‘South Park’ and the “F” word…

Of all the “taboo” words, there seems to be one that holds an inordinate power over the rest.  Even the most foul-mouthed amongst us blush like we’ve just seen our first areola at just the thought of this word.  This word is missing from both Lenny’s and Carlin’s list of “dirty words”, and received no mention on Penn and Teller’s Bullshit episode on profanity.  That’s right, I’m talking about the word “nigger”.  The word “nigger” has even earned a special spot amongst other racial pejoratives like “spick” and the now-dated “wop”.  (Wop stands for “without papers”)

So what is it about this single word that has bent our collective undaroos in a bunch?  Dose the shear utterance of the word – in any situation – constitute racism?  (Man, you’re talking about racism?  I thought this blog was about South Park! I’m getting there, I’m getting there…)  Should we empower the word “nigger” even more, and make it a criminal offense to say – in any circumstance?

Fortunately, we haven’t quite hit the crescendo of imprisonment for saying one single word yet.  (unless that word is Fire, an F word that I’ll save for another post…)  Music artists and stand-up comedians alike have taken to the charge of doing what we do with all other words: they are re-forming and re-shaping it.  And I say good for them!  But, others say, not so much.  Pundits, experts and Oprah alike are clamoring about how saying that one single word will put American civilization into a “Lost” like time warp and catapult us as a society back to the 1800′s.  What, no internet!  God that would suck.

So, I decided to devise a little experiment: to all of you reading this at home, let it out.  Just say it: “Nigger”.  Go on, don’t be shy.

Now say it again.  Louder.  Now shout it!  (Or, if you have close-by neighbors, not so loud?)

If you’re still reading this, then we obviously are not in the 1800′s, whew!  In fact, I’m fairly sure nothing happened, except that maybe you feel a little ridiculous for talking to yourself, which you should!

Maybe this means it’s the context of what we say that matters, not the individual words.  And it’s that thought that brings me into the title of this post: South Park and the “F” word.  The “F” word the episode is referring to is another word that is quickly gaining the weight of its big brother “nigger”, and is sparking an even more heated controversy, due in part because the group the word is (currently) referring to is still fighting for its rights.  That, in-and-of itself, might have been enough to grant its status as the “penultimate pejorative”, and expel its use from our colloquial language.  Then along came those wacky fourth-graders from South Park elementary in and reminded us once again just how wrong we are.

For those of you reading this from the short bus, the word in question is “fagot”.  If  you have yet to see the episode, the kids of South Park elementary deem attention-whoring Harley-riders “fagots” when they disrupt the community with their obnoxiously loud bikes.  The boys are shocked when they are accused of being homophobic, stating that they didn’t even know the word WAS a pejorative against gays!  Soon enough, however, the bikers so badly annoy the denizens of South Park that even its resident homosexuals begin shouting FAG at the Harley-hounds.  After a third-act lobby session, the kids have the definition of fag officially changed to mean a person who “ride a loud Harley up and down the streets ruining everyone’s nice time.”  And everyone lived happily ever…

Aw fuck, does it ever really go that way?  Almost as soon as “The ‘F’ Word” hit the air, GLAAD was ready with their response, and it wasn’t to thank them for battling prejudice head on.

Now, before I proceed, I must say that it is heart braking to see the Phelps’ clan dawning posters that read: “Fagots burn in Hell”.  It makes me angry to my core any time I see such expressions of hatred, especially when those signs are put into the hands of children, as Phelps is also notorious for doing.  But is it really the word “fagot” that is the offender here?  Is it not his intention?

And isn’t that just what the children of South Park were really asking?  That it’s not one word that’s the problem, but the context, and the intent in which it was used?  Even if the word “fag” were erased from our collective conscious, wouldn’t the Phelps clan just use some other word?  Or turn the word “homosexual” – the proper nomenclature for a “homosexual person” – into a pejorative itself?

Maybe we should be less concerned with being word police, and instead focus our energies on… oh, I don’t know, not wishing people to hell?  People use words like “fag” “nigger” “spick” et. al. as pejoratives because they’re there.  If you take just the individual words away, you won’t eliminate the thought, you’ll just shift it to a different word.

How often have you used the word “fag”, had the word used toward you, or heard the word used against someone in a context that is specifically intended to be slanderous against homosexuals?  How often have you heard it used in a context that does NOT specifically intend to be slanderous against homosexuals?  Which is more?

Violent acts against any person is heinous; I think that’s something that we all can more or less agree on.  And, prejudice sucks.  No doubt.  So shouldn’t we be pleased that signs like these have come to signal that we might be headed in a new direction?  Lexicographer Erin McKean says that it is completely natural for words to shift meaning in culture, and we should embrace that change, not fight against it.

I understand the ideology that targeting words like “nigger” and “fag” strive to make for a better tomorrow – a tomorrow where our grandchildren don’t have to know the same hatred and prejudices that we face today.  So what future would you rather have?  One where our grandchildren laugh at a time when those words held such venom and significance, or one where we police our individual words, but still foster hateful thoughts?  And nothing washes hate away and brings together like laughter.

As a closing thought, perhaps this is about something even more fundamental than prejudice – after all, each generation seems to find new groups to target, they rarely stay the same.  Maybe this episode of South Park was important because of another “F” word.  I’ll let the one and only Mr. Wallace say it for me: “Freedom”.

Cody Hobbs