Absolutely disgusting, and I’m not talking about “that word”. Rather the way it is demogogued as the absolute worst thing one can ever possibly say!
It’s absurd!
Think about it - what is the ONLY WORD today that is treated as absolutely off-limits? Even here we’re scared to death to write it?
Used to be the F-word was at least as bad, but now it’s peppered EVERYWHERE in pop culture and FAR too much in “regular people” speak in your town!
All cuss words used to be condemned, but now it’s all OK.
As for “racial epithets”, while there are certain words for various races that are frowned upon, NONE will get you punished like “the N-word”!
Hey, BTW, go ahead, call me cracker, whitey, honkey (see - I could write that). No big deal. I know you might be insulting me but I’m not going to put you on the TV news.
As if this was bigger than someone’s murder. Geesh. Absurdistan indeed.
“All cuss words used to be condemned, but now it’s all OK.”
I remember when my mom would say “shoot fire and save matches” in her angriest tone, and I thought that was cussin’.
It was worse if one of my friends heard her say it...so any type of cussin’ still makes me cringe (I raised 2 boys and I’m almost cringe-proof).
But it does seem to be a different time now when ANY kind of talk ANYWHERE is okay.
Hmmmm, I was just doing my homework on Miss Paula Deen, it seems that she is a pro-gay marriage liberalDemocrat that voted for Obama. She’ll get no support from me.
If I was asked in court right now. “Have you used the word “nigger” in conversation lately?” I would have to say, “Yes.”
If asked the context, I would have to say, “Yesterday I had a serious discussion with someone about Paula Deen’s use of the word “nigger”. We discussed the differences between saying “nigger” in 1950 and saying “nigger” now. We discussed the problem WITH hurling the word “nigger” when it is used with malice...as a hateful thing to do. We discussed the use of the black community’s attempts to reclaim the word “nigger” as something some of them say to each other with a level of pride and respect. We discussed the ample use of the word “nigger” in rap music. We discussed the fact that some prominent black people have beseeched younger generations NOT to use the word “nigger” as it is a disrespectful epithet. We discussed whether and how words have power.
In short, I had an interesting and relevant discussion about the use of the word “nigger” based on a news story about a white woman testifying in court that she had occasionally, in her past, used the word “nigger.”
I sure hope no one sues me for racism in the near future. It’ll be complicated testimony.