The “N” Word - Comments

Censorship is wrong, but people want to make others ignorant of the important issues. One way or the other, people will find ways of using derogatory terms whether it's in the music, television, radio... but to take away the classic literature that holds what fragile culture we have left--no matter how horrible it was--is like trying to erase what we need to hold on to in order to maintain a memory of our mistakes and learn from them.

Alright so yeah.
I'm black(very proud of it)
I don't care if I'm called a Nigger.
It doesn't offend me because it's just a word.
But that's just me.
My step-dad, whose white, calls me Nigger or Blacky all the time while I call him Cracker or Whitey because we like to joke with each other all the time.
I mean I know we have different opinions and this is mine.
I don't get why black people have to get offended over it.
It's just a word.
Nothing more.
Again, this is just [i]my[/i] opinion.

For the sake of facts, history, literature, and our right to the first amendment, no word should be banned.

well if we ban it we sorta immoralize it as "the scared word" and preserve it, but if it is used, the same word of hate and difference is made into a nickname or like homie. like gay people turned queer into like a nickname. But im against it.

well i suppose when one black person calles another nigga etc it cancells out the meaning considering their in the same boat but seeing a non black person calling a black person a nigger is deemed racist seeing as back in the day it WAS used as a racist slur but on the other hand using it in a jokey manner seems to take away the offense but personally i would find it offensive if a stranger called me a nigger however if a friend of mine called me it i wouldnt mind seeing as i know they dont mean to be offensive- honestly as its a word used so much in language i dont see why theres such a fuss that its used in a book, books are part of language right?

There are really no 'bad words.' There are words, there are thoughts, and there are intentions. It is the context of the word that is being said that should matter. I'm a beaner, greaser, dirty Mexican; it doesn't bother my ass. You can't be afraid of words that speak the truth, and the words that are being said aren't true, ignore them! Simple as that. Instead of getting angry at the words that are being said to you, you should be worrying about the racist asshole.

Really fags are cigerets in the UK sooo u could use it like that lol but Im black, by the way I really dont like to be called "African Amarican" Im not from africa Ive never been there and Im only called that because my great great great great great great grandma was from their. That doesnt make much sence to me, cause do white ppl get called "Europ amaricans"? nope but they feel they need to put everyone whos not white under their nationalty then add "amarican". Its annoying.
But people dont like any book that might hurt someones feelings(or get them sued)Like books by a lady named Judy Blume because she talked about god and praying to him (from a struggling little girls point of veiw) and Im SURE many other books by thousands of ppl and personaily I dont like the N word but When Im around my friends sometimes it slips because they use it alot infact I have a friend who calls everyone that even the dogs and his white cousin so Im guessing it jus has no value to him or jus he's not sinsetive to it but I am alittle but for some weird reason I get kinda mad when they say that with a E-R insted of with a A I guess its connected to the reason I dont use the word much, because of its past meanings but I really dont care who uses it cause its not like I really care or anything or can stop them and Im growning up around ppl who use it in day to day lang so its not a big deal to me but after I watched "Amarican history X" I felt alittle more pain from the word but nothing that made me wanna start a revoltion to tell the truth

Whats the big fucking deal? I call all my friends by their racial slurs. Like, I wouldn't go up to a stranger and say "Hey nigga whats up?" but I could go up to my Middle Eastern friend (who is one of my closest friends) and ask her where she planted a bomb today. She'd laugh.
It's just a context issue. Some people are bothered by it, some people aren't. I happen to make fun of everyone, even my own race, gender, etc. Everyone is equal to me, just on a lower level. :)
I also believe society has made people hyper sensitive to words. You have to say "African American" you can't just say "black". You have to say "of Latin or Hispanic decent" not "Mexican." Even if the person IS Mexican.

So to all you niggas and beaners, to all you fags and dikes, you can hit up this cracker. I don't care. It's a term of endearment.

BUT I HATE THE WORD RETARD! IF YOU USE IT OUT OF CONTEXT I'LL KILL YOU!

