3 ms·

Because others of us have good memories associated with the term. Given the choice between having more language available to use or less, I don't see a reason

by fouric 5y ago

Because others of us have good memories associated with the term. Given the choice between having more language available to use or less, I don't see a reason to want less.

bradleyjg 5y ago
Do you think young African-Americans lucky enough to have never had the N word used as racial epithet against them ought to ignore other parts of the community that tell them this is a very painful term and they should not throw it around causally? What right do you have to reclaim something that was never a source of harm for you to begin with? Doesn’t that make you just another set of bullies metaphorically shoving people into lockers?
- joshuamorton 5y ago
  No. Generational reclamation of words is fairly common. The best examples aren't actually race (comparing how "nerd" and the n-word are reclaimed doesn't really work, for reasons that should be obvious in that I'm censoring one). On the other hand, within the LGBT community, tons of terms have been fully or partially reclaimed. Most notably "queer". That also isn't without controversy (and queer has been in the process of reclamation for longer than "nerd" has been an insult in its current context), but almost no one seems to think that by self-identifying as something (in good faith) you're bullying someone else.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- courtf 5y ago
  Bad words belong to all of us. I use words that can hurt, and words that have been used to hurt me. The N word is interesting because most white people are very hesitant to utter it. It's a rare, off-limits place that isn't accessible to every person of privilege who otherwise feels entitled to go where they please.
- snowflake_ptr 5y ago
  Simultaneous straw-manning and logic-less emotional guilt-tripping. Not cool. I never made the claim that you're insinuating I made, nor is it implied by anything I said. > What right do you have to reclaim something that was never a source of harm for you to begin with? What right do you and your fellow authoritarians have to try to make language inaccessible to me, especially (but not only) when you have never been hurt by it? See, I can play the emotional manipulation game, too. Doesn't make me more right than you.

by fouric 5y ago

Because others of us have good memories associated with the term. Given the choice between having more language available to use or less, I don't see a reason to want less.

bradleyjg 5y ago

Do you think young African-Americans lucky enough to have never had the N word used as racial epithet against them ought to ignore other parts of the community that tell them this is a very painful term and they should not throw it around causally? What right do you have to reclaim something that was never a source of harm for you to begin with? Doesn’t that make you just another set of bullies metaphorically shoving people into lockers?

joshuamorton 5y ago
No. Generational reclamation of words is fairly common. The best examples aren't actually race (comparing how "nerd" and the n-word are reclaimed doesn't really work, for reasons that should be obvious in that I'm censoring one). On the other hand, within the LGBT community, tons of terms have been fully or partially reclaimed. Most notably "queer". That also isn't without controversy (and queer has been in the process of reclamation for longer than "nerd" has been an insult in its current context), but almost no one seems to think that by self-identifying as something (in good faith) you're bullying someone else.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
courtf 5y ago
Bad words belong to all of us. I use words that can hurt, and words that have been used to hurt me. The N word is interesting because most white people are very hesitant to utter it. It's a rare, off-limits place that isn't accessible to every person of privilege who otherwise feels entitled to go where they please.
snowflake_ptr 5y ago
Simultaneous straw-manning and logic-less emotional guilt-tripping. Not cool. I never made the claim that you're insinuating I made, nor is it implied by anything I said. > What right do you have to reclaim something that was never a source of harm for you to begin with? What right do you and your fellow authoritarians have to try to make language inaccessible to me, especially (but not only) when you have never been hurt by it? See, I can play the emotional manipulation game, too. Doesn't make me more right than you.