My Thoughts on the 'N' Word.

[GrammerNaziElite]

First off, I'd like to say that the idea of society purposely creating words just so people can be reprimanded for saying them is foolish in it's own. I'm glad that children are learning to say curse words at an early age, because it lessens the power of these words and makes them more acceptable.

But then the 'N' word comes along, and its negative meaning is imbedded in something far more controversial. Racism.

The 'N' word was used as an extremely derogatory term for colored people in the days slavery. Recently, the negro community has batted around the term frequently, but if a white person says it, there will be lawsuits aplenty.

I have two main problems with this word. One is directed at the white community, and the other one at the black community.

First off, I think it is insulting how white people have tried to censor the word in historical documents, or worse, to outright omit it.

I think this is basically saying, "Hey, we're sorry about all those years of mindless enslavement, so we're going to return the favor by covering up the things we said back then."

My second complaint is not how young African-Americans use the term, but how it is received. By using that word commonly they are desensitizing the horrors of their past. However, the larger problem is the way that whites can't say the word. If blacks are going to joke about their past, we sure as hell should be able to too. Be apologized, get over it.

[Christopherr]

Bill Cosby spoke of this.

It was pretty worthwhile.

[promontorium]

The problem with the flagrant usage of "bad" words is exactly what you imply. It becomes meaningless. People who swear profusely are disabling their ability to communicate. They are making their words meaningless, thereby making their entire attempt at communication meaningless.

None of these words were created to be "not spoken". Instead many humans ignorantly think the effect (the words themselves) are the cause of ill emotions. Ill feelings are the cause, and the words are the effect. People don't like this. They literally think they can control human thought and emotion by telling people to not speak in a manner to express themselves. This can be seen in it's logical conclusion in the book "1984" where they just outright ban usage of most words and make communication as simple and ignorant as possible.

The problem with the "N" word is that it has no meaning beyond it's attempt to destroy the humanity of others. There has been in recent decades an attempt to make common this word, along with other words like "bitch" which inherently deride women.

It isn't the words that are the problem. They are the effect. What needs to change is this attitude of "us and them" that develops on many unstable levels and affects people everywhere. There is no us and them. There is me and everyone else. We are individuals. Race is bullshit. Nationality is bullshit. Sex is bullshit. You are you. You are not defined by your geographical location, genetic heritage, or junk in the pants. Those are ancillary aspects. What matters are your actions and your mind. Unfortunately this untaught. People have to discover their "individuality" they have to "find themselves" because we have all been taught wrong. And humans have to figure out in their own lives that simply having a skin color, a flag, or a penis don't make you a better person.

[DraGoN-RaGe-9001]

for words to stop being "bad" we as a society must agree on the fact they are just words and should be freely said without gasps and horror but try telling that to the 300,000,000 Americans.

[Ravariel]

There are no bad words... only bad numbers. 3 5/8... foul. 1/137... well, that... that should just never be used in public. I'm embarrassed to even write it here.

[dearion]

Much of the black community likes to go around using that word thinking that only they can use it. I once had this exact problem when I was young. I was walking around my highschool using the word alot because I figured since I was black only I had the right to say it and no one else who wan't black could. But this is bullshit because we merely mock our roots by using that word. I personally believe that the 'N' word should not be used by anyone. It is a word that has a lot of meaning to it and don't go saying that bitch is the same thing. I don't quite remember learning in my studies about any women being whipped and forced to work on plantations. Now I don't mean to sound like some preaching black guy raging about on the slave days but I am saying that the 'N' word is not something to be taken lightly. But then again who the fuck am I talking to? Probably only two people will read this and start changing thier ways and start smacking themselves for everytime they have ever used the 'N' word because since birth we are taught never to swear and I say fuck and bitch and ass 100 times a day because no one gives a shit what we try to say to them they just turn away and start swearing up a storm. Now maybe, just maybe, one day 1,475 years from now people wont even know what the 'N' word means but till that day comes let's just try to tone it down a little.

[promontorium]

At 5/14/08 03:15 AM, dearion wrote: I don't quite remember learning in my studies about any women being whipped and forced to work on plantations. Now I don't mean to sound like some preaching black guy raging about on the slave days but I am saying that the 'N' word is not something to be taken lightly.

