The n-word has meant black from the beginning, even before it took on its derogatory connotations. The Latin word "niger," the Spanish word "negro" (not to mention its English counterpart) and the country of Niger are not so called because they are populate dby white trash.

Excellent post, LMA! Greenwald has truly gone over the edge of the world on this one.

It is interesting to note that those on the left have absolutely no problem using insults like "rednecks" for those of us in the South. Sure, we call ourselves that, too, but, we do it in fun, they do it to be denigrating.

Having grown up in the South , I can honestly say that my parents only taught me two labels:

Respectable and Not Respectable

If you did something worthy of respect, you received it. If you did something of poor character, you were not respected. Undignified terms, epithets and slurs were not deemed as respectable, no matter the context.

Your last statement sums it up for me.

WELL! This black man is laugh his azz off at your post. Especially this line:

But my friend and I? Just a couple of overread, middle-aged niggahz.

PRICELESS. I see so many white kids calling each other "niggas" or "niggaz". It doesn't even shock me anymore. On the real, it actually makes me feel good that we are devaluing the word "nigger". Because the sooner we can dump the remnants of American slavery, the better we will all be.

Excluding the Jewish stuff, tell me anything Sarah Silverman says that Kimmel's old time Man Show Boy didn't say / couldn't have said.
Didn't Man Show Boy disappear just as Sarah went ascendant?
Again, excluding the Jewish stuff, listen to Silverman with eyes closed and picture a horny, blunt spoken eleven-year-old boy. Once you do that you can't stop.

Yeah, well. Lots of people contributed to the Man Show, other than Kimmel. Like, well: Adam Carolla, for one. And at least a dozen other comics/improv people I could name. Even my husband threw in a joke or two for those guys; we didn't watch TMS long enough to know whether they were actually used.

I dunno: the difference for me, between Silverman and The Man Show is that I didn't love The Man Show the way I loved Jesus Is Magic.

I'm also not sure that I can imagine Silverman without "the Jewish stuff." Isn't that like trying to imagine Woody Allen without "the Jewish stuff"?

Furthermore, I'm having trouble imagining an 11-year-old boy coming up with this line: "so, I was licking jelly off my boyfriend's penis the other day, and the thought struck me--I'm turning into my mother!"

T-Steel--that's why I try to use the word instead of doing that "n-word" thing. I mean, I understand that a lot of white people do that because they don't want to be accused of racism, even if they're talking about the word as a word. That's totally legitimate, but if I didn't use the word every now and then I'd feel like I was giving it power over me.

And it's just a short distance between giving it power over me, and giving it power over black people that it should not have.

Of course, I'm a female who isn't afraid of--or impressed by--the word "cunt." So what do I know?

What I do not advocate is using it around little kids of either color, because little kids don't know context. I'd rather swear around a child than use that word without explaining why it's a word that only grownups can use.

"No, no," I told my young nephew once. "'Fag' is not a swear word. It's what they call a slur. That's much worse."

Ditto what Belle said (as usual!).

Greenwald is a farking stupid c***. REALLY, I'm trying to keep it clean. Instapundit = Old Punk at Instapunk? WTFever!

Here's a good way of identifying whether or not a post is racist: If neo-nazis show up leaving links to their filth in the comments, you've probably said something they like. I HATED that post at Instapunk, although there were a few individual sentences therein with which I agreed. (Of course, I could say that about damn near any blog post.) He ruined what might have been a good start to a good conversation, though.

And see, that's what people think is a problem--that we "can't be honest." Well, so what? Shouldn't it be okay to make bigotry taboo?

It isn't even JUST about his use of "niggers," although I cringed when I saw it; it's about the "I'm sick of black people as a group" shit. Yeah, we can have "honest discussion" about race, if that's what people want, but there's no need for everyone's opinion to be respected.

My "honest opinion?" I don't give a rat's ass what people who are "sick of black people as a group" OR what people who spew crap like Jeremiah White have to say. As far as I'm concerned, their opinions are worthless.

/Beth, unemployed single mom getting a government (VA) check, eating popcorn for dinner
//who's the nigga now, yo?

You know who I'm sick of?--those people whose second toes are longer than their big toes. Whassup with that?--I don't care if the Romans thought it was "Patrician." It looks funny. One's big toe should also be the longest toe on one's foot.

Oh, wait [looks at feet]. Never mind.

Well, I'm tired of short chicks with honey-colored hair who talk too damned much!

There. I said it.

There. I said it.

