Does "Nigger" Offend You?

[stilltrucking]

Rerun a good man

I would take him home any day or night.

thanks for writing

inFriendship
jacktilles

[Zlatko Waterman]

I don't try to restrain the free speech of others, generally. That's my customary practice. Stifling expression is, as Blake said, like murdering a child in its cradle.

I'm simply responding to the question, and my answer is yes, it does offend me.

Whatever individual use people choose to make of words, whether the speaker/writer is white or black, I'm with Voltaire, of course.

--Z

[stilltrucking]

Yes I am for free speech even hate speech I suppose.

Holmes, writing for a unanimous majority, ruled that it was illegal to distribute fliers opposing the draft during World War I. Holmes argued this abridgment of free speech was permissible because it presented a "clear and present danger" to the government's recruitment efforts for the war.

Falsely shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater, i.e. shouting "Fire!" when one believes there to be no fire, this lying speech in order to cause panic is not protected by the First Amendment.

Schenck was later overturned by Brandenburg v. Ohio, which ruled that speech could only be banned when it was directed to and likely to incite imminent lawless action (e.g. a riot), the test which remains until this day. Some now see the Schenck argument to be mistaken, contending that pamphleteer was more like yelling fire outside a building to prevent people from entering than it was trying to encourage people to stampede out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shouting_f ... ed_theater

[stilltrucking]

Izzy I was not being sarcastic when I said thanks for writing. It was a powerful piece. You keep me honest. It has taken me a long time to overcome my racism. I was kind of a reverse racist. I used to believe that all Americans of African decent were cool. That hit upside the head was a wake up call. I have since learned to take people one at a time. Truth be told we are all of African descent.

Speaking of black senators, Senator Carol Moseley-Braun was kind of a disapointment to me. I don't know if it was a smear job but she seemed to have blown it. She probably did not do anything worse than a million other white politicians.

Of all the people in the world that you would not expect to be racists it is the Jews. I don't know why I expect more from them? More stereotyping I suppose.

[mnaz]

Well, at first yes. And now, I suppose not as much, since the word has
sort of been "reclaimed" (especially if you have cable TV). I don't know about these things exactly. I guess I'm trying to make it a point not to let words get to me in general; to push me too far in any particular direction, positive or negative, up or down. Look at the trouble we got into due to swallowing George W. Bush's uncanny Rove-ian buzz-word bullshit over the last several years, like so many "Pavlov's dogs" . Words. Love 'em. Hate 'em. They should know their place.

[bohonato]

Yes I am for free speech even hate speech I suppose.

I would rather see hate in the form of speech than a car bomb.

I don't remember who said that, but it was from Sundance's The 1st Amendment Project, in reference to Amiri Baraka's poem after 9-11.

[stilltrucking]

Yes me too
But
In the begining is the word
Then the smack upside the head with a two by four

From words to war

the power of words

the word made flesh

sticks and stones

can hurt me

so can words

ready aim fire

kill the infidels

[Doreen Peri]

Yes!!! I hate it!!!... the word "nigger" offends me if used in a racist way.

fuck

does FUCK offend you?

making my way around the internet stupidhighway.. apparently it offends some people but

fuck it.. it's just a fucking word for crissake

Words are words are words are words

After they're said so many times, derogatory meanings are shot

But sometimes there is no better word than FUCK...

Fuck it.

[stilltrucking]

The words Holy Land offends the hell out of me.

At least the way John Hagee and his ilk use it.

Bush and other leading Republicans have lined up behind a growing movement of Christian Zionists for whom a European Antichrist figures prominently in an end-times scenario. So they should be forced to explain to the rest of us why they're courting the votes of people who believe our allies are evil incarnate. Could it be that the central requirement for their breathlessly anticipated Armageddon -- that the United States confront Iran -- happens to dovetail so nicely with the neoconservative war agenda?

At the center of it all is Pastor John Hagee, a popular televangelist who leads the 18,000-member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas. While Hagee has long prophesized about the end times, he ratcheted up his rhetoric this year with the publication of his book, "Jerusalem Countdown," in which he argues that a confrontation with Iran is a necessary precondition for Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ. In the best-selling book, Hagee insists that the United States must join Israel in a preemptive military strike against Iran to fulfill God's plan for both Israel and the West. Shortly after the book's publication, he launched Christians United for Israel (CUFI), which, as the Christian version of the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee, he said would cause "a political earthquake."

http://www.alternet.org/story/39748/

http://www.armageddonbooks.com/aime.html

[Lightning Rod]

Nice piece izzy

good angle and good reflection

I have been meditating on this subject for several days now, since the Kramer (Michael Richards) debacle. It seems that for the past week I can't turn on the TV without seeing Kramer wearing a hair shirt and whipping himself in public, even crawling on all-fours to the shrine of Jesse Jackson to beg forgiveness. It all makes me sick. Here is a man who is well known as a clown and a comedian and even he is being chastised in the press for being a racist because that word slipped from his lips. What are they going to do about Lenny Bruce? Chris Rock can say 'nigger' but not Michael Richards?

The kingdom is in trouble if the monarch can censor the fool.

Why can't we call a spade a spade?

Story time:

I was sixteen. We lived in Abilene, Tx. Our family wasn't rich but both parents worked and we had a housekeeper named Joyce. She was my mammy. I loved her.

