Mrebo said:
Do we know who he was referring to and why?
did you watch the video I linked to????
Mrebo said:
If it is okay for black people to use the word and he was using it in the same way, why should it be considered worse?
that is a stupid and ignorant thing to say. I never said it is ok for black people to use the word. No one in here said that. So I don't know where you got that idea. I personally think no one should be using it. However that doesn't mean that it is the same whether the word comes out of the black person's mouth or a white person's mouth. It isn't. Anyone that knows and understands the history of racism and slavery and discrimination in country would know that.
The word is what the slave owners/overseers used to refer to their slaves. It is obvious considering the history of the word, that it is different when a black person uses it as compared to a white person. For one thing when I hear a white person use it, the racist detectors go off. Obviously the same is not true when I hear a black person use it. When someone uses that word, it tell us something about them. But tt doesn't tell us the same thing when spoken black a person that is does when spoken by a white person.
Mrebo said:
I was thinking about how it is said people are reclaiming a word (like the n-word or "queer") or taking away its power to hurt by using it.
I haven't heard this said at all. I personally wish the word would just disappear for our vocabulary all together. There is no reason to justify the existence of that word. It is an extremely offensive term and I think the world would be better off without it.
Mrebo said:
Perhaps it is the altered definition of the word (thanks to the adoption of many blacks) that Cooper was using. I hear young black guys using it constantly.
please refer to my comments above about how it is different when a white person uses as compared to a black person.
Mrebo said:
My thought is that nobody should be using it,
agreed.
Mrebo said:
that the usage of the word by many blacks is simply wallowing in its negativity. Leaving permissible usage only for those who were historical targets of a word is a sort of sociological impediment.
perhaps.
Mrebo said:
If we are really going to neuter or reclaim the word, whites should be using it, prolifically. We should use it against whites and blacks. We could use it in a friendly or a disparaging manner.
totally disagree here. the history of the word, renders it impossible to use against whites in the same way it is used against black. I think the better way would be for everyone to just stop using the word entirely.
Mrebo said:
I think Cooper really is only upset because he is white and got caught.
yes.
Mrebo said:
I don't have evidence he is a racist,
um, yeah we do. that fact that he used the word is evidence that he is a racist. In addition, he used the word to insult some black people he was angry at. I don't think it just slipped out in a moment of temporary insanity. He meant to use it. I don't it was the first time he used that word. I think in private he uses the word all the time.
Mrebo said:
any more than the blacks who use the word.
it is if we are talking about being racist against blacks.
Mrebo said:
The n-word has taken on a broader meaning and I wouldn't be surprised if that is the sense in which he used it.
I know of no broader meaning that ugly word has taken on. And anyone what watched to video would know that he wasn't using the way a black person uses it.