We should be able to discuss any word, including the label "nigger," as a dehumanizing smear derived from the Latin word for "black" (nigrus, -a, -um) with a significant historical and cultural impact. It used to be illegal to say words which clearly referenced sex or parts of the human anatomy. We never heard "fuck" or "cunt" on television or saw them in the newspaper. Those two "offensive" terms became two of the most popular words in the English language. Comedians in night clubs/Jim Morrison used to get arrested for using those words. The boom in popularity of suppressed words and substances is logical and predictable in a society that does not trust the ruling class as they try to censor speech and ideas "for our own good."
Perhaps, instead, thought police/censorship politicians deserve to be roughly fucked, right in the ear? 👂
Makes me think about how if some douchebag bully sneers "queer" at me I'm like whatever you can't touch me but if some well-intentioned blue haired twentysomething calls me it I'm like CHILD YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW OFFENSIVE THAT IS.
Black people in America have 25x the homicide rate as white people.
Not double, not triple, not 5 times more, not 10 times more, TWENTY FIVE times. Approximately 1 in 20 black men can be expected to commit a homicide in their lifetime.
When they stop slaughtering people on an industrial scale I will consider taking their views on mean words seriously.
I live in the UK and grew up a Catholic in Northern Ireland in the Troubles. A Fenian. A Taig. Now if someone called me that I’d just think they’re a dick or I’d lean into it with “not just a taig but a SUPER taig” and on and on.
But if you believe that people are equal in society then they are equal in speech. And there is no such thing as hate speech. Words are just words. You decide how you feel about them.
Marc Lamont Hill is an antisemitic putz who applauds the Hamas October 7 massacre of Israeli Jews - thousands of civilians tortured, raped, wounded, murdered and abducted in a single day by his Hamas Pals. That man is no moral authority on anything, and is only invited to Piers Morgan because that’s another soft peddler of Palestinian terrorism. “Words are violence” but actual racist violence is excused if the victims are acceptable (Jews).
Give me a fucking break. Far worse things happen in the world than the N-word.
He's also a supporter of Louis Farrakhan and Rasmea Odeh. It reminds me of when Bill Maher apologized to Ice Cube for saying that word (unlike the woman in this video, he did not use it as a slur towards somebody else). I see this over and over, where black people can loudly proclaim their discussed at somebody using an anti black slur and nobody brings up that they have used bigoted slurs far worse, far more often and without apology, on a frequent basis.
All versions of the N-word, forbidden or not, are derived from the Latin word "niger," which means "black." "Negro" is the word for black in Spanish. Southern American forms of English tend to transform the "gro" to "gra," and likewise transform "-er" to "-a" or "uh."
The U.S. descendants of enslaved Africans have struggled for a long time to come up with a way to label themselves in terms of their skin color, which is mostly not black at all, but shades of brown. They used to accept "colored people" (NAACP), but now that is not okay whereas "people of color" is fabulous. Recently, activists want not only to call themselves "black," but "Black," which is literally the same word as all of the N terminology.
American descendants of enslaved Africans have also called themselves a host of overtly demeaning names that seem likely to be have originated during enslavement, when they were regarded as livestock. Examples include "ape," "monkey," "dog," "buck," and the ubiquitous "bitch" used by both black men and women to refer to women (of any color). I am aware of the argument being made by John McWhorter and others that "nigga" is unrelated to the forbidden N-word, and is in fact a black term for "buddy." I find this argument very unconvincing. "Nigga" is obviously a derivative of "black" delivered with a Southern accent, and it had derogatory connotations to the white Southerners who used it.
I think that people (of whatever skin color) should avoid using inherently abusive language to describe others and should also stop using abusive language to describe themselves. If they decide to use terminology that has historically been used with abusive intent, I think they should make themselves aware of that history and reflect on the potential impact of continuing to use those words in referring to themselves or others. This kind of terminology is difficult to "detoxify."
At the same time, I disagree with the argument that the skin color or sex of the person who utters a word endows that term with nuclear destructive power, especially when people of another skin color or sex claim to regard the same term as "affectionate." I think the hyper reactivity of black people to the N word when it is uttered by white people is not credible when the reacting black people use that word and its direct derivatives constantly with and about each other.
