aftermath of this tragedy. I don’t see her as being especially in need of advice or second-guessing from outsiders. Nikki Haley’s done nothing wrong here, in my book anyway.
It is because she is judging and making televised statements of her judgment before the pubic trial – which of course could bias jurors and damage the state’s prosecution.
“That’s not the measure of whether racism still exists or not. It’s not just a matter of overt discrimination. … Societies don’t overnight completely erase everything that happened 2-300 years prior.”
He’s prevaricating bigtime (lying) with the above 1st sentence. Overt discrimination or covert discrimination has pretty much gone by the wayside. In fact, other than the fact that discriminating against whites and other minorities – all, except whites – is the norm, that kind of discrimination is gone. I’m going to fear black or white folks wearing hoodies, looking like anti-society with pants hanging at their knees, and acting like thugs…no matter what.
On his second sentence – he is just mouthing propaganda to his ignorant base.
Met to say, “all, except Blacks.”
For some of us, this word has NEVER had a place in proper society. As a very small child I was taught that there are some words and expressions which are considered naughty, vulgar or simply crude and their utterance is an indication of poor breeding on the part of the speaker. The term under discussion has always occupied the crude category to me, something I’ve never attempted to overcome.
Why is he responsible for what you were taught? Whoever taught you that was wrong. There is nothing wrong with saying the word in the context of discussing its meaning and the taboos on its use, and avoiding using it in that context just comes across as silly.
Let him use it. Words have no power other than what we give them.
I also don’t think that it is a complete coincidence that when as a culture we became ridiculously squeamish about that word we also started down a slippery slope. For years now we have been unable to criticize large segments of the population on behavior grounds and performance grounds without having to preface honest, objective feedback with assertions that we are not racist, sexist or homophobic. I am sick of it.
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RE: “For years now we have been unable to criticize large segments of the population on behavior grounds and performance grounds….”
LOL At first I thought you were going to end that sentence with Democrats!
As an african american or black male, I am so sick of this president evoking my race and my DNA into his and his party’s mythological stances on race in this country.
I imagine that the shooter Dylann Roof might have silently, harmlessly drifted out of sight if it wasn’t for the anti-white hostility that this president has been drumming up as of late. This bizarre movement of bringing up this whole “white privilege” and white supremacy only results in this: a race war leading to black supremacy. That is dangerous and is not what this nation is all about. The president using words like “nig***” in a speech to the nation is utter craziness and nonsense. You do not treat innocent whites this way. If you find racism, deal with it directly and punish him/her. This does not occur everyday in America. It is an isolated event. I do not fear cops and I do not fear some racist, bigoted idiot.
I do fear what this current regime has done and is doing to this country.
It is all efforts to raise money and votes in support of the 2016 presidential race in my opinion.
Sadly, I think you’re right.
black people can say it
white people cant
even here the combo of 6 letters in certain order scares people.
anyone who lets a word have power over them is foolish
Knowing the Straw-man-in-Chief’s brainless projections was the “N” word “Narcissist”?
Remember Obama (after his youth with communists) was 20 years in Wright’s church that praises Farrakhan. And their root is black liberation theology, which preaches “if Jesus is white, we’d have to kill him”. To them the American white structure must be pulled out by the roots and destroyed. Wealth and property must be “redistributed”, since they teach “we” only got it by theft and taking advantage of people of color around the world.
Obama stated clearly, reparations would not go far enough, and his placement of Sharpton as point man on race should clarify his racism. And any blacks that came out of Africa in the last 100 years were not American slaves, more likely their heritage is that of slave traders, capturing and selling their brethren. Yet few Americans had slaves in their family history.
Ayers wanted to start a race war, it should not surprise us that Obama instigates the same as his teachers.
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/printgroupProfile.asp?grpid=6808
Despite the tactic of constantly playing the race card, I think atheist Marxism is more in line with Obama and the left’s real goals.
I have never forgotten that and it’s always been fresh in my mind. I have not forgotten his very first comment that bashed that police officer. Those were major red flags there that it seemed like no one else cared about.
Now look at the mess we’re in.
Obama on ‘anything:’ the bottom just keeps getting lower, and lower and lower, and lower, and lower…
We have another year and a half to go. Over the cliff we will go – not solely because Obama is a lunatic, but because we are great fools for tolerating scummy cowards like Boehner, McConnell and Pee Wee Prebus in the most powerful positions of our political party at a time so crucial in our history.
Whites will be considered racist for a certain segment of our population until they (the whites) voluntarily sign themselves into slavery to blacks.
Nah, they’d still accuse them all of being more racist than evah!
I think it;s one good thing that Obama used a word, in context. I think it’s gone too far. I would not want to say it, but it should be OK to write it.
A fitting venue for a street thug.