std writer Walter Mosley, "Why I Quit the Writers’ Room"

[stephen the barbarian]

Walter Mosley, a now former staff writer on star trek discovery, has left the project after sharing an experience of his where he quoted an la cop who had used racial slurs,
Mosley was hopeful that the story could help in the writing process, but he was called in to hr for the matter
his full recollection of the matter can be found here, Opinion | Why I Quit the Writers’ Room, in a sunday opinion piece

Earlier this year, I had just finished with the “Snowfall” writers’ room for the season when I took a similar job on a different show at a different network. I’d been in the new room for a few weeks when I got the call from Human Resources. A pleasant-sounding young man said, “Mr. Mosley, it has been reported that you used the N-word in the writers’ room.”
I replied, “I am the N-word in the writers’ room.”
He said, very nicely, that I could not use that word except in a script. I could write it but I could not say it. Me. A man whose people in America have been, among other things, slandered by many words. But I could no longer use that particular word to describe the environs of my experience.
I have to stop with the forward thrust of this story to say that I had indeed said the word in the room. I hadn’t called anyone it. I just told a story about a cop who explained to me, on the streets of Los Angeles, that he stopped all [blacks] in [irish] neighborhoods and all [irish] in [black] neighborhoods, because they were usually up to no good. I was telling a true story as I remembered it.
Someone in the room, I have no idea who, called H.R. and said that my use of the word made them uncomfortable, and the H.R. representative called to inform me that such language was unacceptable to my employers. I couldn’t use that word in common parlance, even to express an experience I lived through.

(bolding mine, i've also replaced the slurs so as to not attract asshats)
here's a vid editorial that lead me to the story



now, there's some things to unpack here

could Mosley have used less provocative words? maybe, but on the other hand he wasn't using it in a racist way, but to highlight the racism in an incident he'd been party to​

does this mean that n-word privilege is starting to die?​

is this a case similar to the south park flag? (i just know that is going to come up)​

​

 

[Arch Dornan]

No N-word privileges for him? What are they the NAACP?

 

[ShadowsOfParadox]

You know the question this raises for me? How the heck are people supposed to solve a problem they can't talk about properly?

 

[Arch Dornan]

You know the question this raises for me? How the heck are people supposed to solve a problem they can't talk about properly?

Make up new words to sub the N-word?

 

[Husky_Khan]

Make up new words to sub the N-word?

N-word.

 

[Arch Dornan]

N-word.

Alright my N-word. Yall N-wordz yall.

 

[FriedCFour]

I love that society has determined that there is exactly one slur you cannot say ever in any context otherwise you are automatically a bad man if you aren't black, but all other slurs can be said if used in acceptable context.

 

[Big Steve]

I love that society has determined that there is exactly one slur you cannot say ever in any context otherwise you are automatically a bad man if you aren't black, but all other slurs can be said if used in acceptable context.

He's biracial. He's part-African-American. That makes this even more... ugh. I mean, I do hate that word, but this is why HR departments are the bane of modern society.

 

[Battlegrinder]

He's biracial. He's part-African-American. That makes this even more... ugh. I mean, I do hate that word, but this is why HR departments are the bane of modern society.

Not quite. Lawyers are the bane of modern society, HR departments exist to cover the companies ass in case they get sued. Mosley didn't get called into HR because HR cares about someone's hurt feelings or whatever, he got called in to HR so that if someone decided to sue over hurt feelings, the company can point to this and demonstrate that they took action as they are obligated to do and that it complied whatever the relevant laws and regulations are.

 

[Big Steve]

Not quite. Lawyers are the bane of modern society, HR departments exist to cover the companies ass in case they get sued. Mosley didn't get called into HR because HR cares about someone's hurt feelings or whatever, he got called in to HR so that if someone decided to sue over hurt feelings, the company can point to this and demonstrate that they took action as they are obligated to do and that it complied whatever the relevant laws and regulations are.

Bah. It's always more fun to complain about HR.

 

[Battlegrinder]

Bah. It's always more fun to complain about HR.

Really? It's more fun to make fun of HR than it is make fun of lawyers?

I mean, I guess mocking HR shows a sharper since of humor, since lawyer jokes are kinda low hanging fruit.

 

[Flintsteel]

The problem is that the Courts won't just throw those kinds of suits out with prejudice. Frankly, you are not entitled to never have your feelings hurt, and that we allow people to act that was is the issue.

I know, I know, the issue is way more complicated than that. But it sure feels that way sometimes.

 

[The Original Sixth]

As I've said before, STD is deathly allergic to quality writing and will go very far out of its way to avoid it.

What I note is that this probably means someone on their team did not like him. If he was well liked by everyone, then they wouldn't have gone to HR. I've seen how quickly leftists disregard racial slurs when they assume the person is good because they're "on their side". I'll have to watch the video later for more details, but I'm pretty sure someone didn't like him specifically or did not like that he had been hired to push up their shitty show.