Zorn: Don't say 'thug' and don't worry about being electrocuted by battery-powered boats

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Eric Zorn is a former opinion columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Find a longer bio and contact information here. This issue exceeds in size the maximum length for a standard email. To read the entire issue in your browser, click on the headline link above. Paid subscribers receive each Picayune Plus in their email inbox each Tuesday, are part of our civil and productive commenting community and enjoy the sublime satisfaction of supporting this enterprise.

Tuesdays at 11:30 a.m. I talk with WGN-AM 720 host John Williams about what’s making news and likely to be grist for the PS mill. The WGN listen-live link is here.

A bit of friendly advice: Avoid the word ‘thug’

I’ve seen and heard quite a few comments on the recent WNBA dustup involving Sky guard Chennedy Carter and Indiana Fever rookie phenom Caitlin Clark that have referred to Carter’s cheap shot on Clark as “thuggish “ and to Carter and other hard-fouling players as “thugs.”

Not going to rehash that controversy here but I want to issue an alert to those who are not up on their language evolution that “thug” has become a loaded word that will sound racist to many ears.

“Thug” now “carries a coded, alternate meaning of ‘Black person behaving badly,'” as Columbia University linguist John McWhorter has written. It’s become a “salty but suitable way of saying, ‘There one of them goes again.'” McWhorter, who is Black and fairly conservative in matters of language, told NPR that he considers “thug” to be “a nominally polite way of using the N-word.”

There was a time when describing Carter as a “thug” — from a Hindi word for bandit that became an all-purpose English synonym for hooligan — would have gone unnoticed.

In the news archives I found the term applied to Rod Blagojevich, Michael Madigan, Saddam Hussein, supporters of Mussolini, Hitler’s brownshirts, the Republicans who protested the vote recount in Florida in 2000, brutal police officers, white schoolyard bullies in rural Iowa, Donald Trump and the leaders of modern-day China.

And that was just under my byline in the Tribune.

Along with all the references above are also numerous examples of me having deployed the word to refer directly or indirectly to Black or presumptively Black criminals. I began to change my ways in 2015 after the controversy over President Barack Obama’s unapologetic but controversial use of “thugs” to describe those who destroyed property in Baltimore after the funeral of Freddie Gray, an African American man who suffered fatal injuries while in police custody. I even slipped up a few months later in writing about the perpetrator in an old murder case.

The Twitter language police wasn’t yet on duty to slam me as a racist and call for my head, as some word vigilantes did when a local TV sportscaster used the word in 2021 to describe a Black player on the Michigan State University basketball team who broke the nose of then-University of Illinois star Ayo Donsunmu while committing a flagrant foul. My mea culpa would have echoed his: “That’s not me, never has been.”

You can complain that “thug” has evolved without your consent from a race-neutral equivalent to “ruffian” into a potentially toxic term. You can note that this evolution is due in part to its embrace by such Black rappers as Tupac Shakur, who glamorized the term “thug life” and gave it a layered meaning depending on who is using it.

But you can no longer say you didn’t know “thug” has entered the linguistic realm of “problematic,” still short of “impermissible” but a word to use at your own risk.

Notes and comments from readers — lightly edited — along with my responses.

Two topics dominated the back and forth in the past week, the felony convictions of Donald Trump and the explosion of punditry about the flagrant foul on Caitlin Clark. My take on that begins here.

Is there merit in Trump’s whining about his conviction?

Jake H. — I worry that there is more than a kernel of truth to the Republicans’ complaints about Trump’s recent trial and convictions. When the prosecution involves a novel theory premised on other crimes not charged or proved; when it involves stuffing misdemeanors inside misdemeanors inside misdemeanors in what I described as a Rube Goldberg machine and what the Wall Street Journal aptly described as a legal turducken to conjure a dramatic conviction on 34 felonies; when the prosecutor is a Democrat and the defendant is a Republican political candidate — it starts to resemble a politically motivated witch-hunt. The legal alchemy by which two or three different misdemeanors can combine to create a felony strikes me as a bit dubious and troubling.

Consider what you would be hearing on MSNBC non-stop if the parties were reversed. You'd probably hear that this isn't about a fair, consistent application of the law but rather about contorting it in a deliberate effort to harass, hobble, and embarrass our guy and is thus an abuse of prosecutorial discretion.

