I believe your story as much as I believe "Some of my best friends are black".

I live in Washington; there's First Nations people all over the place here. I've never once heard any of them refer to themselves as "Redskins". I've been on reservations, been to potlatches -- never once did the word "Redskin" come up. And I'd no more call a First Nations person "Redskin" than I'd call a black person a "nigger".

Sorry you don't have the same level of respect for others.

JSing and Chaos made the two small leaps here that points to the interpreter as the responsible party to context. Meaning can be elusive to folks who have problems with critical thinking and with regard to 'racism' (the definition and intensity of this label range from arbitrary to anally-exacting considering the range of interpretation) there is no clear, consensual handbook...In the 00's, the word 'nigger' being so flagrantly abused and praised as it has become a filler-word in hip-hop and rap culture as well as a safe-haven for haters who love to toss the convenient label 'racist' around like skee-ball tickets, when they simply refuse to fucking think, or dislike someone, or are simply cunts, etc.

True racism exists but not on the scale imagined by the weak-minded and overly sensitive who both recoil from the very notion of certain words even existing (wouldn't the world be such a wonderful place if the word nigger did not exist and the world could all hold hands and blow soap bubbles and kiss puppy dogs?? Pretentious, American, WHITE PEOPLE have so abused both the concept and history of racism that the waters of it's essence have become murky. Chumps use the label 'racism' as if it were ranch dressing to refer to all manner of perceived evils of the world when their little cruise-liner of self-delusion drifts ever-so-slightly off course.

You shouldn't worry about racist words, you should worry about racists. I don't have to use the word "nigger" to be a racist, I just have to be one. My favourite Ice T song is "Straight Up Nigga", am I a racist when I quote it's lyrics?
Everybody throws a hissy fit about famous people using the wrong words but we accept intolerant douchebags on TV all the time as long as they watch their language.
You see the same thing with homophobes all the time, it's actually worse regarding this issue. Say "fag" and the internet is up your ass in no time, say the shit Palin and Santorum say and it's just an opinion or believe and you get to be on TV.
Fuck that. I don't care what words you use, if you're an ally, you're on my side. Rude assholes who are on my side are better than nobody, I take what I can get. And my side is the one that that doesn't care about your pigmentation or who you love.
That nigger in the video isn't a racist and you wasting your time worrying about his choice of words, take it from the infidel, fat, cisgendered kraut-breeder. That man is on our side. He's just not politically correct.

It's racist against both people of color AND Irish in my eyes.
You don't have to be offended for something to be racist. It only requires a differentiation by race (and not even necessarily a negative differentiation as I understand the term). You having the self control to not be upset by other people's racism (or in this case 'nationalism') is a good thing, but does not erase the racism, it only lessens it's effect.
In my opinion, calling anyone a 'nigger' (even yourself) is racist, no matter the intent and no matter the race of the speaker. The word itself is a racial insult.
I feel like calling an entire nationality any derogatory word is technically nationalist, but is intended to be racist as (in this instance) it's intention is to separate all Irish from other Europeans as a separate race in order to degrade the entire 'race' (nation).

Your video, Irish are the niggers of Europe? Reginald D Hunter, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

No. It is incredibly difficult to convict someone of inciting violence under U.S. law for two reasons. First, the state must have a statute on record prohibiting such speech (not all states do) and second, even if such a law exists, the state has to prove that the speaker intended to goad another to commit violent acts.

Furthermore, a sign that says "Kill the niggers" or "Rape a woman" would probably not be violations of incitement laws since the Supreme Court has held that proclaiming abstractly a belief in violence is not the same as, in their words, "preparing a group for violent action and steeling it to such action." On the other hand, if this guy in the video is standing in the quad urging men to rape a particular woman (or all women currently in the quad for that matter), that would likely be grounds for an incitement charge. For more info see the wikipedia page on fighting words and incitement:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_words#Incitement_vs._fighting_words

You're missing the point. It should be offensive. If you're not offended by the ching chong foundation, the cotton picking nigger foundation or the actual "Redskins Original Americans" foundation, there is something wrong with you.

And that's the equivalency Colbert was making. He could actually have gone further and made it the cotton picking nigger foundation and the point would have been even stronger, but there's no way that would have been allowed to air.

