The N Word

[hc4361]

Has the N word been diluted and accepted in to common parlance as these magistrates suggest?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2242804/Rap-music-fan-shouted-n---black-man-CLEARED-racism-magistrates-accept-using-street-slang.html

Is it now only middle class white people that shudder at the word? Is it a good thing that the word is no longer taboo?

I have never said that word and can't imagine ever using it, but I don't use a lot of words that young people say today.

[ludwig]

He's a numpty. I don't care how friendly he is with them, I wouldn't say it's ever ok for a white man to call a black man N..r.
It's their private thing isn't it? You have to be in the club to be afforded the privelege. Like the freemason's handshake. It's not something to be copied by white people trying to join in.

He's obviously not a racist though, just a numpty.

[TheSuburbs]

I spent a lot of time on Mississippi, some walk around saying it to each other.

[andy-hughes]

This is another instance of circumstances, meaning, and reception.

It is common knowledge that modern black cultuyre has reclaimed the word n*gg*r and taken the sting out of it by using it as a term of affection BUT ...

A black friend of mine confirmed that he and other black friends used the term freely to each other, but a casual white friend using the term was punched in the face!

I see it as this - if a group of people wish to refer to each other as 'Payday Loans*er', then that is all good because it is understood that the term is not offered with offence. If a complete stranger shouted 'Payday Loans*er!" at the group, and was proseucted, the defence that he enjoys pornography, and has more friends who masturbate than who don't, would look ridiculous - as indeed it should.

The age-old fall-back of having black friends and listening to black music is not a defence in any way at all - being offensive to strangers in public is not mitigated by cultural tastes and the ethnicity of friends - it is being offensive.

I entirely agree with previous posts - this man may waell not be a racist, but he is a buffoon, and should be given some lessons in how to behave in public as an adult.

And he lives in the same city as me - what an advert!!!

[Snafu03]

double standards - no more than that.