And I do mean nigga not nigger, Teenagers use it all the time as a term of affection and respect, copying the example of their rap star idols. Black teenagers use it to white teenagers, white to black, white to white, and so on. There’s not a scintilla of hate in it, just the opposite, and it’s perfectly obvious to all when an ethnic slur is being used and when it isn’t.
When a listener does take offense then don’t use it in their presence, simple as that. But are we really going to excoriate teenagers for using the term affectionately? Where is the harm in taking a hateful word and changing it by usage into its exact opposite? Isn’t that a good thing?
Prompted by this story in which a teen beauty queen has to grovel before the cameras for using the term affectionately with her friends online some years ago when she was about 13. I have zero respect for the usual collection of trolls and creeps who dredged this up from an old blog of hers and tried to brand her as a racist. There is real and ugly racism out there and it isn’t to be found among teens trying to be supercool, most of whom haven’t a racist bone in their bodies.
If you’re going to hang your hat on your confidence that we’re talking about nigga, which is totally different than nigger, don’t we have a little bit of a stumbling block to deal with, considering that the example you cite is of a girl using a text-based medium and spelling it “nigger?”
If there is going to be a lifting of the taboo of “nigga” we may as well shoot for lifting the taboo of “nigger”, too.
There has been a movement for some time (example) to “take back” the word “nigger” in much the same way that “queer” was reappropriated by the gay community.*
Or as Donald Trump so eloquently called it " The L… B… G… T… Q…" community. :rolleyes:
If one’s desire to be supercool trumps one’s desire not to use a historically and currently used racial slur, I’m going to put it to you that they are racist.
I mean, she was young, foolish, all that kind of thing. But that’s not an excuse, that’s a reason.
I remain baffled by this great urge to use the n-word among white people, period. I’ve managed to live 45 years without having any desire to use that word. What’s the attraction?
This is an odd linguistic jig you are dancing. When people say nigga’ they mean “nigger”. It’s just slang for nigger not a entirely different word. Your question needs to ask " Is it time to lift the taboo on nigger?"
I find the word, in all its forms, offensive. As I do all racial/ethnic slurs. That having been said, the use of this term (or any other) “in-group” is different than the use of it by a not member.
Best not to use it at all, lest careless usage get you the kind of treatment that met Nicholas Cage in “Wild at Heart” when he cast aspersions on the masculinity of a group of motorcycle enthusiasts.
I see the resistance is strong. But if you have teenage kids, as I have, you’ll know that, despite adult shock and horror, they will continue to use it. Why? Because they hear it used all the damn time by the artists they respect. Kids will imitate, they’re good at that. But as long as they’re using it non-pejoratively among others who take no objection then I say good luck to them. If their generation or the next can remove the sting from the word then so much the better. Yes, it will still be used by racists but I assure you those people can make the words negro, black man, sound just as insulting and offensive. Any term can be a hate term in the mouths of those who hate.
How’s about we start with using ‘niggardly’ in public. There is nothing untoward whatsoever in it’s etymology, but most people are fucking stupid so what can you do.
I still feel weird admitting I’m prejudice, as in, “That dude puts mayo on his hot dog. That sounds disgusting, though I admit I’m prejudice”.
Well, people are taking offense. So I guess no, the answer is, it’s not time to lift the taboo and white people will just have continue their unspeakable suffering.