I have zero sympathy for Trump, to be clear. My concern is that, just as I've thought all along that Trump should be treated no better than any defendant, it's equally imperative that he be treated no worse (no matter what he and his braying army of nincompoops say). The convictions serve him right, I guess. But that's not my idea of how prosecutors are supposed to work.

Joanie Wimmer — The legislature defines what conduct is criminal and the seriousness of that conduct. It’s not legal alchemy. It seems to me to be quite reasonable that the legislature would consider falsifying business records to be more serious if it was done to cover up a crime.

Do I like this use of the business records law? To be honest I would have to say no. It’s similar to the Illinois rule that allows what would otherwise be retail theft misdemeanants to be convicted of the felony of burglary if the State can prove they had an intent to steal at the time they entered the store. The theory being that the entry into the building was unauthorized because a merchant’s invitation to enter, which is extended to the public at large, does not apply to people who have an intent to steal. See below.

What makes the Trump New York prosecution seem completely fair and reasonable to me is the fact that Michael Cohen got a three-year prison sentence for his involvement in the Stormy Daniels affair, and, at least until July 11, 2024, Trump, the person for whose benefit the whole cover-up was engineered, will have suffered no consequences at all.

Marc Martinez — I have seen many stories that said the typical defendant who had been convicted on charges similar to the charges for which Trump was convicted would receive probation. But Trump's outspoken disdain for the judge and the court, along with his violation of the gag orders justify a more severe sentence. In any case, I expect that he will be allowed to remain free while his appeal is pending.

Skeptic — The celebratory reaction by liberals to Trump’s convictions is not rational. The trial does not end Trump’s candidacy nor does it damage it. It only reinforces his narrative with his followers.

Mark K.— Many on the left are celebrating the convictions because he's gotten cleanly away with so much blatant and brazen wrongdoing over many years that it's a nice change to score even this victory, however little effect it may have on the election, it restores a smidgen of faith in our justice system.

Zorn — I would not bet a lot of money on these convictions holding up on appeal given all that I’ve read. If the verdicts are overturned on appeal it will likely strengthen his candidacy, but given how slowly the wheels of justice grind it seems possible such a ruling wouldn’t take place until after the election.

Even though he’s violated the gag order many times, insulted trial Judge Juan Merchan and refused to admit his guilt or apologize for his behavior — conduct that would get a similarly situated but non-famous justice-impacted individual* at least a few month in the slam — I don’t expect Merchan to give him any time.

*I’m kidding!

About Merchan — he’s under fire from the right for having contributed $35 in the last presidential election to the Democratic group ActBlue that earmarked $15 for Biden for President and $10 each to the Progressive Turnout Project and Stop Republicans PAC in the last presidential election, thus bringing his objectivity into question. Small donation but a big mistake. Most news outlets — including the Chicago Tribune — forbid their newsroom employees from any sort of partisan political activity, such as posting yard signs or driving around in cars with candidate bumper stickers. The prohibition even extended to signing candidate nominating petitions.

Who does Merchan think he is? A U.S. Supreme Court justice?

I also hold with those who say it’s better for President Joe Biden that Trump be out on the campaign trail saying completely daft things, such as his digression over the weekend about battery-powered boats and sharks:

What would happen if the boat sank from its weight, and you’re in the boat, and you have this tremendously powerful battery, and the battery is now underwater, and there’s a shark that’s approximately 10 yards over there? By the way, a lot of shark attacks lately — you notice that?' I watched some guys justifying it today: "Well they weren't really that angry, they bit off the young lady's leg because of the fact that they were not hungry, but they misunderstood who she was.” These people are crazy. He said, “There's no problem with sharks, they just didn't really understand a young woman swimming.” Now it really got decimated and other people do a lot of shark attacks. So I said, “So there’s a shark 10 yards away from the boat, 10 yards. Or here: Do I get electrocuted if the boat is sinking? Water goes over the battery, the boat is sinking. Do I stay on top of the boat and get electrocuted? Or do I jump over by the shark and not get electrocuted?” Because I will tell you — he didn’t know the answer. He said, “You know, nobody’s ever asked me that question.” I said, “I think it’s a good question.’” I think there’s a lot of electric current coming through that water. But you know what I’d do if there was a shark or you get electrocuted? I’ll take electrocution every single time. I’m not getting near the shark. So we’re going to end that.

