American culture and the N-word

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There is a word a simple two-syllable word starting with the letter “N,” thatcarries with it literally hundreds of years of associations and ideas about the role of a particular subset of people in society. the word carries connotations of race, class, and even social status, and at one time was applied only to a highly specific group of people.

The N-word word carries cultural connotations in modern American society that are increasingly divorced from its original meaning. The racial and cultural assumptions behind the word are becoming increasingly blurred; nowadays, in some subcultures, people may refer to one another by the N-word even when it’s clear that the word in its most basic meaning does not apply.

That word, of course, is Ninja.

I bring this up because New year’s Eve was the birthday celebration of cyber_wolf_2020 and datan0de, and the theme for the party was–you guessed it–ninjas.

When ninjas go wild, it is a frightening thing.

This is how ninjas open birthday gifts. The caution is necessary; in this case, the gift really was booby-trapped. Only the awesome powers of the Ninja saved them from a horrible, sticky end.

The birthday ice cream cake was in the neighbor’s freezer prior to the party, as ninjas need cakes of such magnitude that they simply will not fit in a conventional, non-Ninja freezer. Here we see a couple of ninjas as they knock on the neighbor’s door to get the cake.

Getting cake is a dangerous business. One ninja is assigned to the task of keeping the neighbor’s cat at bay as the other ninjas go deeper into enemy territory, into the very kitchen itself, where the freezer–the ultimate test of ninja skill–awaits.

Mission accomplished, and with minimal casualties, the ninja s prepare to cut the birthday cake. The skill and precision with which this task is performed can not be overstated. Years of training in the Japanese sword kata are required; just one glance at this photograph shows the level of focus and concentration necessary to be a ninja.

It all comes down to this. The final stroke, accomplished with deftness and skill, and the cake is cut. This is where the years of rigorous training, the toil under the harsh ninja master, all come together. On moments like this, the master ninja knows what it is to be alive.

20 thoughts on “American culture and the N-word”

    • Are you surfing from work?

      The Xeromag.com site is blocked by default by most Web nanny software (CyberSitter, Surf patrol, NetNanny), and also by any corporate Web filtering software based on Novell BorderPatrol. I made it into all the filters, including BorderPatrol, about two years ago.

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  5. Are you surfing from work?

    The Xeromag.com site is blocked by default by most Web nanny software (CyberSitter, Surf patrol, NetNanny), and also by any corporate Web filtering software based on Novell BorderPatrol. I made it into all the filters, including BorderPatrol, about two years ago.

    Reply ↓

  11. Weee!!! I’m so glad you guys had fun. We all need to trade pics from that night. The “3 ninjas breaking in through the cat door” photos came out really well.

    I still haven’t made a post about the party. If you have no objections I’ll be linking to this post from it when I finally get around to doing so.

    Reply ↓

  12. Weee!!! I’m so glad you guys had fun. We all need to trade pics from that night. The “3 ninjas breaking in through the cat door” photos came out really well.

    I still haven’t made a post about the party. If you have no objections I’ll be linking to this post from it when I finally get around to doing so.

    Reply ↓

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