Maybe the problem isn't the word but our reaction to it. If one word causes such a stir, it’s obviously overweight. It's also retarded to think that one race should be able to use the word without repercussions, and if another does, it's the end of the world.
I think the monetary contributions were more of a signal from white people expressing that they are done playing the silly word game.
I dunno if you're aware of it or not, but the great Lenny Bruce got in a world of hurt around 60 years ago for making a simular point in a public forum.
To be specific..
"Are there any niggers here tonight? Can you turn on the house lights, please, and could the waiters and waitresses just stop serving, just for a second? And turn off the spot. Now what did he say? ''Are there any *niggers* here tonight?'' I know there's one nigger here; because, l see him back there working. Let's see. There's two niggers. And between those two niggers sits a kike. And there's another kike. That's two kikes and three niggers. And there's a spic, right? Hm? There's another spic. Ooh, there's a wop. There's a Polack. And then, oh, a couple of greaseballs. There's three lace-curtain lrish Micks. And there's one hip, thick, hunky, funky boogie. Boogie, boogie. Mm-mm. l got three kikes. Do l hear five kikes? l got five kikes. Do l hear six spics? Six spics. Do l hear seven niggers? l got seven niggers. Sold: American! l'll pass with seven niggers, six spics, five Micks, four kikes, three guineas, and one wop. You almost punched me out, didn't ya? l was trying to make a point and that is it's the suppression of the *word* that gives it the power, the violence, the viciousness. Dig. lf President Kennedy would just go on television and say l'd like to introduce you to all the niggers in my cabinet. And if he'd just say ''nigger, nigger, nigger, nigger, nigger to every nigger he saw, boogie, boogie, boogie, boogie, boogie, nigger, nigger, nigger, nigger, nigger till nigger didn't mean anything any more! Then you'd never be able to make some six year old black kid cry because somebody called him a nigger in school."
That final sentence is the killshot. He's right.
For the record, after years of hearing Dave C and other black comedians saying "nigger" constantly, and often mocking white people with similarly offensive racist terms, I don't give a shit about the word, or who uses it. For me, its no longer a word of power.
To quote Lenny, "nigger nigger nigger". Who cares?
You are correct....but it's still plain unkind to call people names....especially children! I'm 61 and grew up with all the name calling as my father was an Archie Bunker type and my mother was Edith. Every nationality had a derogatory name attached...even us "Krauts"! During my lifetime, the name calling decreased and that was a good thing! My children are 1/2 jew-ish and I certainly don't want them referred to as kikes. A vibe shift has happened over the past 5 years and I don't like the meanness of it at all. Can't we all just get along no matter the color of our skin or nationality? Just be KIND!
Shiloh pushing back against cancel culture heralds the beginning of the end of Cultural Marxism in America.
Her ballsy and fearless bird flip coupled with politically incorrect speech has been exactly the moment our society needed to say “ENOUGH!”
I have watched several deconstruction videos by black pundits who applauded her courage.
A large group of people were doxxing her and calling for her to be killed. America loves and respects courage, so yes, many donated to help her buy a new and hopefully safer life. She will probably always be looking over her shoulder though as the story unfolds.
The incident, including her go fund me, is a powerful message to the collective that if they try to cancel anyone for utilizing free speech in any situation, we will not sit on our hands while the persons life is destroyed.
Here is the amazing Diana West giving a speech eight years ago!
I have shared the first five minutes and the whole hour can be viewed here.
Although I share your disgust with “Cultural Marxism,” I disagree vehemently with your claim that disrespect and defiance contributes to its defeat. Legal protection of speech (that is, speech free from government censorship) does not mean people are permitted to say whatever they want without censure. Vicious attacks, genuine or performative, do not correct anything, but provoke counter-attack. One extreme begets another. What, perhaps, is a viable solution? Exactly what James demonstrates in his essay: nuanced reflection and reasoned criticism.
