dagblog - Comments for ""The Idea That Whites Can’t Refer to the N-Word""

McWhorter suggests whites

rmrd0000 — Wed, 11 Sep 2019 03:15:41 +0000

In reply to You actually still believe

McWhorter suggests whites only use the word under special conditions.

You actually still believe

ocean-kat — Wed, 11 Sep 2019 03:04:51 +0000

In reply to I posted comments made by

You actually still believe you can tell people what to do. It's amusing.

I posted comments made by

rmrd0000 — Wed, 11 Sep 2019 01:49:15 +0000

In reply to Not all black people use the

I posted comments made by McWhorter. McWhorter suggests that whites can only use the word under special circumstances.

The Baldwin documentary is titled “I Am Not Your Negro” and not “I am Not Your Nigger” for a reason. Let the rappers have their fun. Don’t use the word.

Not all black people use the

ocean-kat — Wed, 11 Sep 2019 01:11:49 +0000

In reply to Not all black people use the

Not all black people use the word.

Another astute observation that we never would have discovered without you. When I posted black people can use it and a lot of them use it a lot you brilliantly decided I meant all.

Since nigggers don’t exist, just use the n-word.

I don't need instructions from you. I don't really respect your opinions very much so I wouldn't take instruction from you even if I needed it. All I care about is that you address the issue at hand with rational argumentsThat I will consider and respond to with the most rational arguments I can come up with.

The word nigger is not unique. Like all the many racial and religious slurs people should not use them as insults. All people no matter what their race or religion shouldn't use kike, or chink etc. Nigger is somewhat unusual in that many black people have decided to use it. That seems short sighted and ignorant to me but why should I care

Not all black people use the

rmrd0000 — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 19:34:22 +0000

In reply to I pointed out that the

Not all black people use the word. Most black people do not see themselves as niggers. (Cue Chris Rock joke). I’m not a nigger. As James Baldwin said, niggers are a white fiction. Since nigggers don’t exist, just use the n-word. As nigger has no meaning because it refers to fictional people

Mc Whorter on whites using the word nigger

Yet all will agree that nevertheless, whites should not be able to hurl the word around with impunity. The resulting "We can but you can't" situation is peculiar and fragile, but then, so is much of how human societies handle the ticklish synergy between past and present. As Jews may observe kosher laws, so too, America can observe a historically minded brand of politesse under which whites step away from a term that blacks use in a different meaning.

However, it is too delicate a business to decree that whites cannot even use the n-word when referring to it. Here, expectations of politesse drift into melodramatic persecution disguised as civic concern. It means things like a white supervisor at the University of Virginia medical school in 2003 being picketed and asked to resign for saying that having a football team called the Redskins was "as derogatory to Indians as having a team called Niggers would be to blacks." Or the National Urban League calling for Dr. Laura to resign last week.

https://www.theroot.com/lets-make-a-deal-on-the-n-word-1790880617

Reading McWhorter, the idea that there are limits on whites using the word comes through.

Yes, it's so frustrating. We

ocean-kat — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 19:31:07 +0000

In reply to P.S. I said it right here on

Yes, it's so frustrating. We think we've put part of the debate behind us by agreeing with rmrd and we can move on to the parts were we disagree and then it just keeps popping up over and over again.

P.S. I said it right here on

artappraiser — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 19:10:34 +0000

In reply to Yes.

P.S. I said it right here on this thread in reply to rmrd Thu, 08/29/2019 - 2:11am

Which begs the question: why are we constantly lured into repeating ourselves over and over? That reply should have been enough and I should have quit. Don't know about you, but I put it back on me: how can I communicate better. Comes from my T.A. days, I guess. That's why I keep trying. But sometimes one has to realize it is hopeless.

I pointed out that the

ocean-kat — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 19:04:06 +0000

In reply to I pointed out that the

I pointed out that the students who complained about the use of the word were white.

And thank god for that. Why none of us would have realized it without you pointing it out.

McWhorter gives us the super special conditions under which white people can use the word. The verbal contortions are ridiculous.

What super special conditions? How are they verbal contortions and how are they ridiculous? You don't get to just make those claims without backing them up with rational reasons. I've been using the word in this and other blogs based on his reasoning without any so called verbal contortions.

Democracy won’t collapse if we don’t use the word.

Don't you mean Democracy won’t collapse if you white people don’t use the word. Because black people can use it anytime they want and a lot of them use it a lot.

Yes.

artappraiser — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 18:56:52 +0000

In reply to rmrd only wants to talk about

Yes.

(And not that it means anything, but I simply posted the headline editor's lede sentence.)

Comes to mind it's the usual, often takes news stories and makes straw men of them, too. It's not about what's being reported or what a writer is saying, it's just: grab another chance to preach my favorite gospels.

I pointed out that the

rmrd0000 — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 18:49:26 +0000

In reply to rmrd only wants to talk about

I pointed out that the students who complained about the use of the word were white. They were the ones who complained to the administrators. In the second cases, the black students sat around wondering WTF was happening, Apparently, they launched no complaints. The white students were the ones who were offended. It seems professors need to have better relationships with their white students.

Nigger is a toxic word. Hip-Hop tells the lie that they have taken away the power of the word. Ludacris had a young woman come on the stage and sing lyrics he had written. He halted the show when she sang nigger, telling the young woman that she could not use the word. McWhorter gives us the super special conditions under which white people can use the word. The verbal contortions are ridiculous. Limits are put on the word being used by white people. You might as well just use n-word because you are giving the word nigger special status by placing limits on its usage.

You won’t have professors being sent to the principal’s office..

A real word is a word that can be used everywhere.

Nigger is officially the one word in the English language that has this racially based special status. Democracy won’t collapse if we don’t use the word.