This was the late fifties and Joyce lived 'on the other side of town.' She had to at that time.

As the years went by, Joyce's daughter Patsey, who was my same age, would come with Joyce to work and by the time we were fourteen or fifteen, Patsey was coming to work instead of Joyce. She was a lovely girl and we were naturally attracted to each other in an adolescent way. We talked and laughed together. It was tragic in a way because we both knew that the world in which we lived wouldn't tolerate our simple friendship, let alone any possible romantic attraction or, god forbid, a date in public.

This was the early sixties and integration was just beginning in West Texas. We had four black students in our high school and they all sat at the same table at lunch.

When I was sixteen I was driving. I came home one evening and the family was sitting around the living room eating dinner and watching The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on black and white television. Patsey was sitting there amongst my sisters. She was so much a part of the family that I didn't notice her.

One of the actors on the TV show was Barbara Rush. She is a very light skinned black woman. For some reason, probably because I had been raised in an environment of genteel racism, I remarked that Barbara Rush was a nigger. I didn't mean anything derogatory, I was just commenting on the fact that even though she looked white, she was of African extraction. Then I noticed that Patsey was sitting there. She had an astonished look on her face.

I had to drive Patsey home that evening, to the other side of town. I was so mortified that I could barely talk to her. It was a silent ride. What I wanted to do was kiss her goodnight.

It's true, we give different weight to the same words when they come from different lips and in different situations.

[stilltrucking]

Another Teamster Union in another city.

I was living on 16th Ave in Guitar Town, “god bless the boys who make the noise on 16th avenue.”Lacy J Dalton
It was in a five-story apartment building directly across from RCA. I lived in the sub basement. It was dark as a dungeon down there, pitch black. One night a friend from my Quaker Meeting knocked on my door. He was pretty shook up. Something happened some prank had been pulled on him and it was not funny to him at all. I think it had something to do with the clan. He never told me what happened but it involved some one he had met at the Meeting. Well anyway he wound up living on my couch for a while. He was an exchange student from Togo.

Well one night we went to a soul food restaurant that we had only been to in the daytime. I had never noticed the band stand in the back. At night the place turned into a nightclub. The place was jumping, everybody dressed sharp. I ran into a teamster brother that I liked a lot, a good man to work with, he always pulled his weight, and he was always looking on the bright side of things. Happy to be making that big $12.25 an hour, (1976 dollars). I said something so stupid I can hardly bring myself to write it. I introduced my friend from Togo to my union brother like this, “James this is my friend Felix he ain’t no ordinary nigger, he is from Africa.” I won’t forget that look of anger and hurt on his face.

My stoopid stoopid sense of humor,

“When lives were lost at the turn of a joke” Guy Clark.

I hate replying to your posts Clay, my writing always seems even worse when juxtoposed to yours.

[stilltrucking]

Yes the word does offend me,

I just edited the post above for political correctness, the reason was I was talking about my quacker friends skin color. The reason I mentioned the dark subbasement was because of Felix color was so black, blacker than the blackness, he stood out in the darkness almost glowing.

sorry to kick this moldy oldy up again but it has been on my mind, lately

[Dave The Dov]

If the word offends you then let's ban the letters that make up the word instead. No let's find a constructive way to deal with these words. Cenorship doesn't work at all. But being mindful does.
_________________
BMW 326

[stilltrucking]

I got a little ptsd to deal with dav, that dam two by four hurt, the word does not offend me when it is used between brothers, but when someone throws it in my face the way that dude in baltimore, that offends me, so many bad stories about race in the usa, talked to a fellow that did some hard time in prison, and it all came down to race, he knew the score. He was still pissed off, he called himself a nigger, I thought he had the right to use that word if he wanted too. I use it in a very bitter vain. Katrina a wake up call, izzy probably going to gag on reading this, but I thought we were so much further along. I wrote a piece for creative about black bloated bodies laying in the streets of New Orleans. I used the word nigger in it cause I was in a bitter mood, , sometimes there is no recourse to use the word. I remember telling a joke about a jew and a pizza on that other board, one woman I think canadain told me that it was a good thing that I was not in canada because she would see me in prision for hate speach. Man I love Canada, but my sense of humor maybe too sick.


Sorry for the ramble dav, you touched a nerve. I mean yeah hate speach is crime but telling a bad sick joke, I don't think so.

[izeveryboyin]

st, while I appreciate the freedom you have with your speech, understand that this is more the black person's fight than the white person's. It is us who has to let go of the word first b/c it is us that the word was made to offend. Perhaps that's the reason why your usage of the word can never be well received. When I'm out w/firends, white, black, hispanic, whatever, I'll use the word nigger. It's my way of saying "I'm okay with it. I'm not afraid." But that's only 1 down a couple million more to go. I would love for people to get over that word. I doubt it'll happen, but I would love it. B/c if I'm all together honest with myself, there are times when I'll cruise myspace and see some dorky little white kid advertising what a bad ass nigga he is, and I get a little fired up. I feel that militant black girl bubbling up, ready to explode, but in the end I let it go. I feel like I have to. People lead by example. It may not be working but dammit, I'm trying. But definitely consider that the world at large is just not ready for the white man's casual usage of the word nigger, even if I am. Careful of the bridges you end of burnig before you get to cross them.

--k