Trump is evidently wroth over the move toward zero-emissions engines in boats as well as cars that includes mandates in certain states. Boats don’t sink from their weight. Also, for the record, Salon notes:

People have been on boats that use electricity for a very long time. In the 21st century, nearly all boats that are not powered by oar have some electric component to them, whether to operate the main engine, lights system, radio, or motor, and the makers of those boats have considered Trump's grisly scenario and used safety standards before he ever raised the subject. Electric-powered boats do not pose a unique threat of electrocution.

In a news release, deep-sea ecologist and marine technologist Andrew Thaler wrote:

The risk of electrocution from high-capacity batteries in the unfortunate condition where an electric vehicle becomes submerged is extremely low. Electricity follows the path of least resistance and the human body offers greater resistance than surrounding seawater. High-capacity batteries that become compromised in seawater will experience rapid discharge, producing significant heat that could present an elevated fire risk. Batteries submerged in seawater pose limited danger of electrocution,We are tiny resistors in a sea of more conductive fluid.

About Trump’s rant, novelist Stephen King tweeted: “This is like listening to your senile uncle at the dinner table after he has that third drink."

Subscription pricing games

Trish S. — It’s not just the Tribune that plays strange games with subscription prices. During a recent "let's cut stuff out of my budget" moment, I called The New York Times to cancel my $25- a-month subscription, which includes games and cooking and sports. By the end of my conversation with the customer service representative, I had a $2-a-month subscription for everything, and I got credit for my most recent $25 payment, so, I'm already paid in full for more than a year.

K. Mason — I have found The New York Times quite amenable to requests/demands for a lower subscription price. Also The New Yorker.

Sport or not a sport?

Somehow, the comment thread last week got deep into the question of what is and isn’t properly considered a sport. This is a subject that has provided my brother-in-law and younger son with hours of fascinating debate, and one that is typically reserved for Olympic Games fortnights when curling and archery and sailing and bobsled events are among those that prompt head scratching.

Here’s a bit of how the conversation unfolded:

Garry Spelled Correctly — Golf isn't a sport, but a game of skill, like pool or blackjack. There's zero athleticism in golf. Neither are archery, bowling, playing video games, rhythmic gymnastics or ballroom dancing. Also break dancing which is going to waste time at the Paris Olympics. Equestrian events aren’t sports for the humans, but for the horses.

Gary K. — Any event that is measured subjectively isn't a sport. To be considered a sport, an activity needs to require athletic skills — physical strength, hand/eye coordination, etc. — and be able to be scored objectively via time or points.

Nancy Meyer— The silly 1974 movie "The Groove Tube" included a sequence portraying sex as an Olympic-style sport.

Craig Reges — I prefer the definition I heard long ago: If you can hold a beer while playing, it isn’t a sport.

Michael Gorman — Golf, tennis, baseball, track, football, chess, curling, archery and so forth are competitive games. Some require a lot of physical exertion, some do not; some require a lot of mental exertion, some do not. Some require both, some require neither.

Michael M. — Google tells me that a sport is an activity involving physical exertion, skill, and competition. Therefore, all sports are competitions but not all competitions are sports. So break dancing would be a sport, but chess would not.

Zorn — Bleacher Report took on this question in 2011 and came up with the same three requirements that Google did.

Based on these criteria, the writer says competitive eating and bowling are among true sports. The exertion requirement rules out darts, cornhole (baggo), billiards, miniature golf, video gaming and any games played on boards.

What about bodybuilding? Getting good at it requires extreme physical exertion, but competing — posing — is more of artistic expression; no more a “sport” than, say, a fiddle contest or a bake-off.

Ya gotta see these tweets!

Here are some funny visual images I've come across recently on social media. Enjoy, then evaluate:

Vote for your favorite. I’ll share the winner in Thursday’s main edition.

Usage note: To me, “tweet” has become a generic term for a short post on social media. And I will continue to call the platform Twitter if only to spite Elon Musk:

This is what an awful person Elon Musk is turning out to be:

If you’re putting $7 a month in this billionaire idiot’s wallet, you’re enabling the damage he is inflicting on this country and the effort to deflect attention from Trump’s disastrous handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There’s still time to vote in the conventional Tweet of the Week poll!

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