Nigger

Uh, yeah the word actually DOES exist. The word has a lot more history behind it than white trash does. There was a time in this country when we treated all blacks the same way. It wasn’t about wearing saggy pants and milking social security. It was about being black. And c’mon. When was the last time you heard a newscaster say a person was white trash?

I agree that it’s something that should be talked about and not avoided, but, as far as Tom Brokaw and the news goes, why would they ever use the word? Their job is to report the news, not offer their opinion of a person’s worth. I don’t wanna hear Fox News saying it over and over and over again. Can you imagine? And can you imagine what their viewers would do after having it drilled into their heads over and over? They would then go out into the world spreading that kind of garbage. It’s just a hateful word, in my opinion.

Talking about race is important. Using hateful speech while doing so isn’t.

I’m more concerned about this story: http://xrl.us/be2j94

He is talking about Tom Brokaw saying something such as “He began fighting after being called the ‘n word’”. Not Just saying “Some nigger stole CDs from the record store.” I could see him saying “He began fighting after he was called ”white trash’” though.

For Paula Zahn, she speaks about racism quite a bit, but always says ‘n word’. That is also what he is talking about there. For example, her show on banning the ‘n word’, she said it many times, but never once said the word nigger. She had a guest saying words like honky & cracker, which was no problem, but even he never said the word. That is where the issue is.

How is it hateful to quote someone for news purposes or to say it on talking about banning the word! You are talking about banning a word that you won’t even say? Nigger is a racist word just as is cracker. But we laugh at those kinda words, as we SHOULD.

Picture the word nigger as a sharp blade. If it’s never used it stays sharp and can cause great damage when it does happen to be used. However, if you repeatedly use the blade it becomes dull and useless. Just as the word cracker has become and all the racists words like fucking “hooligan” which is an “Irish bastard”. But we have used it so much it has just become a standard word and no one cares, or knows about that for that matter.

Well, in that context it’s a bit easier to understand your point. It might help to post links to those videos or set up the context. I’m stringing his quotes together here, which makes me picture Tom Brokaw calling someone a nigger on his show. I think we could both agree that’s a bit far. Still, I don’t want to see Fox News replaying (like all news propaganda machines do) a clip of Rush Limbaugh calling someone a nigger over and over again. He’s got a fanbase. His fanbase listens, and spreads that message.

In the case of Paula Zahn, it troubles me to even think she would have someone on her show spouting off terms like honky and cracker. I guess, again, it depends on the context, and how the person was using the words, but I would rather people that throw these words out in a hateful way not even get a chance to do so on a national stage. If they want to hate, let them do it, but don’t give them a national audience.

I disagree with you when you say nigger=white trash. White trash is a much more specific term. In fact, two words. A white person who is trashy. The word nigger, as I said, has a lot more behind it. It does not simply mean a black person who is trashy. There are lots of ways people use it. I can assume that a black person of any class has probably been called a nigger at some point. I would never think of a high-class white person being called white trash. Honky, or cracker on the other hand… might be closer, but even then, i don’t see it as equal.

I guess when it comes down to it, whatever you want to call someone, it doesn’t need to unnecessarily include race. If someone is trashy or ignorant call them that. There is no need to attach race to class or character, in my opinion. When talking about the word, yeah, I agree. Let’s just say it. We all know what we’re talking about anyway. No need to be awkward.

you cannot equate the word nigger with white trash. you are completely ignoring the history of the word. whites were never sold as slaves and treated as animals and referred to as white trash. no person should ever be called a nigger, not even if you don’t like the way a person wears their pants or the size of their shirt.

and yes it may be true that africans sold other africans as slaves, but that does not justify the treatment of those people by the americans.

geez, you’re way off.

I think you are missing the point.

What is nigger equal to then? That is just the closest word I can come up with and to be honest, I think it is equal and if you can come up with something better I’ll swap out that word in the post. You are completely ignoring the fact we are supposed to be past slavery, but I guess not. I guess we should keep basking in sorrow, correct? I guess forever we should never say the word nigger and might as well ban it since at one point in history nigger was talking about slaves. Wait, I guess it is banned huh? If I call someone a nigger I go to jail for a hate crime? If a black guy calls me white trash, cracker, whatever, you really think he will even get a slap on the wrist for it?

Might as well ban hooligan then as well? What about vandals? Both are pretty god damn offensive, but neither you’ll get a “hate” crime on your record for saying it. Hmm now did we forget chink? They were also slaves, but when was the last time that was talked about? Even better, when was the last time we had a show on it or the history behind the word chink? It’s over and done with and most of society knows this so the word is left behind.

Like Greydon said, how are ever going to get past a word we can’t say? How on earth can you tell me that it’s offensive to call a black guy a nigger who was never a slave? Are you kidding me? How can he relate to that AT ALL. I COMPLETELY understand calling an actual slave a nigger being offensive, but, seriously, if a fucking rapper can say it 1,000 times to another black rapper without any offense why the hell do we need to “remember the history”?

I guess I don’t see your connection with, if a white guy says it he is talking about slavery but if a black guy says it, well, doesn’t seem to matter.

Why do we even have racially-based terms when describing someone’s actions, be they good or poor? Race has nothing to do with what one says, does or believes, just in the same way that hair color and eye color don’t. Can you imagine anyone saying “blue-eyed trash?” Even if more blue-eyed people did make poor decisions than people of other eye colors, surely we would know that such a term is asinine, that eye color has nothing to do with decision-making.

