“If you (Black people) continue using the word nigger then we (White people) will call you (Black people) niggers too.”

If that’s the case, I agree. As I posted earlier I am not for the abolishment of the word. I think it was ridiculous when African Americans tried to bury the word in a coffin. Black people saying they took the word back and made it something postive is ridiculous too because Black people don’t own the word. The word is free.

White people should feel free to express themselves and if they encounter Black people who they feel courageous, face to face, call them “niggers”.

Let them (Black people or niggers) know exactly how you (White people) feel. And explain to those Black people why you called them a niggers. This will definitely open up dialogue among the races. A word of caution – White Philadelphians – don’t do it until your city’s murder rate goes down.

I somewhat agree with the principle, but I think “…It is okay for black folks to use what you call racial slurs when they are talking about another black person…” is way too broad a statement, and I don’t agree with it at all. Maybe what you mean is that a black person calling another black person a “nigger” is not a sign of racism like it [usually] is when a white person uses that word. That doesn’t mean that “it is okay,” as you put it.

Why? How is this not a shitty way to talk about people, no matter what? Isn’t it a logical fallacy to give too much credence to the source in all situations?

Count me among those that don’t ‘get it,’ I guess, whatever ‘it’ is. I’m not trying to be unnecessary obtuse here; as I believe I mentioned earlier I didn’t grow up around many minorities. So I’m open to the idea that I’m completely off-base.

Rather be an intellectual elitist than a stupid prick.

“Once again, it’s a-ok to use racial slurs – just as long as the target is a black Republican.”

You just don’t get it. It is okay for black folks to use what you call racial slurs when they are talking about another black person regardless of that person’s political affiliations. I’m sorry that you feel left out and can’t use racial slurs to describe black Democrats but that’s the way the prune wrinkles, man.

Dude, we’re talking about Fox News here.
Fox News journalism ethics = two phrases that can never be used together.

…Steele is a proud member of a party that has tried its damnedest to harm and marginalize the NAACP’s constituency.

Which constituency would that be? Maybe you’re thinking of that other group, the National Association for the Advancement of Liberal Colored People? Because if I’m not mistaken, there have been some convenient negroes who played important roles in the current conservative administration. I know you have that Firefox plugin that posts the reasons why they don’t matter, so go ahead and hit the button.

In this case, though, it’s only white people who are upset about how black people talk to each other.

I had no idea he was black. So what? My statement was one made in general, because AGAIN, such language is not limited to blacks saying such things about other blacks.

You know that’s the case so stop getting cute, ok?

One’s remarks about ethnicity are tempered by one’s own ethnicity.

It may be tempered, but using such language amongst their own ethnic groups only makes it kind of stupid in my view to get offended when called such names at all. I’m Italian. It doesn’t bother me if a fellow Italians call me a “wop.” It would be pretty stupid to get upset if somebody else who wasn’t Italian did.

Except when you did.

And you’re a jackass.

Well, the fact that Oliver’s black also helps matters.

Quaker, of course the folly in your comment is that I am not referring to black men using such slurs, but white people (rather white LIBERALS) that use such slurs to denigrate black conservatives.

Wait…you think Oliver’s white? That picture of the black guy on the right isn’t just for show you know.

Oliver, I never said that.

Except when you did.

Or if you’re in an Off-Broadway production of Hair.

Uh, no.

Your first entry in this thread was in response to Randy Brown calling Mr. Steele a “lawn jockey.” I will leave it to Mr. Brown to convince you of his ethnicity.

Then you wrote:

A racial slur is a racial slur. Period. There shouldn’t be any accepted use, societal or otherwise and especially for political differences. That’s the point I was trying to make. And anybody who believes otherwise is a hypocrite, nothing more. I don’t care if you’re black, white, brown or purple.

It matters a great deal whether you are “black, white, brown, or purple.” One’s remarks about ethnicity are tempered by one’s own ethnicity.

It’s territory with which I’m not overly familiar, but when black people refer to each other as “nigger” or some other similar term isn’t it being used in some denigrating way? Ironically, perhaps, but still in a way or context that there isn’t any compliment being made. It would seem to me that it is something that even black folks should want to curtail, if for no other reason than that suggested by Parthenon: it could encourage non-blacks to use it.

I recall reading an interview with Richard Pryor some years ago where he described visiting a village in Africa. His wife turned to him and asked “Do you see any niggers here?” and he realized that he did not. And since then he said he never used that word in his act or elsewhere again.

However, his stupidity needed to be revealed. He was sitting in front of a microphone at Fox News. Then there is the hypocrisy. He is a minister and civil rights activist. He has preached against black entertainers, especially the young black rappers, using the “n” word.

I have never been against the abolishment of the “n” word. Half of America’s historical documents and literary writings and masterpieces would have to be altered to eliminate that word. How can the African American experience, slavery, the Civil War, reconstruction, Jim Crow Days, segregation, the Civil Rights Movement, intergration,Time magazine darkening OJ Simpson’s picture and almost every caricature of African Americans be explained. The complete history of the US cannot be explained without the word.

Part of a well-documented evolution, from a press that protected FDR and JFK’s secrets to a press that screams ‘gotcha!’ every chance it gets.

A white man using the word “nigger” has quite a different meaning from black a man using the same word.

Hmm… I realize I’m stepping into a hornet’s nest here, but what the heck. Shouldn’t we be trying to make a clean break with this kind of thing? Doesn’t the fact of black people using it amongst themselves simply encourage white people to use it who perhaps don’t think about it in the same nuanced fashion as yourself?

I really don’t know. I remember reading a story about a journalist (can’t remember who) recalling his early days in Washington. As he was walking to work one day, a limousine pulled up to him and Harry Truman, who had just taken office, asked him if he needed a ride. He eagerly accepted. But he said it never occurred to him to take notes of their conversation because he knew it was off the record.

On the other hand, our local gossip columnist would always end her articles with, “If you don’t want to read about it in my column, don’t do it.”

Our literalist friends often forget a simple axiom of language: context matters.

A white man using the word “nigger” has quite a different meaning from black a man using the same word.

Anyone here need an explanation on that?