Devil is in the details but this could be a good start.
Morgan Wallen is a new Country music artist that was filmed dropping the N-bomb.
This actually sounds like a sincere step in the right direction.
Maybe they can educate some fans as well. I don’t know the guy, but everyone is complaining “why can’t he say it if rap songs…” There is a difference.
I never heard of the guy until recently, but I don’t listen to much country radio.
Kinda off topic, but this caused me to double take a bit, particularly since Hag died almost 5 years ago.
IMO if a rapper uses the word they are showing their ignorance and perpetuating a stereotype. The lady in the article seems to insinuate that nobody should use it black or white.
Nobody should. None of my black friends say or tolerate anyone saying it. In their opinion it’s a sign of ignorance and low class.
100% agree
I disagree…respect starts at home. If you don’t take offense at the N word because a black rapper sings it, then you don’t have much of a leg to stand on when a white cowboy uses it.
100% agree!
There is a world of difference between black rappers taking back a word that has been used against them for centuries–with modification–and a white dumbass using it with animus.
Not really.
Using the word shows ignorance, regardless of race.
The N-slur problem gets solved at the same time that the police brutality/profiling problem gets solved:
That is when we get our economically marginalized communities — which are disproportionately racial minorities — into a healthy, independent, & sustainable state. That way we can stop conflating economically underprivileged issues with racial discrimination.
Since these communities overwhelmingly vote Democrat, do not expect that to happen in this lifetime.
That is probably the most eloquent statement regarding this I have ever read.
Correct. However, either the word is offensive or it isn’t. I don’t care what color person says it. You can’t have it both ways.
I can’t remember if I have told this story before or not.
When I was in 8th grade, I asked my black friends how they felt about the n-word, thinking specifically about its use by black vs white people.
They told me they did not mind the form n&&&a and that as far as they were concerned I was welcome to use it in that form. But they staunchly opposed white people using n&&&er. Curiously they used the latter themselves on occasion but mostly used the former.
I found that interesting & do even more now. No judgment attached, just getting some peers’ opinion on a controversial topic, at an age of youth where everybody was less sensitive & prejudiced due to less life experience.
I suspect they would have different takes on the issue today in their mid-30s, as do I.
My take has changed just in the past few years. I had viewed it like the word Voldemort from Harry Potter. Refusing to say it gives it too much power. I even wrote a column on it several years ago. Part of me still feels that way.
But, it’s become too toxic. As a white person, I just won’t say it.
I put it off for a long time, but I’m finally reading Huck Finn with my kid. We had a discussion about the word, and I’m substituting as we read. There are a few other things in the book that require discussion.
Yeah, I know a lot of black people do make a distinction between ga and ger versions, but it still makes a difference who’s saying it.
Same. And regardless of whatever personal opinion I have about its appropriateness, I don’t make it an issue & I don’t worry about it. This is largely because, as I mentioned above, I view it as a secondary issue & a symptom of deeper problems with different root causes.
I think that’s true, though I’m sure we differ on the solutions. I do think if we’d made more progress narrowing racial income and wealth gaps, a lot of the other issues would not take the prominence that they have. It’s not that they don’t matter at all, but if there were a sense of optimism about the economic part, they’d just seem secondary to most people.
Agreed, that is the desired effect. I doubt we agree on the “how.”
My preference is that politicians get out of the way & cut off welfare for big corporations & rich people through faux regulation — AND STOP THERE. Because that will make for a level playing field, and many of the blue chips that only know how to court government officials, rather than produce quality products at competitive prices, will painstakingly give up much of their market share to upstart entrepreneurs.
This isn’t a universal description applicable to every single scenario & industry, but that’s the gist.