the-pi-guy said:
Because the idea that white people shouldn't be allowed to use a word is exactly as racist as the word itself. Â
Try this thought experiment: Imagine society started using a derogatory word that was talking about you. There would be a difference between telling people not to use that word, and telling you not to use it. It could be a nasty word, but it's not society's place to tell you (the person that it was used towards) that you couldn't use it.  This concept of using and avoiding certain words is constant throughout languages. A lot of languages have special words that are more or less respectful than others depending on the company that you are talking to. The only thing that makes this word different is the historical ties to racism.  |
"as racist as the word itself"
words cannot be racist, people with intent are racist depending on their intent
"Try this thought experiment:
Imagine society started using a derogatory word that was talking about you. There would be a difference between telling people not to use that word, and telling you not to use it. It could be a nasty word, but it's not society's place to tell you (the person that it was used towards) that you couldn't use it.  "
the problem here is that you are confusing language with intent, sure you could take that word and banish it forever but that's not going to stop whatever animosity produced the word to begin with
the core issue here is the animosity and not the language itself
with regards to the target using the word, as a black person i've always thought it to be beyond stupid for black people who claim to be offended by the n word to use it and i still hold to that position, if the word itself is so harmful then you should never utter it yourself... that's my opinion otherwise you are nothing but a hypocrite
if i take a baby and i condition that baby to say the n word as its first word, would still be arguing that the baby is a racist?
