N-Word. No place in today's society.

The weight of a word talks about our history. Of the past...

We live in the present and the present shows us that that same word means something else all together. Two African Americans that call each other N....
Must mean that it has lost its weight.

Besides of the fact that I never seen it being an issue in Europe.
Those who hang on to old meanings and uses of a word are also the ones that are responsible for the word to keep its weight.

IMHO

Probably not. I don't use the word personally, but in my experience, the ones who are most responsible for keeping that word around are African Americans themselves. If the word is so bad, then they should probably stop using it. I get the impression that it's not so bad anymore or else it wouldn't be used so much by the ones who are supposed to be offended by it the most.

Comparing it to "honkey" is quite ridiculous though. I don't know nor have I met any white person who was offended by that word though I'm sure they're out there. It doesn't even come close to the negative weight of the N word, either.

reply to post by Kratos1220


No I dont get offended by it but it is the same, they are both demeaning words based on someones skin color. So they are comparable.

What difference does it make to the OP? If you are a middle aged white guy then why does it matter to you at all? Aren't you the one always fighting for a persons right to choose who they have sex with, but they can't choose what they call each other? Weird.

Originally posted by Christian Voice
Aren't you the one always fighting for a persons right to choose who they have sex with, but they can't choose what they call each other? Weird.

One is offense, the other isn't. It's called "thinking on separate issues".

I'll weigh in and then run from the forum as I'm pelted with tomatoes.

Language evolves.

There I said it.

Now, I would never say the n-word. It bother's me,personally and I'm a white chick. But I get that the use of it among African-Americans, particularly men, has cultural importance.

It's no different IMHO than when a woman calls another woman a b-word versus when a man calls a woman a b-word. There's tons of sub-text there.

However, again, language is changing.There are several other words whose meaning has evolved. I'm mean, come on, poor Jennifer Anniston, she needs to be in group therapy sessions with the South Park Boys and Harley Riders.

Time will heal these wounds. One generation's mores are not the same as the next ones.

Originally posted by Sumdumguy
ive heard asians called bananas,yellows(dont get how thats really bad but ohwell) and slant eyes based on physical features. Itas for the rest i dont know any color/physical based racial slurs.

I don’t mean racial or ethic slurs… every race or nationality has a racial or ethnic slur but every racial or ethnic group when they are referred to in the proper sense are referred to by their national origin except for the dark skinned people from the continent of Africa… many of them are referred to in the “proper” sense, as they are referred to in this thread as “blacks”. It’s like they’ve been stripped of their host of national identities and ethnic origins through 200 years of slavery and grouped into one homogeneous term according to a color… “blacks”

reply to post by soleprobe


asians were slaves aswell and they were called yellow, chink, slant eye, and a host of other names some of which were based on there color but they have made a comeback from that and i can say that i have never heard them call each other chinks like the black people call each other 'n-word's. Maybe this is why they dont have as many racial problems or problems with white people. and I dont call them African-American either because for the most part they have never even been to africa they are americans, black americans just as i am a white american. It all comes down to the fact that its just a word, get over it. I mean honky and cracker and stuff have no meaning to us because we dont let it get to us we look at it as just a word and if black people did the same it would slowly die just like all the others.

[edit on 21-8-2010 by Sumdumguy]

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[edit on Sat Aug 21 2010 by DontTreadOnMe]

Originally posted by kosmicjack

Time will heal these wounds. One generation's mores are not the same as the next ones.

only if we make the changes now for the future.

no tomato throwing here, just thought i would comment.

people do not necessarily appreciate labels that exclude or constantly seprerate eachother, we have individual names that serve this purpose.

banishing a word from use does not magically dismiss the "internal instinctual mechanisms" that determine priorities, priorities which affect peoples' (and other species') intentions, actions and behaviors.

i think peoples' intentions determine their priorities, their priorities determine their intentions, their intentions determine their actions and behaviors.

words? they are formed in the process.

Originally posted by kosmicjack
Now, I would never say the n-word. It bother's me,personally and I'm a white chick. But I get that the use of it among African-Americans, particularly men, has cultural importance.

I have to ask why? Can someone please tell me why a racial epithet that has been used for centuries now be used as easily as saying "dude"? There were lives that were spent to get rid of this crap. Now it's the word to use. I don't get it and I don't think older Blacks care for it either.

reply to post by intrepid


Well, I'm not a black dude but...I would imagine it's a way of taking it back. Reclaiming it. Subconsciously taking the social power out of it.



Hell, I don't know. I don't have a degree in sociology or linguistics, I just pretend on ATS. But I don't think I actually need one to grasp the cultural differentiation and nuance of it.

I'm just going to call everyone nword
" yo nword- sup?"
actually my grandad was very racist -
some "darkies" robbed him and took his diamond ring
and that was that for him and anybody that wasnt white.
and i mean anybody with as much as a tan.
although i was properly raised to respect all beings-
i have a racist bone. i make sport of it. i'm not even fond of most white folk.
giving someone respect, is not the same as embracing them as brothers.
sorry bro- i aint your bro..
but,i give everyone an equal chance to be someone i admire.
and try to set a good example for my sons.
i've had my less than stellar moments -
-makes it easy to cut someone some slack.
just tryin to get by without shovin-



[edit on 21-8-2010 by p51mustang]

Originally posted by p51mustang
I'm just going to call everyone nword
" yo nword- sup?"

Good luck with that. I caught # for that.

