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Originally Posted by SmokeG305
so is this debate still up? if so, i shall put in my opinion:
now, i'm not going to sit here and tell you guys that white people cant say "nigga" or "wetback." why cant they? see I have no problem with the use of what might be considered a racial slur, from whoever it might come from. the difference is the way in which it said.
if you meant to use the racial slur as an offense, then that's being a racist. if you just say the slur in order to have a comedic punch line, then by all means, go right ahead... as long as it's tasteful, there should be no reason as to why people should be censored.
take the things i say to hexx for example: i rag on hexx about being half mexican. i crack on many of the stereotypes that are placed upon mexicans; but the thing is, at the end of the day, I'm not saying these things with a malice intent, i say them in order to bring some humor.
the intent is what should be taken into consideration. Gz, did you watch the video of richards? he said those things with a harmful intent, he was no longer attempting to be funny. THAT's why there is an uproar against it. if he would've said something like "hey dont interrupt my act and i'll give you some fried chicken after the show" <--- see! that would've been funny!! but you could see in his actions how he intended his comments to be, and by all means, they were not for his act.
now that being said, GZ, one of the things that you should know, and i cant believe you have not touched upon this... is the fact that the white racist man will always get more attention than a racist black man, or hispanic etc. why is that so? because the ethnics in the US are minorities, so therefore it's unacceptable that that the minorities receive racism. yet, i guarantee you 100% that there are black people, and hispanics, and asians that can be equally as racists as any white man. however, these minorities get away with it, why? well you tell me.
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i'll start this by saying everyone is racist to some extent just like everyone is sexist to some extent. we are instinctively curious about, yet afraid of things we don't know and/or understand. after reading some of the stuff i've read in this thread, especially the last paragraph in this post, no one listens to anyone but themselves. respectfully smoke, this is the same poorly-thought out question i read earlier in this thread.
why don't people get this? what's your president look like? how about 90% of the members of congress? how about the majority of CEOs and the like of major corporations in this country? big league athletics coaches? etc...
what do all of those people have in common? they are in positions of power, they all make decisions of mass consequence(yes. athetics coaches too. think of how much sports is threaded into our society. it's almost sick...stupid ass astros), and they're, for the most part, white men. don't get me wrong, i don't necessarily have a problem with that. i just think it should be understood that the guy with his finger on the button, no matter what that button is, is the guy people listen to. he's the guy who's opinions, actions, and decisions people, whether they respect them or not, people follow and perpetuate. VERY DANGEROUS. people instinctively follow, not lead. people aren't born to be racists. they learn how to be.
as i said before, i don't necessarily have a problem with the segment of society who has that kind of power, but it definitely should be used with caution, respect, and some common ass sense. it just simply makes sense that a white guy, especially knowing our country's history, shouldn't get on any stage anywhere and start yelling out "nigger." that's one of the stupidest things i could imagine someone doing.
now let's say the tables are turned, and the black guy is on stage. if he starts yelling, "cracker," i can easily understand why a white person would get offended. it, honestly, should be no more or less offending than the example in the previous paragraph. the main difference is the history behind the word. it's the power behind the word. it's the fact that you have someone who is, and if the wrong person says it in the wrong place, or was the same skin color as the guy who possibly shaved some bark from a tree branch with the rope that was around an ancestor of yours' neck, and oh yeah, "he's" "in charge." how does one not understand that? how can one not apply this same example to any "set" of oppressors and opressees in our world's history? it works exactly the same for EVERY "set."
for example, is it right to still say something like, "women can't do this and women can't do that..., women are this, women are that...?" hell no. it'll get you sued, fired, and labled as a sexist. you're a man. you've, since the beginning of time, as far as just about every socieity on the planet goes, been the dominant of the two sexes. what you say, regardless of how right or wrong it is, is what generally goes. you're "the man." what if a woman says the same of you? what if she starts rattling off stereotypes of men? isn't she just a sexist as you are? sure she is. does she deserve the exact same ridicule and scorn you got? hell yes. will she get it? hell no. why? you're a man and she's a woman. you've run shit since there was shit to be run, and she's been #2 since man could count that high. is that right? no, but it's the way shit is.
take above example and apply it to race relations. 'easy as snapping in your clear corners.
i love this country, but we really have some of the least socially concious people in the world here. please don't get me wrong here. me saying cracker, conceptually, is just as bad as me saying "wet back" or someone saying "nigger." in reality, depending on the context in which it's used and who uses it, it's meaning and that reaction to that meaning should and will differ. deal with it.
and for you smoke, no offense man(i only used you 'cause you wrote the post. it's not personal), but get caught in the wrong place in the south, and likely some places in the north, and you're still just some hispanic "boy" who's way too far from his island who's about to get shown why his family shouldn't have ever left...and good luck trying to do something about it. trust me on this one. if all of the rest of the crap i just wrote didn't answer your question, that should. the 50's and 60's weren't that long ago smoke.