nigger nigger nigger

[ravyn440]

I bet that got your attention.

A recent post by spacekadette about an encounter with a customer combined with the recent flap over the guy on "Dog the Bounty Hunter" using the word "nigger" got me wondering

Comments

[miss_jag]

Really good topic

[ravyn440]

Interesting that you say that; it's not what I would have expected from people in the south. I would have thought that they'd be more sensitive about it than people in other parts of the country, but at the same time, I can kinda see where they're coming from, because I have heard the word used in a non-racial context to mean something similar. I can't remember who it was that I heard use it, but I distinctly remember someone saying something to the effect of "I have no problem with black people, but I don't like niggers." When pressed to explain what was meant by that, the person did say that one didn't have to be black to be a nigger, that it was more of a personality and lifestyle description - something that, like you said, would be akin to a colorless "white trash". I have a feeling, though, that it would be hard to explain that statement to your average non-thinking American.

Language is a strange beast.

[miss_jag]

I really figured that people would be more sensitive in the south given that it's the birthplace of nearly all of the Civil Rights movements of this century. That seems not to be the case, however. Racism is still rampant in the south, particularly in the white-bred country areas. The city is far more tolerant and extremely diverse, but there is racism on both sides--I've known blacks who hate whites, and whites who hate blacks. I even had one girl say to me, "I don't like white people, but you're cool." I can't even describe to you what that feels like

[ravyn440]

I even had one girl say to me, "I don't like white people, but you're cool." I can't even describe to you what that feels like.

I was told that once, by a Japanese feminist. Except that in my case, it was white men that she didn't like. I wasn't really sure what to make of it.

[spacekadette]

I personally used "n*****" in my post because I didn't want it to seem as if I was inserting the word just for affect. I was wanting to tell the story of what happened and the story is made no less shocking by me not spelling the word out.

Besides, like Miss Jag, the word does make uncomfortable and I would choose to not say it even if recounting an even in which someone else said it. That's just me. However, I don't think your use of it above is inappropriate, you just seem to be more at ease using it in such a matter.

*shrug*

[spacekadette]

Er, *effect.

[daniegirl]

I like calling people who aren't black nigger. That seems to be acceptable as well. :D