Re: Willow Palin's homophobic Facebook rant

On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 8:53 AM, pcg <[email protected]> wrote:
>> And it reminds me of how
>> some people want to use the word "nigger" and say it has nothing to do
>> with blacks. Historically, they're wrong.
>
> I'm not familiar with this phenomenon, but of course there is the
> matter of black people using "nigger" to refer to themselves and each
> other, just as gay people use words like "faggot" and "flamer" when
> referring to each other.

Certainly. The same could go for terms like "hick" or "redneck". If
it's one to another, that's one thing, but if it's an outsider
wielding the term, the receiver can't help but wonder what they
*really* mean.

> My point is this: insults exist where they are intended. When they are
> unintended, they do not exist except in the mind of the offended.

Oh, certainly. That doesn't mean we don't try to avoid
misunderstandings that might arise. I mean, look at your example! Your
*friends* misunderstood you. What can you expect of people who *don't*
know you?

My 6-year-old daughter learned the word "darky" from the Little House
on the Prairie books. The word has only come up twice and it is (I
believe) innocent enough (it's not used in a derogatory way, it just
comes up in conversation), but I've had to explain to her that people
with darker skin don't like being called that, she shouldn't use the
word. She was truly confused, she didn't get it, because she's about
as non-racist as you can get. But I do really want to spare any
misunderstanding that might happen if she wasn't warned.

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