I specifically said the "N" word is used to remove a person's humanity, how much worse can I possibly describe it? But I don't mean to make light the word by pointing out that bitch is becoming just as common to refer to women. Now if you want to play the "who got it worse" game. Women have been subjugated by societies thousands upon thousands of years before the concept of America existed let alone "American slavery". Who got the right to vote first; black men or women? How the fuck can you stand there and claim women aren't worth even a mention when I talk about people claiming superiority over each other. Sexism is older than everything else. And it continued looooong after everything else. To this day. Now it's all dumb. I am the one pointing this out. But I don't go around claiming one is "worse" and therefor deserves exclusive mention. Any kind o f "us vs. them" mentality is wrong.

[promontorium]

I'm sorry I forgot what forum I was on. The answer to my rhetorical question was; black men got the "right" to vote in America over 60 years before women. And that includes white women. So tell all the stories you want about racism but remember a poor black man and a poor white man were high-fiving about voting in some rich white woman's face, long before her granddaughters in their middle age could vote. Sexism in America beat out all other class identifiers. Women pf all origin didn't become human beings until looong after "black" men did.

[HogWashSoup]

Blacks can use the word, Whites cant.

Reason? Because there is no such thing as equality

Equal rights and freedoms is just a dream, it will never happen.

See, we let blacks say the N word because whites are still the majority and the rullers of the country.

We give them that litte bone. Like "Aww isnt he cute trying to fight for his rights...lets give him a little bone"

[NDawg07]

See n*gga and n*gger are very strange to me.

I'm "white" (I dislike that term), but I never once lived in a suburb. I lived in the ghetto all my life. (Moving around alot so it was different ghettos, but all were pretty hard). For the most part I was one of the 2 white kids in the city, and I didn't hang with the other one. So by the time I was 8 I was saying "n*gga" like it was nothing, because it was. It was a term for brotherhood and friendship. It wasn't till I moved further south to a country town and I had to deal with white people that I heard the word "n*gger."

When anyone says, "N*gga," for what it means (friend) it's fine. But when that same guy says, "n*gger" in anger, then it becomes a problem.

*Fun Fact:
The only people that have EVER given me strange looks for sayin n*gga were white people.

*Fun Fact 2:
I couldn't upload this post at first because I hadn't censored those certain words. Which really pisses me off knowing that fuck is fine.

[troubles1]

Well one Day Black people might stop being Racist and start helping out the country, its unfortunate that there is only a small percent of that community who are looking ahead, instead they think they had is so bad, but if the ones who think that opened a Book, they would know history is full of people of all races getting the shaft, yet they overcome it.

If they as a whole started to see the good this country has done, and the fact that in only 100 year period we as a country changed faster and given our people, that being the AMERICAN PEOPLE, better lives and fair treatment other countries took Centuries, to do... what we have done in so short a time span... it is amazing and I am Proud to be a American to know that we are not perfect but we as a whole are trying to get there.
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as far as the word use it if you want, do not get mad if a white person does, its not worth it it will only ruin your day. start thinking we are Americans not segregated groups like Obama and his ex- preacher want us to be. understand that there is a opportunity in this country to do anything you want you just have to do it, blaming people for things you never went through on people who never did it is ignorant, ..
;
also the point can be made that Blacks have to take just as much responsibility for being slaves as whites did for owning them they are equal in a long past period that thankfully has ended..

[PantyWipe]

I love the N word. I think the day we all use EVERY single slur and curse word freely and openly, we take the power that racist assholes have when they say it away from them. I say it loudly and proudly.

[MattBlackguard]

Black people are funny.

[Professor-D-Weed]

As an Irish male I cannot speak of this issue in public, all I can say is that society has changed over the years, and what used to be unacceptable back in the "good 'ol days" is now acceptable, and vise-versa.

[G-Locked]

I'd just like to say to Troubles, Barack Obama has publicly denounced and severed all ties with his ex-pastor.