No arguments there on the good at math idea not being funny... I never suggested such an option. What would have been good funny alternative bits for Colbert to have done could be a separate conversation I think (good satire punches up, etc).
I appreciate your personal note. It indeed jives with what one of my Asian American friends told me- they don't find particularly offensive either. This friend also mentioned that their experience is not equal to every Asian American experience though. For others, it seems that it stings quite significantly. So I don't think this is case closed.

The question I posed with my analogy still stands -- while this is not true for yourself or my friend, for some people of Asian descent, "the Ching Ching ding dong foundation for cultural sensitivity" might be offensive on a level similar to how it would have been for Blacks if he had used "The cotton-picking nigger foundation for cultural sensitivity". How many? Maybe that number is at 10%. Maybe that number is at .1%. Maybe that number is at 50%. I have no idea. How do we as a society figure whether that is the case? I think we do it by having a big old dialog where a lot of people of Asian descent are involved.

Instead what I see is a whole lot of posturing, sabre-rattling, and band wagon jumping from people that are not of Asian decent and therefore have no personal experience with this particular form of racism to bring to bear on the matter. Those people should be primarily listening and asking questions, not posturing and sabre-rattling.

I don't disagree with your comments about Suey Park, as I said I think she acts crazy and I don't support her approach in any way. I think it's unfortunate that she's leading the charge on the other side of this thing, because I think she's doing a horrible job.

As I see it, Colbert is using Asian Americans (a minority that is also most definitely not atop the social power structure) as an example or prop to try to educate people about racism that's happening toward another group of people. Cool! We're helping out Native Americans. It's not really engaging Asian Americans though, who very commonly have racism directed at them as well. In my readings on this, it would seem a fair number (but NOT all) of Asian Americans grew up being ridiculed by things like "Ching chong ding dong", and it is steeped in an extremely negative racial connotation for that group of people.

I'm stretching to an extreme with this analogy, but I think it's necessary. What if Colbert instead called it the "The Cotton-picking Nigger Foundation for Racial Sensitivity"? I don't know about you, but I think that feels quite a bit more problematic.

But why does that cross a line where "Ching chong ding dong" doesn't? To be honest, while I think I could come up with some ideas that seem quite reasonable to me off the top of my head, I'm not *exactly* sure. Because at the end of the day, here's my reality -- I'm not an Asian American that was ridiculed with that saying and things like it, so I didn't have that firsthand personal experience. For all I know, for a large subgroup of Asian Americans, maybe it *is* very similar to the other example I mentioned would be for blacks.

So rather than thinking I have some magical grasp on what is offensive toward certain groups, I listen very carefully to what they're saying, and what their experience is. I think everybody should do that, and continue thinking about it and conversing about it. Instead, everybody seems to be rushing to Colbert's defense.

He keeps saying nigger, while complaining about the word nigger ( i thought this niggers been cool with me ). This is exactly why the word nigger wont go away. Black people keep it alive.

Indeed Yogi, the term African American should refer to anyone who can claim total or partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa. I believe there's already terminology which everybody can feel comfortable with, with which to refer to, 'everyone'.

If you wanna blame someone for for having to hear the term, blame Jesse Fucking Jackson. You wanna blame someone for the word nigger or negro, it's time to start pointing fingers at the fucking Spaniards, and we have only pussies and assholes to blame for political correctness.

"I don't want to bake a cake for those queers -- for religious reasons"
"I don't want to rent a place to those niggers -- for religious reasons"
"I don't want our club to admit those kikes -- for religious reasons"

Guess what -- those have all been said; you're hiding bigotry behind religion. If your religion says someone is less of a person than you because of the way they're born then your religion is pure crap that should be purged from the human experience for the betterment of humankind as a whole. Gays exposing your bigotry aren't doing you harm, they're doing everyone else a favor.

The lack of solidarity among the protestors always troubles me in these incidents. You know there are niggers in the world. Bring weapons. When they try to steal one of your people kill your way through the darkness and take them back.

What this video should have depicted is Barton Moss painted black with fascist blood.

Meh I don't see it as pushing the envelope, if anything I see it as being honest. When you use an inflammatory word in it's proper context especially in a particular setting of say education it shouldn't be an issue. Otherwise you're being dishonest, like not saying Nigger Jim when you read Huck Finn.