"THAT's how you kill a slur, you misuse it, overuse it, use it like an inanimate pronoun till it has lost all its power. Censoring it preserves and amplifies that power. I say, beat the motherfucker to death. Use it to describe your pencil. The family dog. The weather. Get creative, like my child."
"THAT's how you kill a slur, you misuse it, overuse it, use it like an inanimate pronoun till it has lost all its power. Censoring it preserves and amplifies that power. I say, beat the motherfucker to death. Use it to describe your pencil. The family dog. The weather. Get creative, like my child."
Hmm, I get where you're coming from, but I don't agree at all here. The problem is, this approach ignores the very real hurt the word currently causes to many black people. It's not just about how you feel about the word, disempowering the word still means considering the feelings of those who it hurts. Which is why, despite the fact that it doesn't bother me, I still censor it.
I'm perfectly able to recognise how stupid it is to treat this word like it's the black person's "Aveda Kedavra," but even I wouldn't want to have to hear it all the time. There's a difference between seeing somebody who wants to use it as an insult for who they are, and treating the word like a toy.
But we're aren't talking about my usage. I never use the word, except in the kind of context I gave at the top. It's mainly the usage of young black teens, like mine were. I don't think they're at all ignorant of how hurtful the word has been and is still. It's their rebellion against that state of affairs, and they are absolutely on track, IMO. But it really doesn't matter what we think. We are, as always, supplanted by the incoming generations who will define their own world. That IS what is becoming of that word, whether we like it, understand it or not.
Well, to be fair, we're talking about your suggestion for how the word should be treated and your "refusal to be censored" in your usage of it:
"I say, beat the motherfucker to death. Use it to describe your pencil. The family dog. The weather. Get creative, like my child."
This is what I'm disagreeing with.
And the trend in usage of the word seems most definitely to be in the opposite direction to what you're suggesting here. In the 70s, 80s and even 90s, the n-word was used, uncensored, in primetime comedy TV shows. Reporters, including white reporters, could use it in context with no fear for their jobs. Teachers could teach Huckleberry Finn. Joe Biden used it in a Senate hearing. All of this is more or less unthinkable today.
I'm advocating for removing the taboo of the word. I think we agree there. But I still feel very strongly that that should be done sensitively. I feel like your framing misses that second part.
The time might not be right for it, but maybe...eventually. Dick Gregory actually did that as one of his comedy routines in the early '70s...I read about it in his auto bio titled...the N-word! (Wouldn't want to display THAT book in my hands on the subway today!) He said it over and over again saying the more we hear it the less powerful it would become. I think 1971 was probably still Too Soon. Maybe 2022 today, but I would argue given how little emotional/social resilience so-called SJWs display today, it might be time to readdress it...although by black comedians. Maybe Chris Rock could do it, he's got a lot of public support at the moment ;)
"THAT's how you kill a slur, you misuse it, overuse it, use it like an inanimate pronoun till it has lost all its power. Censoring it preserves and amplifies that power. I say, beat the motherfucker to death. Use it to describe your pencil. The family dog. The weather. Get creative, like my child."
Hmm, I get where you're coming from, but I don't agree at all here. The problem is, this approach ignores the very real hurt the word currently causes to many black people. It's not just about how you feel about the word, disempowering the word still means considering the feelings of those who it hurts. Which is why, despite the fact that it doesn't bother me, I still censor it.
I'm perfectly able to recognise how stupid it is to treat this word like it's the black person's "Aveda Kedavra," but even I wouldn't want to have to hear it all the time. There's a difference between seeing somebody who wants to use it as an insult for who they are, and treating the word like a toy.
But we're aren't talking about my usage. I never use the word, except in the kind of context I gave at the top. It's mainly the usage of young black teens, like mine were. I don't think they're at all ignorant of how hurtful the word has been and is still. It's their rebellion against that state of affairs, and they are absolutely on track, IMO. But it really doesn't matter what we think. We are, as always, supplanted by the incoming generations who will define their own world. That IS what is becoming of that word, whether we like it, understand it or not.
"But we're aren't talking about my usage."
Well, to be fair, we're talking about your suggestion for how the word should be treated and your "refusal to be censored" in your usage of it:
"I say, beat the motherfucker to death. Use it to describe your pencil. The family dog. The weather. Get creative, like my child."
This is what I'm disagreeing with.
And the trend in usage of the word seems most definitely to be in the opposite direction to what you're suggesting here. In the 70s, 80s and even 90s, the n-word was used, uncensored, in primetime comedy TV shows. Reporters, including white reporters, could use it in context with no fear for their jobs. Teachers could teach Huckleberry Finn. Joe Biden used it in a Senate hearing. All of this is more or less unthinkable today.
I'm advocating for removing the taboo of the word. I think we agree there. But I still feel very strongly that that should be done sensitively. I feel like your framing misses that second part.
The time might not be right for it, but maybe...eventually. Dick Gregory actually did that as one of his comedy routines in the early '70s...I read about it in his auto bio titled...the N-word! (Wouldn't want to display THAT book in my hands on the subway today!) He said it over and over again saying the more we hear it the less powerful it would become. I think 1971 was probably still Too Soon. Maybe 2022 today, but I would argue given how little emotional/social resilience so-called SJWs display today, it might be time to readdress it...although by black comedians. Maybe Chris Rock could do it, he's got a lot of public support at the moment ;)