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Calling it "the N-Word" is silly. (1 Viewer)

Concept Coop said:

N*****.
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Calling it "N*****" is silly. I would never advocate using it as an insult or to refer to anyone, obviously. But can you stop pretending that it has magical powers?

 
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#####rdly.

Wow.  I didn't write the "n-word".  I wrote a word that isn't spelled that way.  Is this really necessary?

 
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Concept Coop said:

When I actually tried to type it out, it displayed as: "." But you knew that.
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Here is a helpful hint: If you change one letter within the word to italic, then the forum will display the full word that you want to display.

Go ahead and try it if you doubt me.

 
I actually agree with the premise, and I say this without implying any sort of "why can't non-black people say it too!!?!"

I think the censoring of a vulgar word while still allowing easy identification of it is silly, whether it be n-word, f-word, c-word, whatever. If you're going to allow specification of what the word being used is, there is no good reason to not allow the particular letters to be printed.

 
Concept Coop said:
I would never advocate using it as an insult or to refer to anyone, obviously. But can we stop pretending that it has magical powers? 
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Not an important issue imo. There’s a lot more important things to discuss like why are their so many videos of the police abusing the rights of citizens? What kind of country do we really want?

 
Ilov80s said:
Not an important issue imo. There’s a lot more important things to discuss like why are their so many videos of the police abusing the rights of citizens? What kind of country do we really want?
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Because that's what people in government naturally do. Just because we have document that rules more than they do, that says they can't, isn't going to stop them from doing it. All it means is that if the people who are victimized by it get their case to the supreme court, then they get to hear the court tell the government "yeah, you need to stop doing that, mmmkay."

 
Politician Spock said:
Because that's what people in government naturally do. Just because we have document that rules more than they do, that says they can't, isn't going to stop them from doing it. All it means is that if the people who are victimized by it get their case to the supreme court, then they get to hear the court tell the government "yeah, you need to stop doing that, mmmkay."
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I think we can actually do things to reduce it. We should discuss these things. Not all governments abuse their citizens to the same level.

 
Ilov80s said:
I think we can actually do things to reduce it. We should discuss these things. Not all governments abuse their citizens to the same level.
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This requires that people care about their rights. When I see so many people on facebook making comments like "things would be easier if people just do what police tell them to do", it's clear a good chunk of the population is willing to just give up their rights. 

 
Politician Spock said:
This requires that people care about their rights. When I see so many people on facebook making comments like "things would be easier if people just do what police tell them to do", it's clear a good chunk of the population is willing to just give up their rights. 
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Very true. I don't where or why the conservative limited governement faction of our country lost it's way. 

 
I'm honestly surprised this thread hasn't been locked and deleted. This is an extremely inappropriate question to post publicly with a shrug of one's shoulders as though it's an original thought that couldn't have been answered with five minutes of googling. It creates an unwelcoming climate and should really be subject to moderation. I'd rather not speak for anyone else, especially people of color with regards to a subject like this, but a bunch of white dudes really don't need to be weighing in on how a word that bears the weight of hundreds of years of violence and oppression should be used. I'm going to assume the OP isn't black, here, and I apologize if I'm assuming wrongly. But it's not your place to decide what the word should mean to people who are affected by it, what power it should have... even if your intentions are good you don't know how it feels to hear that word spoken casually by someone who never felt the force of it in their lives.

I'm just going to leave here an excerpt from a book I read recently -- "So You Want to Talk About Race," by Ijeoma Oluo. It's a very good book and I suggest anyone who feels like this question demands an answer just go read this instead.

People of color have inherited the pain of these words. The oppression they face today is a direct result of how these words were used in the past. Today, black people are still suffering from the ghettoization, poverty, police brutality, and everyday discrimination that these words helped build.

In contrast, white people have inherited the privilege that these words made possible. They have inherited the advantage of not having, in this generation and previous, the specific set of disadvantages placed in their way that these words placed on the lives of people of color. This is why, even if some of these words have been “reclaimed” by some in the community they were used to oppress, when these words are used by white people, that use will continue to be abusive. Because they are still benefitting from how these words have been used while people of color still suffer.

Does this mean that a well-meaning white person who is not trying to oppress people of color, absolutely cannot use these words—just because others may have had ill intent? No, you are free to say just about anything you want in a country with free speech. And even if people of color wanted to force someone to stop, we have very little power to do so. But the important question is, why would a well-meaning white person want to say these words in the first place? Why would you want to invoke that pain on people of color? Why would you want to rub in the fact that you are privileged enough to not be negatively impacted by the legacy of racial oppression that these words helped create?

A lot of people want to skip ahead to the finish line of racial harmony. Past all this unpleasantness to a place where all wounds are healed and the past is laid to rest. I believe that this is where some of the desire (excluding openly racist #######s who just want to make people of color feel unsafe) to use racially taboo language comes from. But words only lose their power when first the impact of those words are no longer felt, not the other way around. We live in a world where the impacts of systemic racism are still threatening the lives of countless people of color today.

Yes, this does mean that people of color can freely say some words that white people cannot without risking scorn or condemnation. That may seem very unfair to some, maybe even to you.

But it is fair.

It is completely fair that a word used to help create and maintain the oppression of others for your benefit would not be able to be used by you without invoking that oppression, while people of color who had never had the power to oppress with those words would be able to use them without invoking that same oppression.

The real unfairness lies in the oppression and inequality that these words helped create and maintain.

“Just get over it,” some people say, as if the pain of racial oppression is a switch you can just turn off.

You can’t “get over” something that is still happening. Which is why black Americans can’t “get over” slavery or Jim Crow. It may be quite a while—likely past all of our lifetimes—before white people will be able to say “” without harming black people.
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I'd bet this is probably the response the OP was looking for, and I appreciate the efforts of others to avoid taking the bait. I'm not going to get further involved in a discussion, so don't bother. But in the absence of a mod just locking it up, I think it needs to be said.

 
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drpill said:
I'm honestly surprised this thread hasn't been locked and deleted. This is an extremely inappropriate question to post publicly with a shrug of one's shoulders as though it's an original thought that couldn't have been answered with five minutes of googling. It creates an unwelcoming climate and should really be subject to moderation. I'd rather not speak for anyone else, especially people of color with regards to a subject like this, but a bunch of white dudes really don't need to be weighing in on how a word that bears the weight of hundreds of years of violence and oppression should be used. I'm going to assume the OP isn't black, here, and I apologize if I'm assuming wrongly. But it's not your place to decide what the word should mean to people who are affected by it, what power it should have... even if your intentions are good you don't know how it feels to hear that word spoken casually by someone who never felt the force of it in their lives.
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I could be mistaken but I don't think Concept Coop is a white dude


 
When I was playing WR in college, we had a QB named Naeger.  One game, I ran a fade route down my team's sideline and I caught the ball but was out of bounds.  I said out loud, "keep me inbounds, Naeger."  One of my coaches heard me and thought I was talking to the ref, who was black.  It took me a while to get his foot out of my backside to explain what it was I said.

 
Pipes said:
I could be mistaken but I don't think Concept Coop is a white dude
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Cool. If true, I've already offered my apologies. It does change the context of the post for sure. The general point would still stand, but I'd feel a little silly lecturing basically no one. :P  

 
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