What's one difference between the N-Word and the F-Word? Whites can say the F-Word.
IS THERE A DOUBLE STANDARD WITH THE N-WORD? ARE CULTURAL STANDARDS DIFFERENT OR JUST CATCHING UP?
I think most folks recognize that it is culturally acceptable for Blacks to use the N-Word, while it is NOT for non-Blacks. Have you wondered why? Consider the following other derogatory terms:
- Jews don't use the K-Word the way blacks use the N-word.
- Italians don't use the W-Word the way blacks use the N-word.
- Chinese don't use the C-Word the way blacks use the N-word.
If Jews, Italians and Chinese used their derogatory slur to describe themselves as freely as Blacks use the N-Word do you think those terms would be as "off limits" as the N-Word is?
I suspect that if Jews called each other "kikes" as freely as Blacks use the N-Word, it would be FAR more acceptable for gentiles to say "Kike."
If all those slurs were used more freely, like Blacks used the N-Word, they would still have a certain degree of hate associated with them, however society would no longer be able measure the level of racist HATE merely by the use of the word. One would have to evaluate whether the user INTENDED to express hate!! One would have to consider the CONTEXT!! For example, a Jew can display a swastika in the context of an article about the Holocaust.
Blacks can use the N-Word in brotherly and humorous ways. They can use in hateful ways too. The point is that Blacks have largely converted the N-Word into a multipurpose word that can mean many things when Blacks themselves use the term.
I can assure you that Jews have NOT done so with the expression "Kike." I don't think Chinese have done that with the term "Chinc" either.
So why don't we apply comparable criteria with the N-Word? Why is the exception made when it comes to intent and context as it relates to when it is acceptable to use the N-Word?
Whether you approve of it or not, the N-Word has been redined by Blacks. Plus it is fair to say that there is a double standard when it comes to the N-Word. Why is that?
I think one reason ties in with Critical Race Theory and the notion that Blacks can NOT be racist and ALL Whites are racist. I don't buy it!! But many Blacks do which is why the N-Word is still deemed off-limits for anyone who isn't Black.
Furthermore, I see a cultural battle taking place between those who want to retain that double standard and those that recognize it is unfair and inappropriate. Besides, isn't that how culture shifts? I'm pretty sure Elvis Presley would be shocked at the dance moves in today's Superbowl Half-time shows! (There are some of us who still are disgusted at how woman are objectified. Pardon me for believing in God. But that's a double standard for another debate.)
In AVENUE Q, the Tony winner for "Best Broadway musical," there is a hit song that nails it. The title is:
"Everyone is a little bit racist, sometimes."
The key is sensitivity. The other key is to recognize that one may use a so called "racist" word without true hateful intent. Therefore, when judging a person for the use of such a term CONTEXT has to be taken into consideration.
I will conclude with a little Etymology Trivia regarding the term "Kike."
We are mostly all aware that "Kike" is an ethnic slur for a Jewish person. But why - where did it come from? Here is an interesting popular theory on how it emerged.
One popular theory is that it is derived from the Yiddish word for a 0 (circle) “kikel.” It is a reference to how some Jewish immigrants at Ellis Island signed their entry forms with an "O" (a circle) as opposed to an X, which Jews associated with the cross of Christianity. Immigration officers described those who signed forms with a circle as “kikel,” eventually being shortened to “kike.”
X's and O's are not hateful letters. They aren't loving letters either even though they can mean "hugs and kisses." Context is everything!
