Acceptable Use of N-Word

[Admiral Yi]

durka

I can see a combination of 5 and 6.  You're trying to be funny, but if a lot of black folk say it's a miss, you apologize and walk it back.

[ulmont]

1. Black people get to make up their own rules for acceptable use by black people and I'm not gonna make any commentary on that.

2. In my opinion, it's impossible to teach history in the United States, particularly but not limited to the black experience and the civil rights movement, without using the word to accurately portray the black experience.

For just one instance, let's take Lee Atwater on the Southern Strategy:

You start out in 1954 by saying, 'Nigger, nigger, nigger.' By 1968 you can't say 'nigger' -- that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites.

And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me -- because obviously sitting around saying, 'We want to cut this,' is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than 'Nigger, nigger."

If you write that out with "n-word", it loses a lot imo.

3. For jokes, find something else to talk about.

[Syt]

Can we not have the n-word on the front page of a publicly accessible forum, please?

Thank you.

[crazy canuck]

A new low for Yi.  If anyone is moderating this forum anymore please delete this thread.

[Eddie Teach]

The standard overwrought by CC.

[Habbaku]

1. Black people get to make up their own rules for acceptable use by black people and I'm not gonna make any commentary on that.

2. In my opinion, it's impossible to teach history in the United States, particularly but not limited to the black experience and the civil rights movement, without using the word to accurately portray the black experience.

For just one instance, let's take Lee Atwater on the Southern Strategy:

You start out in 1954 by saying, 'Nigger, nigger, nigger.' By 1968 you can't say 'nigger' -- that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites.

And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me -- because obviously sitting around saying, 'We want to cut this,' is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than 'Nigger, nigger."

If you write that out with "n-word", it loses a lot imo.

3. For jokes, find something else to talk about.

Agree with all points.

[Jacob]

I've basically tapped out.

I don't use the term myself, in any context.

If it's used around me, my reaction depends on context - but my reaction is mostly going to be silent rather than one of discourse. If someone's obviously a racist, I'll probably ignore them / remove myself/ avoid patronizing their business - but I probably won't talk about it. If they're being massively racist and I'm going to confront them, I'll probably focus on something other than the use of the n-word.

If it's something more nuanced - say a public figure used it and it's a controversy, or if Admiral Yi gets called out for using the word itself rather than using "n-word" - I'll basically mostly ignore it, but quietly go with what seems to be the consensus of black folks around. But I'm not going to enforce or challenge or argue about it. At most, maybe, I'll make a quip or ask a pointed question but that's it. I'm ready to say "it makes me uncomfortable" but not go to "so therefore you should stop". On the other hand, I'm not going say "other people shouldn't tell you to stop" either.

EDIT: ... and, it turns out, if requested I'll edit out the actual word in the thread title and repalce it with "n-word".

[Jacob]

Can we not have the n-word on the front page of a publicly accessible forum, please?

Thank you.

Fair request. Edited.

[Habbaku]

Thanks, Jake.

[Syt]

Can we not have the n-word on the front page of a publicly accessible forum, please?

Thank you.

Fair request. Edited.

Thanks.

[Grey Fox]

I wish that no one would use it.

Black people have not come to that conclusion.

[crazy canuck]

Can we not have the n-word on the front page of a publicly accessible forum, please?

Thank you.

Fair request. Edited.

Much better.

[Berkut]

The intention is what matters.


However....it is a fraught term, and given how toxic the term is, there aren't a lot of contexts where it is ever appropriate. And chances are that if you find yourself asking yourself if you ought to use the term, the answer is almost certainly "No".


But I also think it is one of those things where there is a desire by some to use its use itself as a weapon to cancel people they simply do not like.


I don't actually think (and by that I mean I am highly skeptical) anyone listening to some old Rogan podcast and how (as far as I can tell) he used the term is genuinely offended, rather then simply recognising that this is a useful weapon to use against someone they don't like. If someone else they did like used the term in the same context, it would be unremarked and uncared about.

[FunkMonk]

Can we not have the n-word on the front page of a publicly accessible forum, please?

Thank you.

"Hi boss, just browsing the web on my break. Oh, what's that on my screen?

Oh, oh no."

[Oexmelin]

In my opinion, it's impossible to teach history in the United States, particularly but not limited to the black experience and the civil rights movement, without using the word to accurately portray the black experience.

I think it is quite possible - because the experience of racism isn't entirely contained within that word. That being said, its persistance, and prevalence, including in hip hop (or The Wire, or so many other cultural productions) means that students require some form of explanation about it.

As someone who does teach this, I'll certainly have students read material which contains it, but I will not utter it. Or, at least, I have managed to do so, so far. Now that I am back to teaching in French, the problem isn't entirely the same. I suspect there are people in academia who bristle against this as a form of censorship, but yet at the same time, who also want to experience the frisson of the transgressive.