• eric@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      That was what South Park was getting at by naming their one black kid Token. And after 20+ years, they retconned him to be named Tolkien.

      • opp@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Which sounds exactly like the slur it is. Try saying the n word exactly how it sounds to a black person, and then tell them you added a letter so it’s not a slur anymore and see what happens.

        Matter of fact just call somebody black token or Tolkien to their face and see what happens. You will get knocked out it doesn’t matter if you added an extra letter to your slur or not.

        This is all just bad taste.

        • eric@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Oh no doubt. It is definitely in poor taste, but norms have shifted so that most people see it that way now. I’m just saying they retconned to be that the white people just assumed his name was Token. In no way did I mean to imply saying it with the extra letter makes it ok to call a black person by that name.

          • opp@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            You’re fine, as a black man there’s just few words that genuinely irritate me as much as token.

        • chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 year ago

          I wouldn’t hit you for a slur. I will write you off as a asshole. As for the South Park thing, the reveal is specifically calling put what you said about it sounding the same. Let’s preface this by saying I don’t watch much South Park, really just small clips like these to get context.

          Additional context is understanding South Park likes to bring up social issues in offensive ways, which some find funny and others find distasteful. I’m pretty sure when it started it was just a joke, though one to make fun of shows with one black character. The retcon to me just feels like an evolution of the joke as humor, sensitivities, and acknowledgement of these issues grew. Plus hopefully the writers matured (as mentioned, I really only see popular clips so not sure).

          To me, the way the Tolkien thing played out felt like it was similar to ManBearPig. The latter is technically a self own; they mocked climate change in the past and are now saying it’s true and they were wrong.

          Is the apology genuine? I couldn’t say, I don’t know them. I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt though.