Humm not sure how this will come through the censoring on this site. I know Mister Cheney's first name doesn't come through. Apologizes in advance if the article is edited by the site.

I say...don't change the dogs name.

The dog's name was Nigger. Deal with it.

Just in case you weren't yet convinced that almost anything qualifies as a controversy in these enlightened times, here's one that redefines ridiculous.


Currently in production is the long-planned remake of the 1954 film The Dam Busters. Made under the auspices of Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings) and TV icon Sir David Frost, the Universal film will offer a detailed recounting of the famous 1943 raid in which the 617 squadron of the RAF used a revolutionary "bouncing bomb" to breach three dams in the industrial heart of Germany. It sounds like it's going to be great.


But there's a snag. The film's producers are presently riddled with anxiety over the name of the black Labrador owned and cherished by Wing Commander Guy Gibson. It was Nigger.


So, should they keep it or change it? It's a hot debating point, apparently. On one hand is the issue of historical accuracy. On the other, the fear that using the actual, factual name would cause widespread offense and, presumably, boycotts, rioting and death threats.

Such has been the worry that the film's writer Stephen Fry was instructed to come up with a list of alternative names. Jackson has declared the name-issue a "no-win scenario" and even Sir David has said they might go with "Nigsy", which Gibson sometimes called his beloved dog.


Sensitivity over the name of this historically important pooch has history. American TV airings of the original film replaced "Nigger" with "Trigger", and when it was screened in the UK by ITV in 2001 the name was erased entirely.


This caused outrage, with the magazine Index on Censorship deeming the deletion "unnecessary and ridiculous". Even Stephen Fry's website has been inundated by people voicing their opposition to any name change.


Quite right, too.


This Orwellian impulse to retrofit history according to the ancient strictures of political correctness is not only intellectually dishonest it is behind the pop-cultural curve by about 20 years.


We live in a post-PC world. Anybody who knows South Park or The Simpsons knows this. The hair-trigger sensitivities of the 1980s have been replaced by a more mature, intuitive understanding about the way the world works, especially when
it comes to matters of race, and the use of that term.


The plain fact is that audiences have long understood the critical importance of context and intent when it comes to the use of the N-word.



As far back as 1974 Mel Brooks mocked the word's racist legacy in the classic comedy Blazing Saddles. He ridiculed those who used it by flipping racial stereotypes and casting a black man as the hero. In the 1991 film Do the Right Thing Spike Lee brilliantly highlighted the hypocrisy of those who use the N-word as a slur, yet admire black culture.


Most significantly, the liberal use of the term in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994) powerfully crystallised what so many films and comedians had already shown, that the meaning of the N-word was no longer controlled by racists. It was subject to how it was said, who was saying it and how it was meant.


This is why in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987) when Animal Mother (Adam Baldwin) says how "all niggers must f---ing hang" we understand that he is jesting with a black comrade-in-arms whose life he later tries to save.

And it explains why a film like Tropic Thunder can feature a white actor in blackface without raising a single heckle. What was once a racist insult was now, when presented in context to a knowing audience, an inoffensive joke.


The comedy of black comedians such as Dave Chappelle, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock, and TV shows such as Seinfeld, The Simpsons, The Office, Curb Your Enthusiasm and South Park hammer the point that when it comes to touchy things like the N-word, context is everything.


Which brings us back to the Dam Buster's dog.


Of course they should keep the name. People will get it. They'll understand. Only the willfully ignorant will find offense.


Nigger was dearly loved by Gibson and his men, who adopted him as their mascot. When he was killed by a car shortly before the raid they named a target after him in tribute.


And here's a point. The dam buster raid was against a Nazi regime that considered black people as sub-human. Thus, keeping the dog's name would imbue the film with a delicious irony. The producers would be crazy to surrender this for the sake of "Nigsy".


Besides, a name change now would be pointless. Everyone knows his name was Nigger. And there hasn't been a riot yet.


Questions

Do you agree with any of this? Should they change the dog's name or not? And if so, what to? Fido? Rover? Belvedere? Is there validity to this controversy? Or is it a non-issue?


Your valued thoughts are hereby sought.

http://blogs.theage.com.au/schembri/archives/2009/05/_just_in_case_y.html

I bet they change the name

this is the culture that changed the pronunciation of a planet so people wouldn't twitter when they said it on TV

My opinion is: KEEP THE DOG'S ORIGINAL, ACTUAL NAME !!!!!!!!!!!!!


Historical accuracy is EVERYTHING, and to hell with everything else.

Nigsy is cute.

But keep it how it is.. the way it should be

Keep the name!

What blows me completely out of the water is the ignorance behind the history of the word. Negro (Knee-Grow) is a English mispronunciation of the word Negro (Nay-Graw) the Spanish word for black.

Now the dictionary word "Niggardly" means to do something in a lazy and or haphazard fashion. Example, those men doing teh stone work at my house did it all in a niggardly fashion and messed the job up. Although the actual derivative of the word in ENGLISH and not American history it later (mid to late 1800s) it became more prevalent with Southern Agriculture in reference originally to a lazy or slow slave.

It wasn't until the late 1950's when black men of the street culture began to adopt the word (if they say it) as an honorary reference to themselves but should another use the word it is an insult and justification for provocation. It wasn't until the late 1990s when society decided to become more sensitive to the use of the word. oddly it is assumed that the word was only used in America. Yep, and Spaghetti was invented by Italians too...

And for the moderators, before you chastise me one lick for this you had better hit the dictionary before leveling any sanctions on me! This is purely a factual presentation of the history of words and not an attempt to insult anyone.

For those who are offended please speak up so I can present a properly laid out insult of tremendous magnitude. I have not had my recommended daily allowance of insulting and bad behavior today!

Otherwise feel free to spank me later...

Ahh...this, "Otherwise feel free to spank me later...drool" explains so much about you Andy.

Truly I am a glutton for punishment. That is why Computers are a hobby of mine.

Windows in general =