New York: What next, book burning?

Well people, in a world where we already have so many laws in place that are never enforced and that are either so outdated or so politically manifest against common sense, we have the latest and greatest: New York City has banned the 'N-Word'.

It's not that I don't find "that word" offensive. I do. That's the point. It is offensive, but no more than a handful of other words. As a writer, it chills me when a government sees itself able to declare a word or written work as illegal. It speaks to a mindset of social engineering. Of totalitarianism that is so much more offenseive than some redneck idiots who rail against the Taliban but fly a Confederate battle-flag, the symbol of the greatest treasonous betrayal of the United States, resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths.

We live in a backwards world, where politically-correct speech is subversive and deleterious to our moral fiber. I have worked in places where you can get in more trouble for saying "There are people having sex in the hall" than for actually having sex in the hall. The words frighten people. The power of the words frighten people. But if you are afraid of a gun, creating a greater sense of uncertainty by not letting people talk about it makes it more dangerous. Empowering it is foolish.

Laws that are hastily or ignorantly made are counterproductive. I am sure the New York City Council members were all voting out of fear that they'd lose votes in the next election if they didn't vote for this measure. No sense of right or wrong or the echoes to posterity of this vote, merely a panicked grab for voter base. We outlaw something, we add to its cachet. We need social pressure, not legislated brownshirting.

We need to take the power back from this word, and others like it. We need to judge people by their actions and their hearts, not a word. I realize a lazy person can use a verbiage test to simplify the pigeon-holing required in this overwhelmingly complex media-based society, but all you have to do is look at the political headline sof the day to see how stupid we have become: John McCain is being wrist-slapped for using the word "wasted" for the young men and women who have died protecting George Bush's machismo-fueled lies in Iraq. It's okay to kill our sons and daughters, not okay to say the killer is wasting lives.

We have become a nation, and perhaps a world, thanks to craven media moguls and gutless politicans, of people who run from words and waste the political will to deal with real issues of poverty, education, world hunger, war and global warming. Shame on us and shame on the New York City Council for their cowardice and ignorance in the face of real issues. No wonder the third world hates us so much, we are preening buffoons, more concerned with what words we endorse than dealing with any real issues.

Chris Rock has some pithy things to say about the vote and the measure in the article. Damn, Chris always impresses the hell out of me. Read the article. Talk about it. Don't empower the ignorance.