In the wake of violence and unrest in Baltimore, media commentators as well as politicians - including President Barack Obama - called rioters "thugs", and were criticised for it. But the term has a much older history. In the US, "thug" is a loaded term.It's surfaced a lot in recent months, usually surrounding protests against the deaths of young black men in various American cities. Activists and cultural critics have pointed out the term is often used to refer to black Americans, and white Americans doing similar things would not be labelled the same way. And it's back in the news this week as rioters in Baltimore were tagged as "thugs." Even the city's African-American mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, used the term, though she softened her comments on Wednesday. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher used the word decades ago with relative frequency. "Thugs" were everyone from unruly soccer fans to people involved in race riots. So it may be a surprise that the word originates far away, in India. "As far as I can tell, thug goes back to the 14th Century," says Megan Garber, who traced the word's origin for a story in The Atlantic. "There was a gang of criminals known as the thuggee." "There was a plotline that involved kidnapping by way of thugs," she says. "A lot of Indian Americans actually protested the portrayal of the thugs in that movie, but that sort of brought it back into the cultural presence again." Then hip-hop took the word. Tupac had it tattooed onto his body, and Cleveland's Bone Thugs-N-Harmony sent the word into cars and living rooms across the country. In this conception of the word, Garber writes, thugs "are both victims and agents of injustice, they are both the products and producers of violence, and mayhem, and outrage". That's partly why there's widespread disgust in the African American community over its use. Just take the response Baltimore Councilman Carl Stokes gave to CNN's Erin Burnett over the word. "It's not the right word to call our children 'thugs,'" Mr Stokes said. "These are children who have been set aside, marginalised, who have not been engaged by us." "But how does that justify what they did?" Ms Burnett said. "That's a sense of right and wrong. They know it's wrong to steal and burn down a CVS and an old persons' home. I mean, come on." "Come on? Just call them [n-word] . Just call them [n-word]," Mr Stokes said. "No, we don't have to call them by names such as that. "You wouldn't call your child a thug if they should do something that would not be what you expect them to do."
Well some **** has to, Toby's petrified to post in case his threads get hijacked and no **** else can be arsed.
FFS dev - if your PC is garbage, instead of moaning about it on here, go and buy a lap top or tablet like every other bugger.
They are thugs, pure and simple. They should be executed to teach them a lesson. I'd hazard a guess that if they were killed they would not re-offend.
The place is dead because Mick watered it down and bans ****s for **** all, the bog-trotting turd burglar. That, and ER.
It's dead because apart from Dev and myself and Dan no-one engages in sensible discussion and debate.
The Police will keep shooting unarmed negros until the black folk start rioting on mass then implement marshall law . CIA are trying to get a 60s demonstrator skull cracking thing going before the Dollar collapses.