[troubles1]

At 5/14/08 10:36 PM, G-Locked wrote: I'd just like to say to Troubles, Barack Obama has publicly denounced and severed all ties with his ex-pastor.

after 20 years Thank God Wow he sure is a bright one isn't he now how about all his other ties he has with o for example the Guy who bombed the pentagon and is proud of it he opened his campaign in his home is he going to wait until like his pastor turned on him to change his ways.
;
there is two choices either Obama is the hate mongering racist, and MARXIST EXTREEMIST I think he is, or he is a idiot who has lots of friends who do and say and believe really bad stuff, including his Wife Either way he should not be President..

[GrammerNaziElite]

there is two choices either Obama is the hate mongering racist, and MARXIST EXTREEMIST I think he is, or he is a idiot who has lots of friends who do and say and believe really bad stuff, including his Wife Either way he should not be President..

Or, you know, he could be a normal guy who believes in fair taxes and healthcare for America who just happened to have a crazy person somehow associated with him.

[Dante-Son-Of-Sparda]

would saying 'my nig" be wrong to say?

[Extremewookie]

I find it interesting that the black community says whites can't use the word, but propogate its use through its constant usage.

[G-Locked]

Barack Obama is definitely the most genuine and honest of the three presidential candidates. His politics are deeply rooted from his early days in Chicago, and he is not reducing himself to lowbrow pandering like Clinton.

[butsbutsbutsbutsbuts]

The N word is a swear word like any other, but there are many words like it which are not offensive at all and people who want to make a big deal out of it are very mean.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niger

[butsbutsbutsbutsbuts]

Niger is the name of a country by the way, so people who think people who say Niger should go to prison or whatever are very stupid.

[Korriken]

the irony: in my senior year of high school I gave a presentation at school on the reconstruction era after the civil war and black guy calls me a "stupid cracker" I look at the teacher who is sitting at her desk without saying a word, so i look at em and say, "stupid cracker eh? at least im not a porch monkey." from the expression on the teacher's face, i figure i had shot her dog or something. i went to the office to explain why i decided i had to use a racial slur in class. I tell em what the black guy said and the teacher did nothing to him but threw me out for a few days and told me to give an official apology to the black kid.

my apology: I told em I was sorry that he was raised in a society of double standards where he is allowed to use racist remarks but white people couldn't. I was tossed out for a few more days until i got a lawyer to get the principal to reverse his decision.

[The-evil-bucket]

If people want to say a word, it doesn't matter if it offends me. They have the right to say it and I'll fight for their right to say it.

[mrhardrock]

agree 100%

[RedSkunk]

At 5/19/08 06:34 AM, Korriken wrote: my apology: I told em I was sorry that he was raised in a society of double standards where he is allowed to use racist remarks but white people couldn't. I was tossed out for a few more days until i got a lawyer to get the principal to reverse his decision.

Did you impress anyone?

[ThePretenders]

At 5/19/08 02:15 AM, butsbutsbutsbutsbuts wrote: Niger is the name of a country by the way, so people who think people who say Niger should go to prison or whatever are very stupid.

You pronounce Niger Ni-jer because it was a French colony and is pronounce liked that. If anyone is confused by the name, then I suggest that they read a map.

[PieGraphGlock]

I'm sick of the NAACP. They've just been widening the cultural gap between white and black. It's disgusting. If we are to advance as a "melting pot" society, we have to be able to accept the real, disturbing, and racist past of our nation's past (USA) and move on. Doctors have always been saying that holding onto grudges is extremely unhealthy for an individual, let alone an entire society.

[SeraphimFalling]

I believe i should be allowed to say n***** becuase I should have the same right as a black person. We should be treated equaly, and if a person that is african american can say it then so can i. If they think i shouldnt, then they admit that we are not equals.

[PieGraphGlock]

At 5/14/08 03:15 AM, dearion wrote: It is a word that has a lot of meaning to it and don't go saying that bitch is the same thing. I don't quite remember learning in my studies about any women being whipped and forced to work on plantations.

I don't remember hearing about slaves being whipped. Think about it: if someone is working for you for free, wouldn't you treat them at least half decently so that you can keep morale up and produce the most? Many of my teachers have told me that the "whipping slaves" thing is a gross hyperbole of the slaves' predicament. I wouldn't call it a GROSS hyperbole, but it is a little biased.