Ebonics (was: Tipper, Rush and the Ice People)

[Joe Varo]

On Mon, 30 Dec 1996, Steelhead wrote:

> [. . .]
> Ah, then we have reached an unbridgeable impasse. For I believe the
> deadliest big C isn't Cancer, but Western Civilization. To be "civil" is to
> submit to governance by the rules of a "civilization" (read: global
> pacification project) that is trending toward the annihilation of Eros, of
> the Life Force, of the Other. You can wage your war with WC in anger (ala
> Stokely Carmichael) or through absurdity (ie., Abbie Hoffman and Dylan) or
> in a careful blending of the two (ie., Pynchon). But for God's sake, man,
> at least put up some kind of resistance. Damn.
> 
> That's why I *be* all for Ebonics.

Was this last sentence written seriously or facetiously?

Admittedly, the only thing I know about this "Ebonics" thing is what I've
heard on the various news shows on the TV and radio, but it sounds
completely idiotic to me.

Steely: do you see "Ebonics" as a way "you can wage your war with
WC...through absurdity"?  That is what "Ebonics" strikes me as, i.e.
absurdity.  What else could it be?

On the other hand, could not "Ebonics" be an attempt to institutionalize
or legitimize the slang of the streets and thereby strip it of its
subversiveness?  In which case, you ought to be against "Ebonics".

[A brief aside re: WC -- a bit of scatological imagery contained within
this...WC/Western Civilization...WC/Water Closet...there's a
toilet/shit/piss contained within Western Civilization.]

After so many years of being told that "ain't" isn't a word and that "a
lot" is two words, not one (i.e., alot), "Ebonics" strikes me as something
having gone drasticly awry.

Maybe I'm just getting old.

Joe