How do you feel about non-black people using or being called the n-word?

Is Clutch a black dude? Why is the word ****** censored?

 

Because you don't have to be black to know it's a highly charged and offensive word.

/obvious

 

It's only offensive for black people. But it shouldn't be considered offensive now since it's used by different races among themselves (at least according to the posters here).

 

Good gosh so sappy lol. Intentional or not,

it it NOT a "BEAUTIFUL" expression.

Its exactly what it looks like - White people and non-blacks being immersed with the music and entertainment that uses the n-word liberally.

And pure APATHY setting in after a while, cuz its about path of least resistance to shrug it off instead of working up energy to contest it.

I can say for sure there's plenty snarky white hipster types who deliberately hide behind irony and sarcasm to be condescending when using it.

(I tend to think that MOST the negative connotation to offensive terms can vanish over time but that it STILL will carry SOME remnants of the negativity. It doesnt TOTALLY go fully away)

 

The world is better off without it... but I use it... often.

It's like drugs... you're better off not starting, but once you start doesn't seem so bad.

 

As Amaru noted those guys are hardly positive role models but I will give them some artistic license on it. If the purpose of the use of the term is empowerment like the way the Gay community uses "queer" that is one thing but as this thread is showing the term is being adopted as agangsta way of saying "dude", especially when it is used by those of other races. That isn't about empowerment that is about laziness.

If you notice non-Gay's don't use the term "queer" as an insult or a term of empowerment. While the Gay community uses it it is understood the history of it. The term "N^&&er" or "N^&&a" though is just thrown around by people of all races with no sense of history regarding it.

To add I am not banning it and am not even against those who were descended from slaves and suffered institutionalized racism adopting it as a term of empowerment and brotherhood. What I am against though is the widespread use of it because it seems cool rather than understanding why that term was considered offensive.

 

You are so right. It really does not get to me on who says the A but anyone no matter what color were to call me the N word we would have a big problem.

 

I guess I am not sure fully what you mean. Are you saying you are against non-blacks using the term but ok if blacks use it as a means of empowerment so long as they understand the history? I might be confused here.

I think every black person on the planet knows the historical connotation of the word. Every single one. I'd venture that in fact, everyone does, black or white - anyone who uses the word knows its historical significance.

I guess what surprises me is labeling people who use it as "lazy". How is it lazy? Culture isn't just someone deciding to use this word and make it up. It has to catch-on. Why has the N-word and it's variations caught on? Blacks have been calling blacks the n-word for many many decades, if not a century or more.

You look at words like "coolie" which was a racial epitaph but today is now lost a lot of that bite and is used colloquially again.

I think language and culture is very dynamic and words don't get retired by intent or choice. No one will ever forget the historical significance of slavery - it was game changing from a world view. Hopefully we'll never have such a thing exist in humanities future. But I do think the N-word will lose it's bite someday as well, and become part of spoken language again. Is that good or bad, heck if I know, I am just saying what is likely to come to pass as it is already happening.

 

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I can't speak for every black person but from what I am hearing from many blacks is that they feel that the widespread use of it is being done with little regard to the historical significance.

When it just used because it seems like a cooler version of "dude", which a couple of posters have said that is why they use it, that is being lazy with the language. Particularly among people who were not subject to the discrimination that being called a "N^&&er" entailed. It would be like if German youth decided to wear yellow Stars of David because they though it looks cool when Jewish people do.

Not because it has become another way of saying "dude" among non-Southeast Asians but because it has fallen out of favor. For instance the term "Chinaman" isn't used much but that doesn't mean it is considered innocuous. Except among those who don't know the history.

True language is dynamic and all things change. Terms like "Negro" and "Oriental" are considered dated and mildly offensive when they were completely accepted a couple of decades ago. Yet words do have a meaning that is tied to history and it is a disservice to that history to forget that.

 

I dont care how much the term "b****" is normalized and how much women use it around each other.