We should be able to discuss any word, including the label "nigger," as a dehumanizing smear derived from the Latin word for "black" (nigrus, -a, -um) with a significant historical and cultural impact. It used to be illegal to say words which clearly referenced sex or parts of the human anatomy. We never heard "fuck" or "cunt" on television or saw them in the newspaper. Those two "offensive" terms became two of the most popular words in the English language. Comedians in night clubs/Jim Morrison used to get arrested for using those words. The boom in popularity of suppressed words and substances is logical and predictable in a society that does not trust the ruling class as they try to censor speech and ideas "for our own good."
Perhaps, instead, thought police/censorship politicians deserve to be roughly fucked, right in the ear? 👂
Makes me think about how if some douchebag bully sneers "queer" at me I'm like whatever you can't touch me but if some well-intentioned blue haired twentysomething calls me it I'm like CHILD YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW OFFENSIVE THAT IS.
Black people in America have 25x the homicide rate as white people.
Not double, not triple, not 5 times more, not 10 times more, TWENTY FIVE times. Approximately 1 in 20 black men can be expected to commit a homicide in their lifetime.
When they stop slaughtering people on an industrial scale I will consider taking their views on mean words seriously.
I live in the UK and grew up a Catholic in Northern Ireland in the Troubles. A Fenian. A Taig. Now if someone called me that I’d just think they’re a dick or I’d lean into it with “not just a taig but a SUPER taig” and on and on.
But if you believe that people are equal in society then they are equal in speech. And there is no such thing as hate speech. Words are just words. You decide how you feel about them.
Marc Lamont Hill is an antisemitic putz who applauds the Hamas October 7 massacre of Israeli Jews - thousands of civilians tortured, raped, wounded, murdered and abducted in a single day by his Hamas Pals. That man is no moral authority on anything, and is only invited to Piers Morgan because that’s another soft peddler of Palestinian terrorism. “Words are violence” but actual racist violence is excused if the victims are acceptable (Jews).
Give me a fucking break. Far worse things happen in the world than the N-word.
He's also a supporter of Louis Farrakhan and Rasmea Odeh. It reminds me of when Bill Maher apologized to Ice Cube for saying that word (unlike the woman in this video, he did not use it as a slur towards somebody else). I see this over and over, where black people can loudly proclaim their discussed at somebody using an anti black slur and nobody brings up that they have used bigoted slurs far worse, far more often and without apology, on a frequent basis.
I wrote a piece on black antisemitism, and Farrakhan is featured, spewing hate.
All versions of the N-word, forbidden or not, are derived from the Latin word "niger," which means "black." "Negro" is the word for black in Spanish. Southern American forms of English tend to transform the "gro" to "gra," and likewise transform "-er" to "-a" or "uh."
The U.S. descendants of enslaved Africans have struggled for a long time to come up with a way to label themselves in terms of their skin color, which is mostly not black at all, but shades of brown. They used to accept "colored people" (NAACP), but now that is not okay whereas "people of color" is fabulous. Recently, activists want not only to call themselves "black," but "Black," which is literally the same word as all of the N terminology.
American descendants of enslaved Africans have also called themselves a host of overtly demeaning names that seem likely to be have originated during enslavement, when they were regarded as livestock. Examples include "ape," "monkey," "dog," "buck," and the ubiquitous "bitch" used by both black men and women to refer to women (of any color). I am aware of the argument being made by John McWhorter and others that "nigga" is unrelated to the forbidden N-word, and is in fact a black term for "buddy." I find this argument very unconvincing. "Nigga" is obviously a derivative of "black" delivered with a Southern accent, and it had derogatory connotations to the white Southerners who used it.
I think that people (of whatever skin color) should avoid using inherently abusive language to describe others and should also stop using abusive language to describe themselves. If they decide to use terminology that has historically been used with abusive intent, I think they should make themselves aware of that history and reflect on the potential impact of continuing to use those words in referring to themselves or others. This kind of terminology is difficult to "detoxify."
At the same time, I disagree with the argument that the skin color or sex of the person who utters a word endows that term with nuclear destructive power, especially when people of another skin color or sex claim to regard the same term as "affectionate." I think the hyper reactivity of black people to the N word when it is uttered by white people is not credible when the reacting black people use that word and its direct derivatives constantly with and about each other.
Much ado about a niggling trifle
Maybe the problem isn't the word but our reaction to it. If one word causes such a stir, it’s obviously overweight. It's also retarded to think that one race should be able to use the word without repercussions, and if another does, it's the end of the world.
