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I don't have a problem with typing the word 'nigger' when it's the word that needs to be used to talk about its usage or, for instance, to mention the Patti Smith song, Rock and Roll Nigger. I wouldn't know how to react to gucci's use of the word without knowing exactly what he means...I have an idea, but I'm not sure how accurate it is.
For me, I think the use comes down to common sense. Yes, black people use the term to refer to themselves and others, but it is usually akin to the way women will refer to each other as 'bitch.' For a man that she is not acquainted with to walk up and say, 'hey, bitch' the word would likely garner a different reaction. And understandably so. It's an old saw by now, but it is a way of reclaiming the word in a comradely way (with an exception made for both words used during conflict, of course).
I think the difference between the words 'four-eyes' and 'nigger' is, pretty plainly, the vitriolic hate that lies behind the use of one the words. To my knowledge, no one has been lynched in American history for needing glasses. As for myself personally, I was raised around people who used the word in a disrespectful way and I have always known, from a very young age without having to give it much thought, that it was ugly, base and ignorant. I'm thankful that my parents were among that first generation of Southerners who rejected racism and all of its thoughtless traditions en masse as an acceptable way to talk and think. Sometimes I think it's because people of subsequent generations have no practical basis for understanding how commonly the word was used just a few short decades ago (still is in some places) that they don't understand the incendiary quality of that word in particular. I'm only 43-years-old - hardly old - and I remember it.
What I really don't understand when I hear white people express consternation about not being able to use the word (as if it is not fair), is why - why do you want to use the word? There is no practical, congenial way in which to use it if you are not in a position to be comradely. So why do you care?
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Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats. - Diane Arbus
PESSIMISM, n. A philosophy forced upon the convictions of the observer by the disheartening prevalence of the optimist with his scarecrow hope and his unsightly smile. - Ambrose Bierce
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