Call a woman a "b****" and you're a male, and she'll more than likely be pissed and call you insensitive.

Its just tough to define what people should and shouldnt be sensitive about. And hard to guage tone and meaning especially when its trying to play both sides of the positive/negative duality of the same word.

-Ex: Im very honest in that native indian mascots and team names ive never seen the insensitivity in them. Should I be?

(And though U.S. black people were cornered in about how they could define themselves, its quite unfortunate and lame collectively choosing to make the demeaning n-word absorbed in as a term of endearment. Id say it has more negative consquence on psyche than positive but we'll never know if it could have gone "another" way than what it is)

 

You would be surprised.....some people don't really know as much as you give them credit for.


Second highlighted sentence edit: SOME black people. As I have stated before the use of the "n-word" isn't as wide spread as popular American culture would lead you to believe. There are large segments of the "African-American" community that do not use that word....and once you step outside of the US and places where its influence is strong....you don't hear that word very often if at all.

 

Regard to historical significance? What do you mean by that. Are you saying that the blacks who use the word are not aware of the history or they just don't care. Do these people who feel this way actually know?

I am not referring to non-blacks here - even though that's the title of the thread. I am talking about blacks calling blacks the n-word. As for non-blacks, who are popularizing it - I think they are imitating blacks. In any case, the white kids who call each other the n-word are actually doing a service because they are redefining the word.

Coolie is not used again more towards its original meaning - a servant. No brit refers to Indians as coolies anymore - why is that? Because people took the meaning back.

Words do have meaning - but they should not - they aren't real - they are words. And I think the people who reclaim these words and give them a new life under a new definition are the ones who understand history. It's not about remembering/forgetting the past as much as it is shaping the future.

 

Why aren't other racial slurs censored?

I guess other races just aren't as important.

 

That's because they're not.

Ever since the black president and his gangster government took office, it's all been downhill for the non-important races.

 

You have black posters like Amaru who have said that they feel that many of the blacks who use the term don't really know or care about the history of it.

As you note the title of the thread is about non-black usage of the term and I think clearly in the case of people not black who are using that is troubling considering they weren't subject to the same discrimination, many of their ancestors even where the ones who used that term to oppress blacks.

You can say that redefining the word is a service but as I said that is a disrespect to the history of the word. Just like if wearing a yellow star of David was done just as fashion statement without understanding its history.

What people took the meaning back? My understanding is "coolie" is still an insult but isn't used anymore because it isn't seen as politically correct and dated. It is like calling a Japanese person a "Nip". No Japanese people took back "Nip", it isn't used because it is dated but it is still considered an insult. "Coolie" and "Nip" aren't used as interchangeable with "dude". They are still derogatory.

I don't understand what you are saying and you seem to be contradicting yourself.

Words have meanings because that is the basis of language. If we didn't agree on a shared meaning of words we couldn't communicate. Meanings change over time yes but that isn't a good thing for history but the opposite since that means that certain terms get lost. For instance it is difficult for us who speak modern English to understand the language of Shakespeare and Chaucer even when they are using the same words.

The last part of your statement sounds like Orwellian Newspeak by claiming that giving new meaning to words is actually understanding history. That is the opposite of understanding history that is redefining history, which is tied to language.

 

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Meaning changes with context. A lot of different groups of people use words with each other that would be inappropriate if used by another group. I don't use the word unless I'm singing in the car listening to rap music that has it, Office Space style. I do use ethnic slurs of my own race with my brother sometimes. I have no problem with black people using it nor Italians using their own slurs or Irish using their own slurs. Every culture has that. I do find it funny when white people try to admonish black people on it. Maybe you all should be more concerned with actual problems in society. Let Bill Cosby handle the n word.

 

this.

To answer OP question, I hate that word being used by non blacks just as much as I hate it being used by blacks.

I hate the word period.

 

Edit.

 

Bill Cosby needs to focus on keeping his genitals in his pants....