I said it was a matter of degree. The point I was making is that it is universally true that people don't like to hear people from groups who they feel oppress

I said it was a matter of degree. The point I was making is that it is universally true that people don't like to hear people from groups who they feel oppress them use those words that symbolize this oppression but they don't mind as much (though they still do mind) hearing these words used by people in their own group. The n-word is an example of this. Is this pattern more pronounced with the n-word? Sure, but the degree and length of the oppression experienced by black people at the hands of white people in the US is quite different from that experienced by hillbillies. And my point in choosing the term "cracker" was just to pick an example from the other side of the skin tone divide in the US, because the people complaining about how unfair it is that some people can say the n-word and they can't are typically from this demographic. I figure this example might hit close enough to home that they'd see my point.