It truly is a fascinating thought exercise that one word has that much power. There are way more offensive slurs out there. But I can honestly say, when I hear that word, I dont think of color. Just trashy piece of shit with no regard for the environment they exist in. It covers everybody. For the general public, the word has evolved to encompass everyone and anything. But some won't let it go. Like they insist on owning that particular slur.
Example: when we were kids, we had the corner store where we got the penny candy and comics and all that shit. When parents used to send their kids to go buy smokes for them. It was owned and operated by Indians. Parents always referred to the store a "swami's". A rare throwback slur indeed. But we did not know that. We called it the same thing. We loved that place and were in and out of there several times a day. We called them that to their faces because we thought that was what they were called. Childhood ignorance turned it Into a term of endearment. They are still there 30 plus years later. Pillars of the community. Now I buy my cigars off of them instead of candy. They have a sign up that says "The Swamis" behind the counter. Words can evolve and if dickheads can co-opt innocent things and make them racist (ie. nazis using Buddhist symbols for their logo) then the it can go the other way too. It just seems that when something goes from bad to good, certain people won't let the bad meaning be left behind. On the other side, God forbid you try to co-opt a currently racist symbol to represent something wholesome and unifying. I forget my point. Just be good to people and the rest takes care of itself I guess.
You cant say that the nword isnt the most offensive slur out there today, atleast in the USA where black and white have been having race issues since its beginning. You could maybe evolve a slur to being something wholesome but most times it does not
That's what I mean in regards to the exercise. It's a word, like any other combination of letters. Is it the most offensive to most? Probably. In the US at least. But not to all. What I'm saying is, in its inception it was targeted at a very specific group of people. It has moved on to be all encompassing. It has moved past race. But then you have to consider the position of the person hearing it and their perception. Two non black kids calling each other that word, are they really being racist? Really? Though someone over hearing might scream racism does not mean these kids are going home and throwing on white hoods. Think about times you have heard it in the wild. It is hard to articulate, but context, phonetic inflection and probably some other factors come into play too, but you damn well know when it's being flung as a racist slur whether you can define why or not. Just looking at it logically, academically, it's very interesting to think about everything that one word encompasses and produces. Even this conversation.
Sometimes it is used as a racist slur and sometimes it is not. It depends, but most times when someone says the nword they follow it up with more racism. I dont think they are being racist though, its usually just edgy middle schoolers. It is still used and understood as a racial slur.
I dont think the definition of this word will ever be changed since people will still be using it as a slur, so I also dont think it has moved past race
It truly is a fascinating thought exercise that one word has that much power. There are way more offensive slurs out there. But I can honestly say, when I hear that word, I dont think of color. Just trashy piece of shit with no regard for the environment they exist in. It covers everybody. For the general public, the word has evolved to encompass everyone and anything. But some won't let it go. Like they insist on owning that particular slur.
Example: when we were kids, we had the corner store where we got the penny candy and comics and all that shit. When parents used to send their kids to go buy smokes for them. It was owned and operated by Indians. Parents always referred to the store a "swami's". A rare throwback slur indeed. But we did not know that. We called it the same thing. We loved that place and were in and out of there several times a day. We called them that to their faces because we thought that was what they were called. Childhood ignorance turned it Into a term of endearment. They are still there 30 plus years later. Pillars of the community. Now I buy my cigars off of them instead of candy. They have a sign up that says "The Swamis" behind the counter. Words can evolve and if dickheads can co-opt innocent things and make them racist (ie. nazis using Buddhist symbols for their logo) then the it can go the other way too. It just seems that when something goes from bad to good, certain people won't let the bad meaning be left behind. On the other side, God forbid you try to co-opt a currently racist symbol to represent something wholesome and unifying. I forget my point. Just be good to people and the rest takes care of itself I guess.
You cant say that the nword isnt the most offensive slur out there today, atleast in the USA where black and white have been having race issues since its beginning. You could maybe evolve a slur to being something wholesome but most times it does not
That's what I mean in regards to the exercise. It's a word, like any other combination of letters. Is it the most offensive to most? Probably. In the US at least. But not to all. What I'm saying is, in its inception it was targeted at a very specific group of people. It has moved on to be all encompassing. It has moved past race. But then you have to consider the position of the person hearing it and their perception. Two non black kids calling each other that word, are they really being racist? Really? Though someone over hearing might scream racism does not mean these kids are going home and throwing on white hoods. Think about times you have heard it in the wild. It is hard to articulate, but context, phonetic inflection and probably some other factors come into play too, but you damn well know when it's being flung as a racist slur whether you can define why or not. Just looking at it logically, academically, it's very interesting to think about everything that one word encompasses and produces. Even this conversation.
Sometimes it is used as a racist slur and sometimes it is not. It depends, but most times when someone says the nword they follow it up with more racism. I dont think they are being racist though, its usually just edgy middle schoolers. It is still used and understood as a racial slur.
I dont think the definition of this word will ever be changed since people will still be using it as a slur, so I also dont think it has moved past race