PO, I would just as soon see the word magically disappear, but I do not agree with your assessment of people calling people that devoid of racist undertone.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tstew
Of those three choices, the one most often would be a term of endearment. It is usually not with negative or racist implication or undertone.
So, you mean by your first statement that it's only a racial undertone if used by someone that is not black?
So, you mean by your first statement that it's only a racial undertone if used by someone that is not black?
I disagree with the position that someone who is not black uses the word in a negative way without there being racial undertones. I said earlier that I know that younger white and black kids use the word even to each other as friends...I also said that I did not agree with that.
However, it is not unusual that "bad" words are viewed differently depending on who uses them and in what manner. Using the granddaddy of them all as you did earlier (the "f" word), even with that you hear friends messing around and say "____ you" in jest. It is entirely different when someone else comes along and uses the exact same words with different meaning and intent. I believe that the words themselves are simply the vehicle by which intent is conveyed. Some words, however, are incendiary and have so much historic meaning that it is safer to avoid them altogether.
__________________
There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Chuck Norris lives in Houston.
Either the United States will destroy ignorance, or ignorance will destroy the United States. – W.E.B. DuBois
I disagree with the position that someone who is not black uses the word in a negative way without there being racial undertones. I said earlier that I know that younger white and black kids use the word even to each other as friends...I also said that I did not agree with that.
However, it is not unusual that "bad" words are viewed differently depending on who uses them and in what manner. Using the granddaddy of them all as you did earlier (the "f" word), even with that you hear friends messing around and say "____ you" in jest. It is entirely different when someone else comes along and uses the exact same words with different meaning and intent. I believe that the words themselves are simply the vehicle by which intent is conveyed. Some words, however, are incendiary and have so much historic meaning that it is safer to avoid them altogether.
Well, I could be wrong, but it seemed to me that after the Civil Rights Movement when the "N" word was a very bad thing to use, we moved into HipHop and Rap making it universally okay - as long as you weren't using it in the negative sense.
Well, I could be wrong, but it seemed to me that after the Civil Rights Movement when the "N" word was a very bad thing to use, we moved into HipHop and Rap making it universally okay - as long as you weren't using it in the negative sense.
PO, the examples you started out giving were using it in a negative sense. You were just saying that the people were using it negatively to describe the character and actions of those groups of people and not a reference to their color. I simply don't think that white people call black people "nigger" in a negative way and do it completely devoid of racial undertones.
And even in the black community using it is not universally okay simply because rappers use it. Rappers are not the universal mouthpiece of the black community. Many black people and leaders are very vocal about not using the word in any context.
__________________
There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Chuck Norris lives in Houston.
Either the United States will destroy ignorance, or ignorance will destroy the United States. – W.E.B. DuBois
PO, the examples you started out giving were using it in a negative sense. You were just saying that the people were using it negatively to describe the character and actions of those groups of people and not a reference to their color. I simply don't think that white people call black people "nigger" in a negative way and do it completely devoid of racial undertones.
And even in the black community using it is not universally okay simply because rappers use it. Rappers are not the universal mouthpiece of the black community. Many black people and leaders are very vocal about not using the word in any context.
Well, my son had a black friend that used to come by here before he moved. They would joke around and while playing Playstation I would hear them laughing, roughhousing and both called each other the "N" word. Neither of them were using that in a negative sense and I know that my son isn't prejudice.
I asked him about it later and he said they don't throw that word around just anywhere. He said only good friends can get away with it. LOL!
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