I think the monetary contributions were more of a signal from white people expressing that they are done playing the silly word game.
An excellent thoughtful piece thanks so much for this
That's not a bad effort man.
I dunno if you're aware of it or not, but the great Lenny Bruce got in a world of hurt around 60 years ago for making a simular point in a public forum.
To be specific..
"Are there any niggers here tonight? Can you turn on the house lights, please, and could the waiters and waitresses just stop serving, just for a second? And turn off the spot. Now what did he say? ''Are there any *niggers* here tonight?'' I know there's one nigger here; because, l see him back there working. Let's see. There's two niggers. And between those two niggers sits a kike. And there's another kike. That's two kikes and three niggers. And there's a spic, right? Hm? There's another spic. Ooh, there's a wop. There's a Polack. And then, oh, a couple of greaseballs. There's three lace-curtain lrish Micks. And there's one hip, thick, hunky, funky boogie. Boogie, boogie. Mm-mm. l got three kikes. Do l hear five kikes? l got five kikes. Do l hear six spics? Six spics. Do l hear seven niggers? l got seven niggers. Sold: American! l'll pass with seven niggers, six spics, five Micks, four kikes, three guineas, and one wop. You almost punched me out, didn't ya? l was trying to make a point and that is it's the suppression of the *word* that gives it the power, the violence, the viciousness. Dig. lf President Kennedy would just go on television and say l'd like to introduce you to all the niggers in my cabinet. And if he'd just say ''nigger, nigger, nigger, nigger, nigger to every nigger he saw, boogie, boogie, boogie, boogie, boogie, nigger, nigger, nigger, nigger, nigger till nigger didn't mean anything any more! Then you'd never be able to make some six year old black kid cry because somebody called him a nigger in school."
That final sentence is the killshot. He's right.
For the record, after years of hearing Dave C and other black comedians saying "nigger" constantly, and often mocking white people with similarly offensive racist terms, I don't give a shit about the word, or who uses it. For me, its no longer a word of power.
To quote Lenny, "nigger nigger nigger". Who cares?
You are correct....but it's still plain unkind to call people names....especially children! I'm 61 and grew up with all the name calling as my father was an Archie Bunker type and my mother was Edith. Every nationality had a derogatory name attached...even us "Krauts"! During my lifetime, the name calling decreased and that was a good thing! My children are 1/2 jew-ish and I certainly don't want them referred to as kikes. A vibe shift has happened over the past 5 years and I don't like the meanness of it at all. Can't we all just get along no matter the color of our skin or nationality? Just be KIND!
Joseph Conrad wrote a book, it’s called The Nigger Of The Narcissus…the name of course had to be changed in Yankee land - too much ridiculous hysteria
James,
Shiloh pushing back against cancel culture heralds the beginning of the end of Cultural Marxism in America.
Her ballsy and fearless bird flip coupled with politically incorrect speech has been exactly the moment our society needed to say “ENOUGH!”
I have watched several deconstruction videos by black pundits who applauded her courage.
A large group of people were doxxing her and calling for her to be killed. America loves and respects courage, so yes, many donated to help her buy a new and hopefully safer life. She will probably always be looking over her shoulder though as the story unfolds.
The incident, including her go fund me, is a powerful message to the collective that if they try to cancel anyone for utilizing free speech in any situation, we will not sit on our hands while the persons life is destroyed.
Here is the amazing Diana West giving a speech eight years ago!
I have shared the first five minutes and the whole hour can be viewed here.
https://youtu.be/kf1FvXOUz6s?si=FW63P3AFsh3_Y1Ri
Although I share your disgust with “Cultural Marxism,” I disagree vehemently with your claim that disrespect and defiance contributes to its defeat. Legal protection of speech (that is, speech free from government censorship) does not mean people are permitted to say whatever they want without censure. Vicious attacks, genuine or performative, do not correct anything, but provoke counter-attack. One extreme begets another. What, perhaps, is a viable solution? Exactly what James demonstrates in his essay: nuanced reflection and reasoned criticism.
Clutch your pearls harder, Francis.
Ooh, snap. LOL