A while ago, I wrote an essay called, “On the Nature and Meaning of “Bitch Slap,” ” in which I explained why a “bitch slap,” far from being heroic, is actually a profound act of cowardice.

I wrote that essay because I had observed that white and particularly white male “progressives” were fascinated with the term “bitch slap” and were using it constantly, like children repeating newly-discovered slang words for male and female genitalia. In fact, white (usually male) "progressives" have taken the term “bitch slap” entirely out of its originally limited underclass context and usage and are using it instead as a generally applicable synonym for “to castigate” and “to put in one’s place.” In so doing, they are celebrating violence against and subjugation of women, particularly Black women.

Now, Michael Bouldin of Culture Kitchen has visited one of my diaries there to accuse me of diary “pimping.” Merriams defines “pimping” as “solicit[ing] clients for a prostitute.” Merriams (Certainly, Michael does not intend to literally accuse me selling women’s flesh for profit.) But, is it not unacceptably and intentionally offensive for a white man to falsely accuse a Black lawyer of “pimping”? I’ll let readers be the judge of that. Blacks and many women will generally say it IS unacceptably offensive, while white men who regularly use the terms “bitch slap” and “diary pimping” (or simply “pimping”) will vociferously insist that they mean no color-aroused offense by these inherently linguistically color-bound insults.

But, what is it about the terms “bitch slap” and “pimping” that so fascinate white male “progressives” and make these terms nearly ubiquitous at white "progressive's" blogs? Many blogs that have precious little Black membership nonetheless overflow with offensive pseudo-Black underclass slang directly related to an illegal sex-for-money trade.

As the Thomas Jefferson/Sally Hemings case shows, historically, the same white men who once enslaved Black women and would not consort with a Black woman publicly nonetheless were fascinated with Black women and secretly coveted Black women’s bodies for their own sexual gratification.

The results of [a] study established that an individual carrying the male [Thomas] Jefferson Y chromosome fathered [Black] Eston Hemings (born 1808), the last known child born to Sally Hemings. . . . the weight of all known evidence - from the DNA study, original documents, written and oral historical accounts, and statistical data - indicated a high probability that Thomas Jefferson was the father of Eston Hemings, and that he was perhaps the father of all six of Sally Hemings' children listed in Monticello records . . . Monticello.Org

200 years later, the ominpresent use of the terms "bitch-slap" and "pimping" shows that white male “progressive” are still fascinated with imaginging Black women in the role of subjugated sex objects. What the terms “bitch slap” and “pimping” have in common is that they are both references to a sex industry that allows men, including white men, with no pre-existing relationship to Black women, to secretively access Black women’s flesh. That commonality between the terms “bitch slap” and “pimping” may partially explain why white “progressive” men are fascinated with using these words in otherwise linguistically inappropriate contexts.

In linguistics, a register is a subset of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. For example, an English speaker may adhere more closely to prescribed grammar, pronounce words ending in -ing with a velar nasal (e.g. "walking", not "walkin'") and refrain from using the word "ain't" when speaking in a formal setting, but the same person could violate all of these prescriptions in an informal setting. Wikipedia: register

Whites who use the term "pimping" as a synonym for "advertising" seem to be wifully ignorant of the fact that "pimping" is a vulgar word whose use is inappropriate in formal, civilized company just as offensive words for genitals are inappropriate in such company, whether Black or white.

I perceive other reasons why some white progressive men love to use these vulgar pseudo-ghetto terms. Just as Karl Rove intended to demean Blacks by “rapping” at the recent Radio and Television Correspondents' Association dinner, white progressives intend to demean, defame and denigrate Blacks by making constant reference to the worst stereotypes of illegality associated with Black people in the minds of whites. Whites use the terms “bitch slap” and “pimping” precisely because they can no longer use the “N” word to achieve the same derogatory purpose and effect.

The omnipresent and constant use of words that stigmatize Black people is also an effective way of discouraging Black blogger participation without explicitly barring Black people's membership in a blog, which might well be unlawful.

Unfortunately, when white men decide to act pseudo-ghetto, that bad behavior gains much greater currency in the society at large. There are so many more whites than Blacks in America that the linguistic “salience” (number of uses) of an offensive term increases exponentially when it makes the jump from offensive underclass street slang to white “progressive” fashion linguistic fashion accessory. By popularizing through print, movies, music and television what was once relatively isolated usages of bad underclass ghetto words, whites are able to malign an entire group of people ubiquitously with an agile shorthand.

35% of Blacks attend church at least once weekly (compare to 25% of whites). Anyone who has spent time among the majority of respectable Black people knows that you can spend a year in such company without ever hearing anyone use the terms “bitch slap” or “pimping”. We consider these words to be just as offensive as other words that cannot be used on television or in print.

Ironically, Blacks like myself, who do not live in a ghetto, do not participate in an illegal underclass culture of violence against women and may never hear these words used by other Blacks, are nonetheless hearing these words constantly used by “progressive” whites. What is “progressive” about that?

But white people with little or no contact with Black people except through movies and television may imagine that Blacks use these offensive terms “all the time.” We don’t. We don’t use these terms because they are just as offensive to Blacks and women as are the other words that are considered unspeakable filthy at white “progressive” blogs.

Because this is America, people who use the term “pimping” as a wildly offensive synonym for “advertising” have a Constitutional right to do so, because they have a right to free speech. And some people do revel in color-aroused puerile chauvinistically offensive speech. However, I, for one, don’t ever want to see the words “bitch slap” or “pimping” used again at “progressive” blogs.