My late Great Uncle said the same thing about nigger meaning just a bad person. His favorite “riddle” was “If a figger’s just a figger, then what’s a nigger?” The answer, “A nigger is a horrible person. They ain’t got to be black.” I never understood what was funny about it, but he was a drunk.
And, yes, I know what a figger is. But if I spell the word properly, you miss the only point I can see in the joke–that the two words rhyme.
She explained that. She said that, with the quality of the people playing, she doesn’t expect to be able to find a guild that would outlaw the term, at least not anytime soon. I bet she was hoping there was a Doper guild she could join and get away from this crap.
Yes. A white (or Asian or Hispanic or Amerindian or Australian Aboriginall) can use it under duress or in the context of bad humour (akin with joking about murder or etc.)
It doesn’t just drive away black people, it drives away everybody…of color. There’s a reason why your guild is all white. I mean, I am not black but I am not likely to join a guild in which “nigger” or other racial [del]epitephs[/del]… [del] ephitephs[/del] curses are being flung around willy-nilly. And actually, this is one of the major reasons I never play games online - the racist comments, and the teeny-bopper mentality.
ETA: And the above is part of it, too. It doesn’t matter why you are saying it. It still tells me I have no reason to hang around you, not even on an online guild.
Think about it this way…what would motivate a person to make racist comment if they’re not a racist? Probably it’s because he thinks it makes him sound cool, or it gives him cred with his friends. Is that something you want to be around? A bunch of people who think that’s cool?
I play in a progression guild working on Heroic-mode raid encounters, and we have absolutely zero of this sort of behavior. Sure, we occassionally get a random “fuck” or “god damnit” or whatever, but all but a couple of the guild are adults. In fact, I can say with absolute certainty that anyone who made blatantly racist comments would get gkicked as fast as an officer found out, because they’ve done it in the past.
The reason that sort of behavior gets tollerated is because of this idea that it has to exist, but there are plenty of high-end and mature raiding guilds out there, though, admittedly, there’s plenty of immature ones too. I strongly encourage you to look for other guilds because gaming, especially social gaming like WoW, is enormously more enjoyable when you can enjoy the social aspects of it. In fact, its not uncommon that I’ll stick around on Mumble even when I’m not in game chatting with guild members precisely because I enjoy the social environment that our guild has
Specifically to the racist question, I do think it’s possible to say nigger and not be racist, but the examples given by the OP, while not necessarily racist in their initial intent, are equally as bad because of the complete lack of social awareness that goes along with it. I think racism necessarily requires a level of discrimination, consciously or not, which is exactly why saying nigger in a context such as this thread or as a greeting isn’t racist. However, even with it not necessarily intended as racist, that a black person would join the guild, get offended by the casual use of nigger, and then be told he’s an over-sensitive pussy pretty much means to me that they do, in fact, have underlying racist attitudes.
That all said, I’ve never heard it thrown around in a gaming context, certainly no where near the level of words like fag or retard. So the idea that casual usage of racial slurs is somehow normal and others are being over-sensitive is just bizarre.
-Sarcasm
-Humour
-Anger
-Ignorance (For instance there was a label to a furniture piece made in China that described the colour as “nigger brown”)
It’s a word that has no place in modern language, other than to show that bigoted people lack a conscious.
But she’s gone out of her way to paint her self as this sensitive, enlightened person. I’m thinking also of her post in the white privilege thread–she listed examples of how our culture privileges white that many other posters thought to be nitpicky. If you’re really that concerned, I’d think that just quitting WoW entirely would be preferable to racism. If quitting isn’t an option, that’s fine, but maybe you shouldn’t go out of your way to talk about being racially sensitive.
I didn’t get across my meaning. Sarcasm, humor, and anger can all be expressed in other ways…why use a racial slur to express them, if you’re not a racist? What’s the motivator to use that specific term? Or other racist words? Probably because they think it sounds edgier and cooler than other insults. That is, if they’re not actual racists.
Oh, and as far as ignorance goes…these guys don’t live in China. They’re not ignorant, at least on this subject.
It would make me utterly uncomfortable. I would leave. I have been in other situations (dinners/visits with my former in-laws) where racial epithets (:D) caused me to leave and not go back.
This is it right here. It doesn’t even matter if he’s a racist. What’s clear is that he’s an asshole, which is really the more meaningful characteristic. A racist who kept it to himself would be preferable to game with than an obnoxious little dick like this.
Lets be fair here too, WoW is definitely a predominantly pasty non-melanin past time.
**Is it possible for a white person to use the n-word and not be a racist? **
To me, this question is like “Is it possible to stand on the street corner at 3 am; wearing daisy-dukes, a transparent halter top, and platform heels in the dead of winter; and flirt provocatively with male passerbys as though soliciting them for money in exchange for sex…and not be a prostitute?”
The answer, of course, is yes its possible. Lots of things are possible. But why waste time contemplating unverifiable possibilities like this? Either reject their company or don’t.
Next time someone asks me why, as an RPG lover, I have not jumped on the MMO bandwagon, I’m just going to link to this post.
alea iacta est on Earthen Ring
Why I can’t move? I’ve already spent hundreds of bucks transferring servers in the last couple of years so I really don’t want to move again. I’m a huge alt-oholic so I’d either have to leave behind my alts, or start new ones (fucking ugh). The progression guilds on my server frankly ARE limited to immature bro-types, with the exception of one. That one also happens to be the top progressed guild on the server and they are 1) not recruiting publicly and haven’t been for a long, long time, and 2) they get a LOT of people begging to join them based on their progression status alone. There’s no way in hell I could get in, I’m a raider but I’m not server-first material.
Anyway, I feel this is all tangential to the issue. You can judge me for staying in the guild if you like. But it’s the lesser of several evils. I’m not quitting the game over this.
Well, then congratulations, you’re hanging out with racists. Is there a Hallmark card for that?
For a sec there, I thought you were spelling out some superhero’s magic phrase.
Sure it has a place - every language needs taboo words. It used to be “motherfucker”, now it’s “nigger”. Yes, it’s offensive - that’s the point.
Regards,
Shodan