Racial slurs, labels & connotations: Are they still a big deal nowadays?

you make me laugh calling some a Jew if they are Jewish is not a bad thing so you don't need to go to lengths to get around it, if your not talking in a derogatory sence its not derogatory. if you are just describing don't pussy foot around the subject its like your sig says proudly pinoy, now if i was describing you to someone i could say he is a pinoy and it not be offensive but if i said "oh he's (sorry for the language) a fucking pinoy" its a bit different. do you see the difference

 

For me, I've never heard anyone except an African American called Black.
I know that you didn't mean to offend when you said Chink and Jap, but you didn't mean to offend where you would have written Nigger, either... it just seems like a double standard that drives me nuts.

It could just be me, but I think that the derogatory terms are fading away with the youth... Many people who can talk to their great grandparents will do so and find that they didn't see a problem with using the word Nigger, but their parents do. Why is this? What was once common is now taboo, and I think it's slowly going back.

For instance, I'm going to rag on my friends and myself for a minute and tell how we use some of the more taboo words everyday:

Nazi: This is by far the most common one we use. We don't actually think of a Nazi when using it. "Grammar Nazi" "Cleaning Nazi" and stuff like that. We mean it to be derogatory, yes, but not towards Germans or anything of that nature, towards the person we're using it towards. For us, this term is most likely to be directed at our parents. "Why can't I go out? I have to be in at the exact moment you say, and check in every thirty minutes. You're a Nazi, Mom!"

Nigger: I don't think I've ever said "You stupid Nigger!" in my life. My school, according to the pamphlet at the front of the school, is 48% white and 47% black. Needless to say the line between white and black cliques is very skewed and no one seems to mind if I were to say "'Sup my Nigger?" or, my favorite, "'Sup my Cracker?" No one that I'm talking to seems to take offence, and usually replies in kind with a smile on their face as I did.

Cracker: This one is used a lot, too. I use this on all my friends, not just Whites, and usually they reply smirking and laughing like I was.



In short, I think that the newer generation will take these words and use them more for endearment than anything. As Jeff Foxworthy once said: "The thing I love about men and women is how diffrent they answer the phone. If you have a guy answer the phone it's always something like 'James! How are you, Jackass? How's that good for nothing wife of your's? You and your alcoholic mother want to come bowling with us? Great! See you there!'"

 

the thing is, is young people do try and use words in a different way and it does work with allot its like when i see my friends i call them the most horrible of things but it will never work on the word nigger there is to much history behind it and the thing is that most young black people don't even know what it means to hear that word because they did not live in the hatred that was behind the word

 

No offense taken equity, yeah my arguments seem to cave on their own on this thread because of my feelings towards racist words. Sorry for that.

And Deathbreak911 is kinda right with what he's saying that the youth seems to have taken these words lightly. I've even heard some songs in which nigger or nigga was part of the lyrics as if it was an everyday word that doesn't have any derogatory meaning.

 

I believe in equality for all, regardless of race, creed, color, or religion. I loathe racial slurs of all types, no matter to whom they are directed. Hating someone simply based on skin color or nationality is so narrow-minded and ignorant. Proof of a poor up-bringing. I decided long ago that I would not teach my son how to hate. They're is too much of that in the world already.

So, to answer the question of "Are they still a big deal nowadays?", Yes they are. Unfortunately racial epithets are commonplace in too many places. No matter how much time passes, or however many generations come and go, racial slurs are meant to do one thing, degrade and demean the person who receives them. Those words are completely unnecessary, and should have some type of penalty attached to them. Now, I'm for freedom of speech and all that, but freedom of speech wasn't intended to cause emotional stress upon another individual, or to be derogatory about someone's origins either racial or national.

Unfortunately, racism is something that the world will have to cope with until it's very end. If you shed light upon the messy and sad history of humanity, you can see that racism has been with us from the very beginning of recorded history. Sad.......very sad indeed.

 

I'm not sure that we'll have to cope until the very end. Assimlationism will one day rule over all!

(Oh, gosh, my spelling sucks without my auto-correction thing)

 

Not many people still get offended by "nigger" seriously. Most black people i know say "nigger" or "nigga" in every sentence. mabye they don't know their history or just how bad it was, or they just don't care about that word anymore. Its not that big of a deal.

 

on that note: nobody gives a damn about when people are raciset to white people which I find that in away a bit offensive.

I know this guy and when he see's me he goes "oi you f****** white boy I bet it sucks being a r*******." he said something else however I dont want to type it :-X

 

NO! BAD LOONYLION!
You CANNOT say something is racist for one race and not for another! That's RACISM and it's a DOUBLE STANDARD that drives me NUTS!

 

Also,
The word "Nigger" is from the Spanish word, "Negro", which means black.

Since I am Mexican Primarily, Nigger just means Black, no racism involved.

-Patton

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbwNSNLPIfw