Let me guess. You’re a white cisgendered heterosexual who has no idea what it means to be part of a minority group. All of your pretty words on the topic (seriously, trifecta is p cool) are meaningless unless you work on removing your privilege-blindness. It’s flatly ignorant to state that using racial/gender slurs has nothing to do with your race/gender. Own up to your biases. Then, if you’re socially-conscious, work on fixing them.
You CAN (as in, are physically capable of) say(ing) whatever you want. I’m not advocating putting mouth-filters on anybody. But if you use the n-word, you are being racist by expression or result, if not in intent. Intent doesn’t matter.
A) What the hell does that have to do with anything?
2) Calling rap “not music” wasn’t funny, clever, or insightful forty years ago, and the claim hasn’t improved with age.
iii) Seriously, what on earth did that have to do with anything being discussed?
You would not believe (well, maybe you would) what all this N-word shit has done to the teaching of American Literature. I used to teach Huck Finn all the time (can’t teach him much, though) until students began to derail the course with an endless discussion of use of that word. Teachable moment, my ass.
Better to teach Edith Wharton or William Dean Howells instead and sidestep that pile of shit entirely.
Especially when ordering at Waffle House. I learned that the hard way. Carlicia Fein is many things but forgiving ain’t one.
I don’t like saying “the n-word” but there is an element of heritage as a white southerner that is hard to shake. I’m always afraid it comes across as if I’m trying to be edgy or claim a ‘hood pass’ unless it’s a direct quote (e.g. reading Mark Twain or whatever) rather than a general observation (referring to the time when politicians said ‘nigger’ openly in elections). Generally I say “the n’word” when in mixed company but will say ‘nigger’ when I know all present on a first name basis.
Maybe I’ve lived a sheltered life, but I’ve never met any of these people. I suspect this is why these kinds of threads always leave me scratching my head.
Seriously not trying to be cute here, but who exactly is demanding anyone to use “n-word” as opposed to “nigger”? I’m not saying this type of person isn’t out there, because if there are people out there who catch the vapors over God’s name being said in vain, it certainly is plausible that there are people who can’t abide by “nigger” being fully articulated. But the number of people out there who can’t distinguish a “nigger” said in good faith from one said to demean pales in comparison to the number of those who can. And yet we spend a lot of time bitching about some nebulous group of people who supposedly won’t permit white people to utter the word “nigger” even in academic discussions. Why is that?
I know of no cases in which anyone–white or black–caught flak for simply saying “nigger”. In all the publically-reported situations I’m familiar with, someone was using the word to goad or demean someone else, and that’s why there was offense. White people freely use the word on this board and other messageboards I visit, without controversy. In classroom discussions back in undergrad, I never saw an argument break out because someone said “nigger” in a meta-sense.
All of this makes me think most people’s use of “n-word” is 100% self-imposed. Just because some people eschew “nigger” doesn’t mean they expect everyone else to do so. I think people have started saying “n-word” because that’s what other people around them do. They mistake a popular trend for a social mandate. The irony is that this conflation makes them resentful towards those people (AKA the Black Offenderati), not themselves.
Let me introduce you to some cases.
Note, those cases aren’t even about the word nigger, rather they’re about a totally unrelated word that sounds too close for some people’s comfort.
Okay, I’ll give you this one. But be honest with me. Has anyone ever personally told you IRL you to stop using the word “nigger” and insist you use “n-word”? Has anyone told you that even when you’re just using the word to talk about the word, they get offended?
I can find anyone on the internet who takes issue with any random damn thing in the world, but I’m not going to modify my speech over a few isolated nutcases.
These people thought “niggardly” was being used to goad and demean. In other words, not an example of what I’m asking about.
And my position is that it’s self-imposed concern…not concern that is rational. Fears about using “nigger” and getting in trouble appear to be way of proportion with reality. It’s like a black person being afraid to stand on a stoop at night because they’re worried the cops will jump out the bushes and suddenly pump 41-bullets into them Amadou Diallo-style. It doesn’t happen frequently enough to be focused on it so much.
No its not. Someone who hears someone else saying “That man is behaving niggardly” and misunderstands them to be saying “That man is behaving <nigger-like>” is distinctively different from someone being mad that a white person said “‘Nigger’ is a racial slur” and getting mad because they didn’t use “n-word” instead.
People are claiming they can’t even use the word in a meta way without causing offense and getting in trouble. I gotta call BS on that.
White guy here. The OP can do what he wants: it’s a free country. I, however, hope to never use the n-word.
You see, I’m a creature of habit. If I use it once, even appropriately, I’m more likely to use it again, inadvertently. I’d rather not do that. So I prefer not use the word or even hear it used. I defend the polite practice of talking around that particular slur.
People may wonder at this point whether I’m a spaz (or something). Well, yes in fact I am (colloquially speaking) and I try to work around that.
I miss the days when black men called each other brother instead of nigger. I think words matter and i think that the word nigger is frequently used in the black comunity in much the same context it was used in the South by racists. An expression of loathe, demeaning and disrespect.
Over a quarter of a century ago, we could not be taught Othello or* The Merchant of Venice* in my state; Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn were only on the summer reading lists.
Skald’s initial post contains the most convincing argument against use of the word; words have powerful emotional and social connotations. Nigger has a lot of nasty ones.
Furthermore, can he really not find a less emotionally charged word to express himself? Unless I am mistaken … no, it was he … Skald has a vocabulary extensive enough to annoy his loved ones.
This discussion amuses me, because it is one that would be very hard to have in South Africa. Reason - the Govt. actually legislates against use of kaffir, our version of nigger, as hate speech. There have been a musician who used the word, but not analogous to the blaxploitation & hip-hop reclamation of nigger, more of a complaint or denial. Generally, though, use of the word is crimen injuria and can carry fines. Even worse if used in sporting contexts as diss talk, ask Brydan Klein.