"The N Word"

[Vazdania]

WHY? In case you've not noticed the days of slavery and black oppression are over.

You know how you can tell that's not true? There are people on the internet fighting to be able to call people 'nigger'...

oh you mean the superminority of people?

[New Genoa]

Is there really that much a difference between nigger and nigga?

Yes and no

[Fascist Russian Empire]

WHY? In case you've not noticed the days of slavery and black oppression are over.

You know how you can tell that's not true? There are people on the internet fighting to be able to call people 'nigger'...

I would hardly consider people wanting to use offensive language as being comparable to 'black oppression'.

[Pacifornia]

Is there really that much a difference between nigger and nigga? Both seem to be used interchangeably, so I don't see how they are all that different.

Besides the fact that the former will get my ass kicked? Yeah...

[Rand al Thor]

Is there really that much a difference between nigger and nigga? Both seem to be used interchangeably, so I don't see how they are all that different.

Yes, a bit. It depends on the context and person. It's kind of like fuck and motherfucker.

[Condunum]

Guys, racism certainly did not go away. There are still Neo-nazi "14/88" "anti-racist is a codeword for anti-white" pricks out there shamelessly trolling minorities and normal white people online

There is always a vocal superminority. They scream the loudest for their voice to be heard.

They aren't it though. passive racism is still very common, and one look at an economic-racial demographic will tell you there is a problem.

[Vazdania]

We've effectively dealt with ethnic oppression.

No, we haven't. Not even fucking close.

yes we have.

[Vicswampia]

I think it's only offensive if you let it be.

Being part Hungarian and Italian, there are racist insults for both of those nationalities but they're really ridiculous.

Maybe it's because there is more history of prejudice towards Negros than some others.

Negro itself is a racist word in English.

[Lorant]

I have a colored friend who uses the word nigger all the time.

[Condunum]

No, we haven't. Not even fucking close.

yes we have.

No, we haven't. I won't expect a rural rock-dwelling farm boy like yourself to know, you don't ever see the real world.

[Libertarian California]

I think it's only offensive if you let it be.

Being part Hungarian and Italian, there are racist insults for both of those nationalities but they're really ridiculous.

Maybe it's because there is more history of prejudice towards Negros than some others.

Negro itself is a racist word in English.

It's funny because in Spanish, it simply means "black".

Lot's of Mexicans have been an awkward situations, as you can tell.

[Vazdania]

There is always a vocal superminority. They scream the loudest for their voice to be heard.

They aren't it though. passive racism is still very common, and one look at an economic-racial demographic will tell you there is a problem.

please define 'passive racism. '

If we are to look at the socioeconomic demographic, we should look at percentages.

Blacks make up 14% of the population and should therefore control 14% of the wealth.

[Fascist Russian Empire]

yes we have.

No, we haven't. I won't expect a rural rock-dwelling farm boy like yourself to know, you don't ever see the real world.

Last time I checked, racial equality was pretty common nowadays.

[Des-Bal]

Assault is a crime in pretty much every single country in the world.

That's why assault doesn't happen in pretty much any country in the world. You are accountable to society independently of what is and is not legal.

[Vazdania]

yes we have.

No, we haven't. I won't expect a rural rock-dwelling farm boy like yourself to know, you don't ever see the real world.

Well I suppose that IS true. I always get so ecstatic when I see black people....such a rare site indeed.

[Condunum]

No, we haven't. I won't expect a rural rock-dwelling farm boy like yourself to know, you don't ever see the real world.

Last time I checked, racial equality was pretty common nowadays.

There's a difference between "noticable improvement" and "effectively gone", and we're at the first one.

[Pacifornia]

No, we haven't. Not even fucking close.

yes we have.

Go to youtube, yahoo news (actually any news with a comments section), tumblr etc. and then you'll see people still hate on others based on race. You know it's out there, lurking and waiting

[Libertarian California]

No, we haven't. I won't expect a rural rock-dwelling farm boy like yourself to know, you don't ever see the real world.

Last time I checked, racial equality was pretty common nowadays.

What determines racial equality? When two races have the same numbers when you average their statistics? Seems rather arbitrary.

[Condunum]

No, we haven't. I won't expect a rural rock-dwelling farm boy like yourself to know, you don't ever see the real world.

Well I suppose that IS true. I always get so ecstatic when I see black people....such a rare site indeed.

They're less than 7% of the population in my county... But then, I used to live in Baltimore, so there's my source of experience.

