Minister of Truth
Practically Perfect
Maybe you just never thought about it before.
MCWHORTER: Well, the truth is that thug today is a nominally polite way of using the N-word. Many people suspect it, and they are correct. When somebody talks about thugs ruining a place, it is almost impossible today that they are referring to somebody with blond hair. It is a sly way of saying there go those black people ruining things again. And so anybody who wonders whether thug is becoming the new N-word doesn't need to. It's most certainly is.
https://www.npr.org/2015/04/30/403362626/the-racially-charged-meaning-behind-the-word-thug
Or I'm not a leftist who makes shit up just to fuck with people and be a socially corrosive asshole.