Originally posted by Sumdumguy
asians were slaves aswell and they were called yellow, chink, slant eye,

You’re going back again to ethnic or racial slurs and that’s not what I am addressing here. I’m talking about how people are referred to in the “proper sense” not as a racial or ethnic slur. Asians when they are referred to today in the "proper sense” are not called "yellows”. They are called Chinese or Japanese etc… according to their national origin not according to the color of their skin. But people who have dark skin from the continent of Africa are referred to in the “proper sense” as blacks. There is no country or nation called “Black.” They are the only group of people who are referred to by the color of their skin and not in a derogatory manner but in the “proper sense” and not by their national or continental origin.


[edit on 21-8-2010 by soleprobe]

maybe we should invent new words?

can we do that?


wus up my Gumee Bare?
www.dailymotion.com...

he's green, just like Kermit!

Funny thing about war. especially having spent 44 months in it.

as an american airman, it's hard to deny the fact that i would be dead if it were not for people of EVERY color!!!!

hard to be prejudice or racist after that.

but if we were all identical more than 99.7+% of our dna that already is identical.... we would be clones, wouldn't we?

just some thoughts,
et

[edit on 21-8-2010 by Esoteric Teacher]

Originally posted by intrepid

Originally posted by p51mustang
I'm just going to call everyone nword
" yo nword- sup?"

Good luck with that. I caught # for that.

you caught a palm sign for that? or a number?


man! if you can't say what you mean, you can't mean what you say.

censorship of words is censorship of speech.

i don't like the word either intrepid, but i also agree with something K-Jack said. it is sorta about owning the word that owned them (as a label) i think.

i often heard my fellow airmen use that word or variations of it in the service among eachother, especially among enlisted ranks, but hey, my life was still in their hands, their life was still in mine.

we trusted eachother enough to go to hell with eachother and fight back to back, risking our lives for eachother, but it was still innapropriate for me to call them that word.

social acceptability is a .... weird thing.


[edit on 21-8-2010 by Esoteric Teacher]

reply to post by soleprobe


and i gave my reasoning behind that thought. They have not furthered such things they dont call each other chinks and things of that matter and another reason i think blacks are blacks is because its a way to tell them apart from everyone lets say we are talking and i say "that american guy just graduated" who am i talking about black white or whatever else its not a bad thing to be known as black, the same as being known as white its a social title for better visualization upon discussions.
Its also an ongoing stereotype deal, the average american when they thnk of ghetto what do they think of? black people. when they think of illegal immigrants wat do they think of? mexicans. when they think of racists? white. math lovers/smart people? asians. doctors? indians(not natives) its a complex issue that cant be solved by focusing on a single side you have to end all of them but it will never happen because thats what humans do, they classify the majority and then stereotype the whole group.

reply to post by soleprobe


There is an easy explanation for that you know.

China, Japan and so on have been nations for a long long time.
At the time when black people got enslaved and transported to the states they did not live in a nation. They were part of tribes and stuff.

The African nations we know today are all from after the 2WW and before it only the colonial rulers drawed boundaries on a map and gave it names.

Originally posted by Sumdumguy
g known as white its a social title for better visualization upon discussions.
Its also an ongoing stereotype deal, the average american when they thnk of ghetto what do they think of? . when they think of illegal immigrants wat do they think of? mexicans.

Yes... you are correct... they think of "black people"... according to their skin color. and illegal immigrants as Mexicans according to their nation of origin, Mexico... not as "brown people"... according to their skin color. And that's my point... Dark people from the continent of Africa are the only people referred to by skin color.

Originally posted by Sumdumguy
and I dont call them African-American either because for the most part they have never even been to africa

It doesn’t matter if they’re not from Africa… their ancestors were from Africa. Are you going to call a 5th generation Chinese or Asian American a “yellow American?

Anyway... the time is coming when ALL people will no longer be referred to by the color of their skin.

I agree with those who state that the n-word shouldn't be used. I've rallied against the use of the word most of my life. There are two situations in recent times that remind me of the impact of the word.

Mr. Blackie. He died two months ago. His name has been "Blackie" as long as I've known him -- 17 years. His given name was Douglas. Blackie was a ship's cook when he was younger and went to sea. In later years, the n-word was in his vocabulary quite a bit. It was disconcerting to me to talk with him, because he used it so much. I asked him once -- after having talked with him many years -- why he said it so much. He told me (rough approximation of Blackie's speech) "y'know, I tink when I's younger, I tink dat if I say it alla time, it not bite so much and I not get so vexed it others say it." He was a self-made man, and he was a hard man to work for. Blackie was 89 years old when he died, and was chopping bush four days before his collapse and subsequent death.

Just last week, I stopped at a park on the way home. It's not really a park -- more of a wide spot in the road with coconut trees -- but we call it "pop-a-top-park. I was talking with some of the guys, and one guy says to me, "Hey! You's a big man..... I wanna pay you $25 to pop this [n-word] inna mouth. He's been on me all day." It was a joke, of course. I didn't feel like laughing though, and I told him....... "sure, $25, that's a good wage for two minutes work, but I have to first object to your language. I don't like that word." The brown man in question said, "oh maaan, him just poppin' his mouth. Doan you worry 'bout da word. It's justa word an' doan mean nothin'."

The whole thing bothered me. The n-word is used casually on this island. It's not used to describe black people, but used to describe worthless people. It bothers me still. I wish it weren't used at all. There are SO many good words.

Perhaps here, on this island, where skin tones don't matter one whit, it can be used without rancor, but I still don't like it. I don't think I'll ever be willing to tolerate it.