[Vicswampia]

It's funny because in Spanish, it simply means "black".

Lot's of Mexicans have been an awkward situations, as you can tell.

Yep, it's racist in English.

It's a common way and polite way to addres Black people in Spanish/Portuguese, though.

[Vazdania]

yes we have.

Go to youtube, yahoo news (actually any news with a comments section), tumblr etc. and then you'll see people still hate on others based on race. You know it's out there, lurking and waiting

Isolated incidents of racism are BOUND to happen. We've only had 50 years of ethnic 'equality' give it another 50.

[Hetalian Indie Rio de Janeiro]

Remember, kids - if you're going to be racist anyway, at least use a word that fits. Examples include:

- Honky;
- Wetback;
- Chink;
- Gringo;
- Spic;
- [censored];
- Polack.

Gringo and polaco aren't racist in Brazil. Gringo describes people who don't speak Portuguese or who aren't South American or both in a neutral fashion, while polaco describes Poles, Slavs in general or other Eastern/Northern Europeans in a more or less jocose fashion but not outright offensive (I would know since I'm 6,25% polonês, btw they use polaco instead of polonês in Lusophone countries other than Brazil).

And my grandmother - who is 25% not only Polish but also Swiss and Portuguese, and more European than me - always called me branquelo (lit. whitey), the closest thing to a slur for white people here, in a similar fashion to the Mexican use of "güero".

We call Chinese people china, pronounced shina. This is a slur in Japan but neutral in Brazil (when we want to insult them and the Koreans we call them 'dog eaters', but most people are very accepting and admiring of East Asians here so this isn't expected). Same about japa, something that you also know as close to your slurs. We still use negro for black people (preto and negro are both words for black, but preto isn't an adjective judged to be appropriate to be used for humans, more than anything it tends to be slightly offensive, and carries a tone of "looking at people 'from the above'", as if you were superior).

I think those negative senses are related not to the word themselves but what people want to communicate about them.

For example, our "N word" is crioulo, a term originally used to differentiate the "primitive Africans" (boçais, nowadays we use it neutrally to anyone who is a shithead without having any rememberance of its initial usage, in the same way that we pity people using the term coitado, initially used to mean "a passive in coitus", somebody who has being penetrated by a penis), the culturally assimilated Africans (forgot their name) and the Brazilian-born black people (creole people). In Spanish America, to the exception of Uruguay and Argentina (where criollo is used for blancos más mestizos like me, and thus those more prone to suffer racism), criollo didn't become a negative thing, as it was associated to the American-born WHITE people. But it is the same word.

Initially, the term ni**er was just a mispronunciation of negro. It was neutral, until people started to associate this indicative of illiteracy with Southern American racism, hatred and supposed primitive, barbarian characteristics, in itself a carrier of prejudice against them. Then people started to see negro as prejudiced too, because of its rememberance to the degenerate term.

In the end, it is all in your head. I don't want to use crioulo or things like that. If our Amerindians start to take offense at índio (they use it themselves), and our East Asians start to take offense at china or japa (they may use these themselves), I will campaign in the favour of them not being referred as such, as much as I do in regard to our Syrians and Lebanese not be referred as turco, the northeastern Brazilians not be referred as paraíbas, cabeças-chata (even though I smile a bit with these terms as they are closer to jocose than slurs for unprejudiced people in Rio de Janeiro) or cangaceiros and as much as I call people who make the derp "Portuguese people are dumb!11!" jokes asinine. But I see no reason why we white Latin Americans should be frowned upon for using branquelo and güero between ourselves. Same about African-Americans using the "n word". You end up sounding like those people trying to impede teenagers from using obscenity in their speech, for fuck's sake.

[Vazdania]

Well I suppose that IS true. I always get so ecstatic when I see black people....such a rare site indeed.

They're less than 7% of the population in my county... But then, I used to live in Baltimore, so there's my source of experience.

.3% in Idaho!

[Libertarian California]

Assault is a crime in pretty much every single country in the world.

That's why assault doesn't happen in pretty much any country in the world. You are accountable to society independently of what is and is not legal.

Not really. Many people always get a feeling like they just want to blow someone's brains out. However, they understand the legal consequences and do it. It's called having restraint and thinking long-term.


In countries where these traits are lacking, assault is extremely common.

[Condunum]

They're less than 7% of the population in my county... But then, I used to live in Baltimore, so there's my source of experience.

.3% in Idaho!

Jesus Fucking Christ, man, move to a large city for a few years.