LOL! Me too! ;-P

BTW, you don't look like trailer trash in the hat. >>>>^^^^
It's clean and in good condition. Roll it around underneath the trailer a bit, and you might have something. ;)

I am a witness to this. Okay, say you went to the zoo and they had 4 rhinosarous 2 were white and 2 were black. you notice that the 2 black were at one end and the 2 white were at the other end. would you call either of them racists? and which two would you call the racists? I would be willing to bet you would have to say the black rhinos are the racists. Right? Ok I was just having a little fun. Of course the white rhinos are racist.

Yeah, whatev.

If it'll help, I'll specify that 95-99% of prison inmates either are racist, or have to do a good job of acting as such in order to survive.

Though I know someone who had been incarcerated who informed me that where he was, the Christian table was integrated. However: they still did have to fight and stand up for their own--just to earn the right to be left alone by the rest of the population.

As much as I like being quoted (!), and as much as I think you're incredibly bright and engaged and committed to exploring questions of race with the best of intentions, I'm not sure you (or we, or white folks in general) can deracinate the word "nigger" and make it apply as much to a white person as to a black person, even stipulating that it's a bad white person like Jeffrey Dahmer and that good people of any race are not included in the term. Since the term has historically (and in my Richmond grandparents' home) been applied to black people regardless of their behavior, to try to add elements like character and behavior to the definition while subtracting color seems like too large a project.

Then again, when Zora Neale Hurston tells the story of being told by a white mentor not to "be a nigger," her take on the incident seems positive: she is recounting an anecdote during which she received useful advice that helped guide her into becoming an incredibly bright, self-possessed, and successful black woman.

I can't tell Hurston how to use the word, or how to feel about hearing it used. All I know is, I can't use it, can't reclaim it to mean young or hip, can't ask people to understand that I mean bad people of any race.

I was once having a conversation about Huck Finn and the use of the word nigger in the book. I used the word out loud... just as a black woman walked by. She couldn't know my intent or the context, couldn't know I'm not a racist, just an academic with bad timing and bad vision. I've never used it since.

So, as much as I love the sentiment behind calling us "overread middle-aged (?) niggahz," I think I druther we go by some other title instead. ....

How about "nappy-headed homegirl"?

I think the fact that you've heard the word used in a truly prejudicial way (and not by people who were exploiting its shock value, BTW) gives the word a truly different gloss for you, so I respect your decision there.

But I live for the day when a woman who walks by an academic and overhears that word reacts the way she might to overhearing the word fuck, and thinks nothing or all, or merely a semi-conscious sort of "hm; must be a joke or a literary allusion I didn't catch".

This is some of the most incoherent shit I've ever read.

A bunch of white people complaining that they can't say the 'n-word' in polite conversation. Is that the gist of it?

Nope. But thank you for trying!

Which "n-word" was that, by the way? Nepotism? Necrophilia? Neapolitan? Needy? Nitwit? Network? NotNow?

I wonder if the B-sphere is fated to have the same fights over and over again over race and gender, and gender and race, and people named Glenda, and race car drivers, and Glendale and pace, and grenades and pax and sex and sociability and space and engendering Irish lace.

Duh.

I've seen it in Usenet groups. I've also seen it in Real Life, in a science meeting. It was an ocean interface observing program, so there where oceanographers as well as meteorologists. For the better part of two days they argued over the same policy positions again and again. It became abundantly obvious each position had its adherents, and no one was going to back down and give in. And to a large extent, they where busy talking past each other.

Of course I agree, it would be great if the word lost its hurtful power and, when overheard, meant only that Huck Finn was under discussion.

I don't think we can get there by willing the word to mean something different, though, or by declaring redefinition by fiat.

Rather, I think we need to change the realities of race, as lived in America, so that such words can eventually fade away into abstractions.

Oh, and if you want to call me a Necrophiliac or a Nitwit, feel free! I'll be your nappy necrophiliac, or your natty nitwit, or your gnarly gnu, any day of the week.

Heh. Actually, the "get off my lawn" comment was to characterize Instapunk's post, which was supposed to come off as provocative but struck me as mere crotchety old man ravings.

It also made me miss my flawed and beloved Acidman, as you can tell.

Yeah, I figured. :)

But I couldn't read Acidman. I just couldn't get past the way he wrote about women and black people. I know some people loved him--but I could never hang around long enough to see the sweet side everyone swore existed.

I simply couldn't tolerate . . . well. His use of the n-word.

From what I hear, it was my loss.

That's where forgiveness comes in. Plus I had been reading his stuff every day since early 2003. I could see where a person who only read intermittently would just say "forget this knuclehead."

I guess Obama would say the same about Uncle Jeremiah, however, Rob wasn't my pastor.

Yikes. Need more coffee.

There's this to toss into the mix.