# The Main Difference Between The 2000s And The 2010s **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 27, 2018, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-difference-between-the-2000s-and-the-2010s/816854 "2018-06-27T18:11:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![uqekizig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19b73/32.png) [@uqekizig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uqekizig)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-difference-between-the-2000s-and-the-2010s/816854/1 "2018-06-27T18:11:00Z")
back in the 2000s, if you said the N-word, everyone around you said “OMG, what a racist shithead! I’m not talking to you anymore! Go to hell!” and you lost all your friends. In the 2010s, if you say the N-word, half of the people around you say “YEAH, right on, fuck political correctness! Fucking special snowflakes offended by a word! FREE SPEECH, LIBTARDS!” and the other half beats you to a bloody pulp and works hard to track down your workplace to get you fired and tracks down your address to deliver 100 pizzas, and a riot forms between the two sides trying to decide how they should treat the guy who said the N-word, and it ends up on the news. What happened when you said the N-word in other decades? If you said the N-word in the 1950s, did people just not respond at all? ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-difference-between-the-2000s-and-the-2010s/816854/2 "2018-06-27T18:59:24Z")
I’m not sure where you live, but if I said the n word in southern California, I’m pretty sure everyone around me would be appalled. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-difference-between-the-2000s-and-the-2010s/816854/3 "2018-06-27T20:15:51Z")
A lot depends on the location. In the 50s, you could use it in the South with impunity. In the North, it was considered rude and you would be discouraged from using it again. ---
**Author:** ![uqekizig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19b73/32.png) [@uqekizig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uqekizig)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2018, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-difference-between-the-2000s-and-the-2010s/816854/4 "2018-06-27T20:21:29Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > A lot depends on the location. > > In the 50s, you could use it in the South with impunity. In the North, it was considered rude and you would be discouraged from using it again. So basically there’s a linear trend with usage of the N-word becoming more socially punishable over time. At this rate, the 2030s will have vigilantes programming web crawlers to find instances of the N-word all over the internet, and AI getting their dox and sending automated messages to their employers and parents and friends. It’s a dystopian future. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-difference-between-the-2000s-and-the-2010s/816854/5 "2019-01-13T04:46:36Z")
1\> There’s a non-linear but long term trend in our society that being an asshole is less acceptable in public, yes. 2\> You know the meaning and history of the word, don’t be obtuse about it and pretend it isn’t anything wrong. 3\> Social pressure has existed as long as society and tribes. As our population gets larger and the interconnectivity of the world greater, aiming a vicious group based insult at someone can have a larger audience that you intended. This is no longer the village to village majority ethnic group controls the conversation world that allows such things with only limited consequences. It honestly doesn’t matter if you don’t like it or don’t agree with it. It is a consequence of democratization and modern communications. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-difference-between-the-2000s-and-the-2010s/816854/6 "2019-01-13T05:18:40Z")
Oh, Please! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-difference-between-the-2000s-and-the-2010s/816854/7 "2019-01-13T06:26:05Z")
I grew up in West Texas. The N-word was so common, I don’t think I had an inkling it was an insult until I was well into my teens. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-difference-between-the-2000s-and-the-2010s/816854/8 "2019-01-13T06:31:18Z")
Then and now, if I said it in anger, I’d expect and deserve a punch in the face! Same as any derogatory term used in anger. Note to those who would point to my posts in my non-politically correct words thread, the key is I said in anger. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-difference-between-the-2000s-and-the-2010s/816854/9 "2019-01-13T06:44:02Z")
Oh, I can already see the posts…so it’s okay to say if I’m not angry? No, not then or now. I can honestly say, to the best of my recollection, I’ve never uttered (though I have thought) any “racist” term in anger. Have it used it in a joke, yes. Would I do it today, no. ---
**Author:** ![JB99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/439d5e/32.png) [@JB99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JB99)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-difference-between-the-2000s-and-the-2010s/816854/10 "2019-01-13T07:41:46Z")
You people are actually responding to six month old gibberish? ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-difference-between-the-2000s-and-the-2010s/816854/11 "2019-01-13T08:25:00Z")
And you’re responding to responses to six month old gibberish? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-difference-between-the-2000s-and-the-2010s/816854/12 "2019-01-13T08:43:25Z")
I suspect people who missed this thread first time (probably because of its less-than-clear title) were intrigued by the OP as they’d recently posted another [couple](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=868734)[threads](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=868743)that screamed “just joined” but surprisingly that was not the case, so they were looking into their posting history. But I’m just speculating. And the rise in the unacceptability of the word nigger is directly parallel to the rise in unacceptability of racism in general, no surprises there. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-difference-between-the-2000s-and-the-2010s/816854/13 "2019-01-13T13:02:53Z")
_sends MrDibble a pizza_ Is pineapple OK? ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-difference-between-the-2000s-and-the-2010s/816854/14 "2019-01-13T17:36:50Z")
On pizza? NO! ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-difference-between-the-2000s-and-the-2010s/816854/15 "2019-01-13T17:51:28Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > On pizza? > > NO! It it so unacceptable that you now have to send me pizza? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-difference-between-the-2000s-and-the-2010s/816854/16 "2019-01-13T20:18:33Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > _sends MrDibble a pizza_ > > Is pineapple OK? As long as it also has ham, sure it is. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-difference-between-the-2000s-and-the-2010s/816854/17 "2019-01-13T20:56:04Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > As long as it also has ham, sure it is. Or anchovies. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-difference-between-the-2000s-and-the-2010s/816854/18 "2019-01-13T21:30:39Z")
I can think of several differences between this decade and the previous one that are bigger than the OP’s premise. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2019, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-main-difference-between-the-2000s-and-the-2010s/816854/19 "2019-01-13T21:46:34Z")
> [@uqekizig](#): > > back in the 2000s, if you said the N-word, everyone around you said “OMG, what a racist shithead! I’m not talking to you anymore! Go to hell!” and you lost all your friends. > > In the 2010s, if you say the N-word, half of the people around you say “YEAH, right on, fuck political correctness! Fucking special snowflakes offended by a word! FREE SPEECH, LIBTARDS!” and the other half beats you to a bloody pulp and works hard to track down your workplace to get you fired and tracks down your address to deliver 100 pizzas, and a riot forms between the two sides trying to decide how they should treat the guy who said the N-word, and it ends up on the news. > > What happened when you said the N-word in other decades? If you said the N-word in the 1950s, did people just not respond at all? In 1856, if you said that slavery was evil, someone might come up to you later and beat you half to death (while a friend held off any defenders with a gun) - and the guy who beat you would be hailed as a hero (by people who admire cowards), receive no jail time and be voted into high office.