My recent piece on the use of the word nigger drew some response from people saying I had no right to use such a word. The complainers said that they are able to use the word is of no matter to me.
Really.
Why?
Why should you be are allowed the use of certain words, and I am not, because of perceived differences in you see in our backgrounds?
Then I ask too, how can you sit and judge me, having no knowledge of my background or anything else aside from what I post here? Is it possible I have MORE right, under the rules you set down, to use such a word than you do?
Bah. Sophomoric arguments.
Lemme instead ask you this:
Are you interested in parity? In other words, do you wanna be fair?
Careful how you answer that because your answer may be used to beat upon you.
If you say No, then I can do as I wish as long as I can get away with it. If you can’t stop me, then I can do it. Ethics be damned. Fair is what the strongest decides when fairness is not equitable. Don’t think so? Then keep living in your fantasy world while I conduct business in this place I call reality.
And neener, neener, neener, since I am being sophomoric.
If you say Yes, then what do you mean by that? Eh? Careful with that axe Eugene! That way lies solipsism.
Lemme simplify. In order to get something written today, let’s say this is fair: The concept that certain people can do certain things and others can’t because of accidents of ancestry, heritage and etc.
Even simpler. You are allowed a cultural activity because of your ancestry and the culture with which you identify.
Then, extending this doctrine of fairness, I am allowed a cultural activity because of my ancestry and the culture with which I identify.
Fair? If not, see above statements regarding fairness. If this is fair, we shall continue.
Posit: I am not allowed to participate in OR criticize your use of your cultural activity, because I lack the “background” to fully appreciate it.
Extension: You are not allowed to participate in OR criticize my use of my cultural activity, because you lack the “background” to fully appreciate it.
This being the case when parts of the nation, and the readers who say I cannot use the n-word (as you have estoppled me from spelling it out), celebrate Martin Luther King Day, I have the right to celebrate Robert E. Lee Day and recount and recall the ideals for which the Confederacy stood, including the use of the n-word in the cultural context of that celebration.
Parity is all I’m asking for. You can make the rules. I’m going to make sure they are equally enforced even if your rules are Might Makes Right.
The views in this blog are not those of people who can't think for themselves and rely on others to think for them. For that matter, the views expressed here may not be those of people who CAN think for themselves, but it comes extremely close.
Interesting. We were discussing the use of that word and how it's okay for groups of similar background to call each other that, but it is racist for white people to use it. I don't agree with calling people "niggers" in any case because of the negative undertones associated with it and don't find it acceptable in my own vernacular. HOWEVER, I believe if it is unacceptable in one case, it should be unacceptable in all cases (with the exception of the aforementioned book, which was the vernacular at the time). I don't think it's okay for a fat person to call me fat just because they are in the same boat.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Miss. Cook's statement. If the word is unacceptable, then it is unacceptable. Why is there is no Jefferson Davis Day? He was the President of the South, not Lee. Lincoln, Lee, and Booth were cousins, people have forgotten that. Just as they have forgotten that the Lincoln's family changed their name from DeHugh, after their ancestor was tried for treason in England, and beheaded.
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