About 4,470,000, that is the number of hits I got on Google, when seached on “nigger.” Your results may vary. Say what you want about the word, it sure gets used a lot.
Which brings up Micheal Richards recent verbal gaffe, tirade. That Richards used the word, indicates that Richards has a temper, don’t we all.
Kathleen Parker offers a pity summation of the affair:
Meanwhile, attorney Gloria Allred has entered the fray. She is seeking an in-person apology from Richards before a mediator, who, she and her clients hope, might order some monetary compensation for their suffering. Not that this is about money, of course.
From his comments, we might conclude that Richards is a rage-filled jerk. Nevertheless, if we start attaching monetary reparations to insults, the country will soon be bankrupt.
Which brings me to the Washiington Post. Darryl Fears argues that the “The Word That Is the Very Definition of Unspeakable:
Paul Mooney is a popular black comedian with a foul mouth who’s used a nasty racial epithet as part of his shtick for decades. But when his friend Michael Richards, who’s white, spewed that same epithet during a gig at a Los Angeles comedy club, Mooney said it “freaked me out” and “filled me with disgust.”
For a word that is alleged to be “unspeakable” it sure gets spoken a lot. Take what position you will on the word, but then be consistent. If you feel the word is inherently offensive, as it is your right to feel, then if is offensive without regard to speaker or content. If on the other boot, if you feel that use of the word to say destigmatise it is acceptable, then the word is not inherently offensive to you, and don’t pretend otherwise.
Tags: BitsBlog, Race relations, Social Issues
