The "N" word

[Final-Fan]

Grey Acumen said:
I'll basically paraphrase my stance here:

Restricting a word from being used will never be possible. The only way for people to stop using it as an insult is for black people to stop taking it as one. Use it as a compliment to each other, and act as if its a compliment even if people are attempting to use it as an insult.

This should be used for all words, because being "politically correct" only backfires, because those words are considered taboo, it gives those words power; faggot, retarded, bastard, bitch, nigger, honky, cracker, etc. These words are all considered taboo because they are "offensive" so what does that teach people? Only two things; if you want to insult and offend someone, you use those words, and if those words are used on you, you should be insulted and offended.

If people were actually successful in making a word taboo, it would be even worse, as people would simply move from one word to the next. instead of using cracker, they'd just move onto "saltine" or "flour" or "bowling pin" (I don't know) and then those words would have to be taboo too, and eventually we wouldn't have any words left.

I agree that outright banning a word is a terrible idea, partly because of freedom of speech and partly because the insult would just devolve onto another term as you said.

But turning that word into a compliment is not realistic, I think. Some people use it as a completely neutral term, but many more use it as a word that can only be used by blacks, or only can be used by non-whites. It's nonsensical and varies wildly; no one is completely safe from getting a punch in the face if the wrong person hears it. And even if you succeed, so what? It's an outdated insult anyway, only really hardcore racists use it AFAIK anymore and trust me there are plenty of racial slurs for those types to fall back on.

Words do have power. Tremendous power in some cases. That's the entire purpose of language -- it's not just insults. Reforming this word in particular is not worth the effort. I'd much rather see it drop out of use altogether.   (By means of social pressure.)  Maybe then it could get recycled in a couple hundred years like many words have been, with only students of language aware that this all ever happened. Or not. Anything other than lurching forward as a tortured, perpetually controversial mishmash.

/2¢