Why can't white people call black people the n word

[deadly_habit]

contemaplating
complemacating

[nowaysj]

You can't use a word and expect others not to use the word. Language and the human brain don't work that way. If you use a word, it's use will grow and spread.

The wild card in US black/white racial relations is hispanic peoples. The younger hispanic generation uses that word constantly in general conversation. It's jokes, seeing black people react to it. Like what are you going to do... the hispanics weren't your oppressors, they're themselves oppressed by the whites, and they all grew up listening to hip hop. Jokes on the wild card. Use a word and it's use will spread.

Funny story: I was in a new client's office, he was Nigerian, the wealthy son of the Nigerian minister who privatized the oil industry in Nigeria. There is a shotgun under his desk because he has a lot of portable valuable merchandise in his office. My business partner, who is Chinese, is with me, and has to take a call. He starts speaking in mandarin, apparently the word for "that" kind of sounds like "niqqa" so he goes on "niqqa this and niqqa that" I'm looking at my clients face get progressively sour with each utterance. I was doing a rapid calculus, at what point are we going to loose this client, at what point is the shotgun going to come out? But we worked it out, we joked about it. It's jokes if everyone keeps their head.

[ketamine]

You can't use a word and expect others not to use the word. Language and the human brain don't work that way. If you use a word, it's use will grow and spread.

Innit.

See? Can’t stop saying that and I don’t live in England.

[scspkr99]

You can't use a word and expect others not to use the word. Language and the human brain don't work that way. If you use a word, it's use will grow and spread.

I can't agree with this, I've listened to more Hip Hop than pretty much every other genre of music and my brain certainly isn't wired to use the word.

I can get that certain people would be unable to place the most common usage of the word in the context that they hear it and their exposure to it would make it acceptable useage, this is obviously still wrong. I'd also argue that there are people that would have grown up in areas where it was accepted / common for the white community to use such language but understand that it's not acceptable for the white community to use it now.

I also get that my use of black and white communities in my posts in this thread is also lazy and wrong as if to suggest some homogenous groups where that is obviously not the case but I think you get my point.

[noam]

[seckle]

All I really have to say is that slavery happened a very long time ago and nobody alive today was a part of it.

that doesn't mean its acceptable AT ALL. history doesn't change the impact of words. if we started thinking that way, then we'd be living in denial.

slavery shouldn't be viewed from a narrow black american experience, as thats just the tip of the iceberg. franz fanon in the "wretched earth" and "black skin white masks" made this point nearly universal. slavery is much more an issue of empire, than specific examples of its use around the world. slavery is much older than the empires that we all come from. its etymology goes back to medieval eastern europe and the "slavic" countries (present day yugoslavia/serbia/croatia/czech republic). its as old as recorded history and some say that its been described in the bible. fanon, although talking about post colonialism from an african perspective, showed that man's true nature proven by history, is to control, and subjugate others. the idea of profit only came into the picture, when empires driven by religious fervor were created. the crusades for example, was one of the most profitable enslavements in history, as it was done in the name of god, by which riches could be taken.

this doesn't remove the tragedy of it by any means, but it does show you that ultimately any word that comes from so much pain and misery, should come with the weight of its consequences. no matter how much revisionism gets applied, its still a word used to control, and divide people. to put an estimate on the amount of global slavery in history would be impossible. you'd be talking billions of people, even before you get to africa, south america, asia, etc

[Sirius]

contempatating the compilacated shit dogg!

shit,, niqqa dis vid sez niqqa lyk 35 tymz niqqa!

!!chea niqqa... ya digg!

[apmje]

When you use a word which pinpoints someones certain skin colour, thats bordering on racism but only becomes racist when used in a malicious context. Thats the way I see verbal racism, if you were to call a random person a niqqer or 'Successful Black Man'...then he may take that as malicious since he doesn't know you. So just don't do it...why even argue over it??

[test_recordings]

I've known people get fcuk'd up for saying it in public, all the middle-class white boys I know that say it are also pretty ignorant and have no black friends either...

[deadly_habit]

it's one of those lovely double standards
that's our word cracker

[capo ultra]

A side effect of racism is the inability to understand context

[Dead Rats]

I'm not sure why some people think that they can get away with saying the word nigga. You can use it in a very light context if you're talking to one of your mates like "Hey, can I have a dorito?" "sure thing, nigga'" but acting suprised and kicking up a stink when you're using it in public or talking to someone you don't really know is a bit laughable. What's the point in even risking it?

[dubsola]

this doesn't remove the tragedy of it by any means, but it does show you that ultimately any word that comes from so much pain and misery, should come with the weight of its consequences. no matter how much revisionism gets applied, its still a word used to control, and divide people. to put an estimate on the amount of global slavery in history would be impossible. you'd be talking billions of people, even before you get to africa, south america, asia, etc

Truth.

Also, there's no such thing as being 'not racist'. Everyone does or racist things once in a while. The trick is to stop and think about why you're doing it.

[deadly_habit]

but cracker or honkie is ok?
Cracker - Noun. Slang word used to refer to those of European ancestry. The word is thought to have either derived from the sound of a whip being cracked by slave owners, or because crackers are generally white in color.

1. honkie
a derogatory term for a Caucasian person.
there are three main theories for the origin of the word:
1. the word originated from the practice of white males wishing to hire African-American prostitutes in the 1920's, and going to the appropriate part of town while honking their car horns to attract the whores. Some versions state that the reason for this was that the white men were too afraid to actually stop in those neighborhoods, so the honking would bring the hookers to them. Others say that since few African-Americans could afford cars back in that time, the honking signaled a higher-paying white client and would quickly gain the prostitutes' attention.
2. the term comes from the word "honky-tonk", which was used as early as 1875 in reference to wild saloons in the Old West. Patrons of such disreputable establishments were referred to as "honkies", not intended as a racial slur but still a disparaging term.
3. "honkie" is a variation of "hunky" and "bohunk", derogatory terms for Hungarian, Bohemian, and Polish immigrant factory workers and hard laborers in the early 1900's. African-Americans began to use the word in reference to all whites regardless of specific nation of origin.
also apelled "honky".

they're equally ugly words, but a double standard exists
and with how much it gets tossed about in rap/hip hop and kids idolizing these artists and impressionable youth and such...

[dubsola]

but cracker or honkie is ok?

Well they're not great, just like calling someone a complete asshole isn't great. It might be ok if it's your mate calling you that and you know he's joking, but still.

BUT - there isn't a long history of black people treating white people like animals. So there isn't that weight, the weight of all those lynchings, beatings, slavery, name-calling, etc etc, injustices basically, behind cracker or honky that there is with the n word.

[Sirius]

!!chea

[deadly_habit]

but cracker or honkie is ok?

Well they're not great, just like calling someone a complete asshole isn't great. It might be ok if it's your mate calling you that and you know he's joking, but still.

BUT - there isn't a long history of black people treating white people like animals. So there isn't that weight, the weight of all those lynchings, beatings, slavery, name-calling, etc etc, injustices basically, behind cracker or honky that there is with the n word.

just because there is a history of something doesn't mean the current generation that isn't affected by it should get a pass

[BLAHBLAHJAH]

dull info

[Pedro Sánchez]

This thread is an embarrassment.

[Pedro Sánchez]

.