Aaah, the old 'act crucified because I said you were dumb if you can't understand the underlining venom involved in the word' ploy.
Do you feel like commenting on the rest of the post? Feel free to ignore the 'you may be dumb' part if you get a break from un-bunching your panties. |
Nothing you said isn't addressed in my post, and like usual you can't make an opposing point to a non-regular without slipping in some condescending comment. I know from experience you're only trying to get a hostile reaction from me and that's not happening.
n*gger became a term of camaraderie amongst black people as a way of banding together in terrible conditions. as racial segregation grew from slavery into economic issues (ghettos, hoods, projects, whatever you want to call it), the word was still used for those purposes.
you have the audacity to tell me that I'M ignoring context, and then say that the word n*gger doesn't have racial implications? what world do you live in? whites have no right to a word as convoluted as n*gger without understanding it. you can't equate it with obscene words that aren't racially motivated. also, I've never called you racist. you can use a racist word without being racist...just understand that "implications" aren't enough to combat centuries of racism. if your friends are comfortable with your using the word in reference to them, that's great, but don't try doing it to your black boss someday.
the bolded is straight-up ridiculous. |
You say you can't judge a word without addressing context, yet you say n*gga is a racial term regardless of context. The word only implies race if you use it negatively. The world I live in is one where both white and black people say n*gga without regards to race, where it's much like just saying "dude" (Dude itself was a negative term until society altered it).
Of course there's a history behind it, but that's history. Centuries ago, germans used to shout "hip hip hooray" in the streets to rally their people so they can wander into the ghettos and abuse the jewish populace. Looking down on the term and chastising people who use it doesn't do anything for the jewish community, but in the modern day the term is a used in celebration and no one thinks anything of it.
A black person has the right to be sensitive to it of course, I don't say it in front of them unless I know they're cool with it. I just think they don't have to (and tbh I think it's silly), and the sooner people disassociate words from being "racist" we can start forgetting about these superficial things, race itself, and think of black only as a skin color. I think more than anything, the idea that "whites have no right to a word" is only going to discredit the cause, as if giving the blacks privilege to a word does anything for them and completely sidesteps the fact the word is still in heavy use. The point should be to erase any distinctions between us other than skin color. Instead we have to treat them as poor helpless black folk who need "special privileges". It's the 21st century and I think society in general is ready to leave these silly nuances of race behind.
So you think there is a positively determined meaning that words gesture towards but they themselves are mere mediators? Can you give an example of that? Of a word whose meaning is not defined by context? |
You mean wholly defined by context? That's what I'm getting at. Anyone who's paid attention in english or touched on the subject of linguistics knows the meanings of words can drastically change over time. Historical context is virtually meaningless and only useful in historical study. It's how we use it today that determines the meaning and what it will mean in the future.
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