[forbuss]

Disclaimer: I am not racist at all and this thread is not meant to offend anyone.

I just wanted to start a thread about a conversation I had with my friend about Racism - particularly involving "The N Word".

Personally, when I hear that word it makes me very uncomfortable - I don't care who is saying it. I am a white male, and I am also a member of a minority. I had a conversation with my black friend about the use of this word, and I asked him not to say it around me because it made me very uncomfortable to hear it (or any word that is demeaning someone based on race, sexual orientation, etc). He completely understood, but some other people can't see why this would make me uncomfortable.

If you take race out of it, it is about equality. I respect people from all walks of life, and when I hear that word it makes me think of how bad people were treating other people, and I hate it.

Thoughts?

[Gunnair]

I dislike it as well, but it's also one of those racial insults (similar to fag for gays) that can be used only by those it targets. That's a hypocrisy that I really really dislike.

[andyt]

If people don't want to be called a certain word, they shouldn't use it either. Blacks calling each other nigger is just bullshit when they get bent all out of shape when a white person uses it. Words shouldn't matter, but they do. I can get by pretty well without using them.

[forbuss]

I agree. I do no not use that word either for that reason.

[andyt]

forbuss wrote:

I agree. I do no not use that word either for that reason.

Maybe your buddy is trying to show you he considers you one of the guys. An honorary nigger, sort of thing. Try calling him that and see what happens.

I agree with your stand, hopefully the message will get thru to him.

[Strutz]

I also dislike that particular word and other like it that are meant only to demean others.

Ugly words that to me are used by those who have a hatred towards those they target that is mostly fueled by ignorance.

[PublicAnimalNo9]

People are silly. Words have no power other than that which the recipient chooses to give them.

And for me, that specific word has no racial meaning to it. "N****r" is a lifestyle/attitude, not a skin colour.

I know numerous Black people that I certainly don't consider to be "that word" but by the same token I also know some people of various other races, including White, that fit the definition quite well.

[ShepherdsDog]

You're such a cracker.

[GreenTiger]

There are a number of caustic words out there I think we all have heard most of them. They can cause some very real pain to good people. There were two times in my life were I this kind of stuff applied to me and it does sting.

When you mix with people of other races have dinner, drinks, work with, date or anything else in life you will conclude that race us about as significant as their sign of the Zodiac.

When one hears words like that in decent company I get the feeling that somebody is trying to transport us back to a very ugly time and place that none of us wants to go to.

Why would you want to cause offense to good meaning people? If you dislike somebody or what they do say so but you don't need to use that kind of language to communicate anything.

[BRAH]

[Brenda]

They don't use the word "Nigger". They use the slang term "Nigga".
I despise it, the older generation of my black friends despise it, but the younger generation (25 and younger) have no problem and use it everywhere.

Generation-gap?

[OnTheIce]

ShepherdsDog wrote:

You're such a cracker.

People have always told me that this term should offend me...I'm a white male.

As said below words have no power other than that which the recipient chooses to give them.

[BartSimpson]

What offends me most about the word is that it only applies to blacks. Seriously, I know lots of people for whom the term "N*gger" would properly apply (many of them being amongst my relatives). It's sad that with English being such an adaptable language that we can't use this term to succinctly describe those folks of any race who so richly deserve such a label.

[andyt]

BartSimpson wrote:

What offends me most about the word is that it only applies to blacks. Seriously, I know lots of people for whom the term "N*gger" would properly apply (many of them being amongst my relatives). It's sad that with English being such an adaptable language that we can't use this term to succinctly describe those folks of any race who so richly deserve such a label.

Pretty meaningless, since the word derives from black. Lots of other good English words to describe people as you want. What's next, you want to use the term kike to describe those folks of any race who so richly deserve such a label? Nigger should go in the trash can of history. And that includes Nigga, Brenda. To me that's just a bullshit excuse.

[Tricks]