I think we keep racism around by making and frequently using terms like “nigger” and “white trash.” We take the focus off of someone’s mental and social skills and put it on their race and demographics. This is pretty detrimental, I think, as I believe it ends up being self-fulfilling and circular. I think race has as much to do with someone’s decision-making skills as we teach ourselves it does. (Unfortunately, I think we are sometimes very good at teaching this!)

For example, we make many statements–positive and negative–about how black people or white people or Hispanics or Asians think, and so I believe that many of us are brought up being taught that these statements are how our race (whatever it may be) acts and thinks. Everyone knows the whole “white people have no rhythm” myth, and yet I have to say I’ve heard more white people use that mantra than anyone else. It’s been taught: black people always have rhythm, and white people almost never do. Never mind facts for anything; it’s all racially-charged and based. Some people do take things to heart, claim it and make it their reality, and this is where it gets unfortunate.

That’s a lighthearted example, clearly, but my point is that I think when we use these racially-based terms and “facts” we create futures for many people. We need to take the focus off of race, except for the few times when there needs to be focus on it (e.g., different health issues by race).

We need to remind ourselves that color has nothing to do with any of it. We don’t blame the color of an oil paint for creating a visually-displeasing painting. We blame the artist and the decisions he made at the moment; it is a brain thing, not a skin thing. In the same vein, I’m not sure I’ll ever fully understand why we have chosen to lump race into concepts of “social trash.” If “white trash” is so much the same as “nigger,” why don’t we just use the word “trash” for anyone who lives off of the welfare state and doesn’t take care of things? Why does race come into it? I guess it’s sadly because many of us like referring to race all the time, even if we don’t want to admit it.

For the record, though I am very annoyed by racially-charged terms sometimes, I don’t think they should be controlled or banned through speech laws or anything of the sort. If we don’t discuss these issues, we’ll never come to reasonable conclusions. I also think people who use these terms to be hateful should be seen for being the bigots they are; I feel hate speech laws keep us from finding out who the true racist scum is.

Anyway, while an interesting post, I think you should ask yourself more about why race is relevant enough for these terms to be considered appropriate.

I completely agree that race importance depends on the social aspect, however, America is one of the worst countries for this and I don’t see an end anytime soon. We were one of the last to free slaves, give women rights, and we still don’t allow people to get married because they both have penises or vaginas. In some states, such as Texas, Atheists, Buddhist, Hindus, and any religion who does not believe in AH God can not be sworn into a public office.

It would be best for Americans to not notice color, but for Americans… well… It’s not going to happen in this century. We need to take baby steps. I think the first step is to remove all the power that racist words such as nigger has. And my belief is that to remove power that the word nigger has, we need to all be able to use it without fearing it. Newscasters need to be able to quote people people without swapping it with “n word”. I believe that it shouldn’t even be bleeped out because then it would give it little or no meaning at all.

I truly think we will never remove race specific words because they are descriptive. Just like we do with blondes for example. “Stupid blonde doesn’t know how to drive”. Being blonde has nothing to do with it, but it’s descriptive and let’s us tell someone else exactly who we are talking about and “blonde” really means a bunch of other things. White trash doesn’t just mean trashy, it means “redneck racist gun loving republican pig” on top of many other things. The word is very powerful and combines many adjectives into one. Nigger can be used the same way and have the same power white trash has. Like I said before, white trash really has no offensive power at all, but nigger does. I wish to see the word nigger be meaningless just like vandal or hooligan.

Let me start by saying I am a lower class white male who has been called and labeled as white trash plenty of times in my life. While some of the stereo types associated with the word are true (I live in a “trailer”, I often wear “wife beaters”, my truck is a “bucket”) I have never taken offense to being called white trash.

The reason for this is that I know who and what I am.

I am not ignorant. I am not racist (I am prejudice to an extent, but any who claims they aren’t is lying). I have never received a penny from welfare or unemployment even though I’ve more than qualified at certain times in my life.

I am proud of who I am despite my social and economic standing because I have qualities many “wealthy” people in our society are lacking.

From my perspective, when someone seriously calls me white trash, they are either insecure in their own social standing or are ignorant to their own bigotry. If I valued the opinions of people such as these then I might just deserve to be called whatever they wish to call me.

On to the word nigger!

Yes, I use it. I know the history of the word. I know that it is seen a racial slur by the majority of society, and frankly I don’t care.

When I call someone a nigger it is because they have portrayed a majority of the following characteristics.
1. Ignorant
2. Arrogant
3. Selfish
4. Dishonest
5. Violent
6. Leach
7. Little or no value to society as a whole.

If I added black to that list you’d pretty much have the 2009 general definition of nigger.

If I were to call a black person who exhibited none of the 7 characteristics I mentioned above a nigger, I would be exhibiting more than one of those characteristics myself, thus making me more of a nigger than them from my perspective.

Yes, I use the word nigger, but I save it for anyone (white, black, yellow, brown, purple, green, etc) who really fits MY definition. skin color is nothing more than humans adaptations to UV rays.

I’ll end my rant with this.

nigger, white trash, chink, spic, mother fucker, faggot, piece of shit, dirty cunt

These all have something in common. They are all just words.

And words have no power or meaning except for that which YOU give them. Not me. Not the author of this article or anyone else. Only YOU.

If YOU find a word offensive there is nobody you can blame but YOURSELF.