Along that line, Kanye West is a big ol' troll. "I'm going to invent a song white people will LOVE, but feel ashamed to actually say the name of out loud!"
Also, if you say a word around your friends that you wouldn't say in the middle of say, a pickup basketball game, then you know good and goddamn well that you shouldn't be saying it.
This. My accountant, who has been here for the last four days wrapping up 2012 for me...who is also black...and is named Michael Jackson, did this to me just the other night. In my own bar...at sunset, our busiest time of the day. Who said accountants are boring? Side note - In the past he has also called the bar trying to get a reservation for four(we don't take them), and saying that if we didn't have a table we could just turn a chair over since he and his three friends are gay. I have to warn the staff ahead of time now when he is coming into town. Good times.
Now now, while it's true Black Americans have to live with the legacy of our racist culture, let's not pretend that anything the Irish get leveled at them isn't something they brought upon themselves.
Ill go outside in my neighborhood (Charlestown) and yell "MICK" and if I never post again, youll know why. A query for the African Americans on the board, have any of you ever been called that word by stranger or someone? This isnt a leading question with an agenda, just pure curiosity.
I have more times than I can really count. Then again I went to highschool in Oklahoma. Me personally I do my best not to rise to the bait. Honestly because I feel that if a person calls me that they are not only ignorant but they are saying that hoping I'll preform "angry black guy". That's not to say I've never gotten into a fight over being called a nigger. I've been in plenty where the only reason for it was the use of that word. But I at least try to take it in stride and either walk away or respond non-physically. Way more often than not I succeed.
Oh sure, because a pickup basketball game played entirely by white people is just unheard of. racist.
My girlfriend doesn't do this but she loves to get under my skin by saying in a sterotypical slave voice, "Oh yes massa. Don't want no trouble massa. Right away massa." She does this if I ask/tell her to do something and she doesn't want to do it. I freaked out the first time she said it but I've since stopped giving her the reaction she wants even though it makes me extremely uncomfortable. She loves to do it in front of people we know who haven't heard it. The first time she did it was at a crowded table with friends and acquantences present. Two people dropped their forks and the table fell silent. She laughed her ass off and then so did everyone else...except me.
My mixed roommate used to play songs with obscene lyrics on his iPod and shout the lyrics while walking through public spaces. So not quite the same thing.
That doesn't prove anything. If I yell "nigger" at the first black person I see in the street and he wants to kick my ass for it, it's understandable because I just denigrated him and his race. If I yell "MICK" at an Irishman and he wants to fight, it's just because he was looking for a reason to fight and that's as good as an excuse as any.
I would venture to say the vast majority have been called it at one point or another in their lives. I'm not black, but damn son you have some ignorant views on the world.
No, it's not ignorant to ask a genuinely motivated question. I don't know if this has been covered, but for reasons I have to think more about (or take time to codify, which isn't going to happen) I don't agree with not saying the words when discussing them, or using apostrophe's or whatever. Everyone can say/write whatever they want, but personally, if we're discussing "nigger", let's use the word. It's nasty, vile, base and ignorant, but I think cloaking it (ha) in any way, gentrifies the conversation. We're not going to evolve by forgetting ugliness in history, we're going to evolve by always remembering it, and discussing it. I also don't agree that certain groups "will never know what it feels like". Maybe they DON'T know now, but you can't deny them the capacity to understand, especially since you're basing it on things like race. Telling someone they "just can't understand" runs the risk of them not trying to understand or learn.
Wow. I know you're trying to do your internet smack down and tell people how it really is, but it's posts like this that make me wonder what the hell happened to the care free, nothing is sacred attitude of the board. I'm one of those desensitized white assholes who has black friends, and shockingly even has the social awareness to not call them niggers. The fact that black people use it all the time now does desensitize the word itself. I'm not sure what universe you live in where that wouldn't be true. There is such a thing as context and interpretation. I've used it around my black friends and not once has any of them freaked out. It's usually when I'm quoting or referring to something. I realize there's people out there who would screech some self righteous diatribe at me, but I don't hang out with them. Your girlfriend seems to get this, why don't you? I suppose we can't all be so self conscious and easily emotionally scarred. Feel free to call my black friends stupid cunts too for associating with someone who's opinion of the word is so insulting. Naturally, in black comedies the white guys are always pussies while the blacks are street tough. Some people might find that really offensive, but I'm more forgiving about certain double standards than others. Oh, and I would call them niggers, if I was into that wigger thing.
Im glad you're so culturally sophisticated, but I don't give a shit what you "venture." Im asking people that may have actually experienced it first-hand.
First time was in 3rd grade during a football game. I tagged a kid who really thought he was fast enough to get away from me on a deep ball. Me tagging him ended the game, and got called Nigger. Once again in 8th grade because this girl liked me and not him. By the time I heard it in highschool, I just laughed it off. Oh and I was stealing a tap from his keg party, but my white friend told me to do it. The thing is I literally saw the cranks turn in his head as he loaded the word to see it. He expected a reaction, but I laughed at him and kept walking. I didn't hear it in college or since, but the core problem with the word is that it is a constant reminder that racism is still around. Also, did some googling. There are 21 White female CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. There are 6 black CEOs. 1 of them female. Just an interesting tidbit.
Okay, so you outran a white kid, then stole something because whitey told you to. It's talk like that that keeps stereotypes alive!