Clara6661:

The reason why people with darker skin use the 'n' word amongst themselves is because they're taking the history out of it and making it a joke. While I wouldn't use the word, I don't think that's an entirely bad idea. If they get called a nigger now, they wouldn't be as offended as they would have been in the 30s.

And besides, think of it this way. Imagine your mother had just told you that you couldn't go to your favourite band's concert. You'd rant and rave to your friends calling her a bitch and that it's so unfair. But if the day before when everything was fine, your friends said "your mum is a bitch" you'd hate them. Only YOU are allowed to call your Mum a bitch. That's like the 'n' word. Only black people can call themselves that.

Gah, I hate 'Of Mice and Men' the inner teenage in me says, but it's a book I don't regret reading. It's a book you have to read once in your life.

The reason it's so amazing is because it was written in a time where racism was at a peak, yet John Steinback didn't care and included it within all the generalisations. While it wasn't the main topic of the book like books written later on (e.g. To Kill a Mockingbird) it was written at the time of the racism, and identified the problem of racism when others thought it was a way of life.

I don't think it would be a good idea.
We're reading Of Mice And Men in class at the moment, and it's actually teaching us more about prejudice and how much of an awful word it is, to be honest.
It helps the problem.
It doesn't make it worse.

I don't understand how you would enforce a word banning....
Apart from books in public places... but I wouldn't want nto be a librarian on that day....

you can't really ban a word... poeple will say it law or no. It's not even worth trying...

ok venomous.

fuck that. think about that shit. think of how its used and shit.

what if we went calling people other racial slurs?

USE UR BRAIN.

I don't understand how if an African American uses the word 'nigger' it's considered acceptable but when a Caucasian person uses it, all hell breaks loose.

There's no consistency.

Of Mice and Men is amazing.
Speaking of which, you forgot to mention prejudice against thsoe with mental disablities.
That's also something extremely important.

If the 'n' word is banned, why not just ban everything?
I would never say something cruel like that myself, words like that have disgusting meanings, but banning words is ridiculous. For God's sake, we'd get all J. Edgar Hoover and start banning words like 'poophead'.
I think people should be punished for using the terms in certain contexts, like when they're being insulting.
But if you write the word in a book of fiction (eg. A character goes to another and says, "Hey, you ****" and they're portrayed as an antagonist) I don't think it should be banned.
Elementary school age is far too young to even be reading books of those LEVELS, let alone content.
But for high school and maybe middle school, prejudice is something kids should learn is BAD. They need to be exposed to these things because it's [b]real[/b].

I don't use the 'n' word and i'm not racist but come on ask yourself, have you ever heard a black rap artist sing a sing and NOT refer to himself as a nigger. I know I havn't, so my question is if they can call themselves it and not be offended why can't we?
It's obvious that they are getting away with being racist to white people and nothing is said about it, trust me I went to a school where black people were the majority and I'm in a college now where black people are the majority I see it every day.

"the first part of the last paragraph should have been left out. Articles shouldn't have opinions in them, they should only present the facts." You actually can
express opinions in articles; it's in features in which you cannot.

I say the word "faggot" and I am one. Racial slurs don't bother me period. And quite frankly I don't think meager words like that should bother anyone. it's white guilt that makes the "n" word so overly "offensive" whereas all other words are just mildly racist/discriminatory.

Besides, censorship is all bullshit. Trying to censor books from people is stupid; we learn/hear/read it anywhere and everywhere.

I have to say that anyone who uses the "n" word is ignorant. No one should use that word. Whether they be black, white, or purple.

But banning books for any reason is stupid. Those books depict how things really were back then. And banning books isn't going to change history. It's important people to know what went on in history and how people referred to each other.

Awesome article. =]

Literature is not about being politically correct. Should we ban Lolita because it depicts sex withh underage girls? Should we ban shakespeare because it contains lewd references and racism? No, because we recognize, or more accuratly, some people recognize, that, offensive language or no, literature is valuable. Books that were orignally banned all over the world by overactive churches and PC governments are now hailed as the some of the greatest works in the english languege.
if people start censoring "Naughty words" in literature, i'm moving to antartica

Gabe