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Of all the slurs used in the US, why is the "n-word" the worst?

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ZombieHorde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:29 PM
Original message
Of all the slurs used in the US, why is the "n-word" the worst?
Even if we only consider slurs for black people, why are some worse than others? What is the logic? Is there a logical reason for the n-word being the worst?
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Dennis Donovan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:30 PM
Response to Original message
1. It represents centuries of hate and oppression
Centuries
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ZombieHorde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:32 PM
Response to Reply #1
5. Do the other slurs for black people represent something different? nt
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Dennis Donovan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:47 PM
Response to Reply #5
19. They don't have the history of the N-word...
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Hugabear Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 10:09 PM
Response to Reply #5
39. methinks you're being deliberately ignorant of history
Otherwise you wouldn't need to ask that question.
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ZombieHorde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 10:23 PM
Response to Reply #39
47. I have not received any formal education on the subject of slurs.
The "n-word" was never used in my household and we never discussed it. I was just told not to call people names and not to swear.
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Hugabear Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 10:29 PM
Response to Reply #47
49. how about 400 years of slavery, oppression, violence, and discrimination?
You don't think that counts for anything?
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ZombieHorde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 10:31 PM
Response to Reply #49
50. What do you think I am asking? nt
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Hugabear Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 10:40 PM
Response to Reply #50
51. You seem to like talking in circles
You asked why the "n-word" is considered the worst slur. We've given you an answer...if you can't understand the unique history of black people in this country and how that slur originated, then there's really no use.
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ZombieHorde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 10:42 PM
Response to Reply #51
52. I have acknowledged the answer several times in this thread.
Have you not seen those replies?
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socialist_n_TN Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:59 PM
Original message
Yeah that would be my answer too........
400 years drives a slur home pretty good.
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givemebackmycountry Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:31 PM
Response to Original message
2. Because that's what they called African-Americans right before they hung them.
"Faggot" is a close second.
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blondeatlast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:33 PM
Response to Reply #2
9. giveme wins the internets tonight. nt
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ZombieHorde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:35 PM
Response to Reply #2
12. Was using the "n-word" over other slurs really part of the hanging tradition?
Were the other slurs used for different occasions?
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WingDinger Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:31 PM
Response to Original message
3. Anyone who feels the need to rank insults, aint focussed on whats important.
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AlabamaLibrul Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:32 PM
Response to Reply #3
4. This, with a hat tip to #1 because if you insist on ranking, that's why n/t
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blondeatlast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:35 PM
Response to Reply #3
11. Hell is calling for hot tea--I agree with WD.
Spot on reply.
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ZombieHorde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:37 PM
Response to Reply #3
13. If we don't examine the situation we are in, how can we determine what is important? nt
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WingDinger Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:53 PM
Response to Reply #13
22. Respecting every man/woman is the goal. Socially charged insults
are propaganda. For hate.
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browntyphoon Donating Member (64 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:33 PM
Response to Original message
6. Commonly used by white people before they lynched a black man and had a party
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pnwmom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:33 PM
Response to Original message
7. Who says it is? I can think of others that are equally nasty. nt
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ZombieHorde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:40 PM
Response to Reply #7
14. It is the only slur I see people refer to as the first letter. nt
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blondeatlast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:47 PM
Response to Reply #14
18. You're kidding, right? Have you read DU in the past 5 years or so?
Edited on Sat Mar-05-11 09:51 PM by blondeatlast
I see first letter f, b, c, f again and on beyond zebra here and elsewhere.
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ZombieHorde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:59 PM
Response to Reply #18
29. Now that you mention it, I have seen "the c-word." nt
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LadyHawkAZ Donating Member (800 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:33 PM
Response to Original message
8. Association with violence
Same with "faggot", "bitch", etc.
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Name removed Donating Member (0 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:33 PM
Response to Original message
10. Deleted message
Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.
 
ZombieHorde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:41 PM
Response to Reply #10
16. Don't fear inquiry. nt
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Cali_Democrat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:41 PM
Response to Original message
15. Do you have a link to this ranking system and which slurs are considered worse than others?
:shrug:
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Obamanaut Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:42 PM
Response to Reply #15
17. 'Rec' this response. nt
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ZombieHorde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:48 PM
Response to Reply #15
20. No, but I don't need one. If you don't know what I am talking about then you probably don't know the
answer.

If you don't think US culture does not rank slurs, then I don't think you have been paying attention to the way language is used in the US. If I typed out the "n-word," many people would be offended, but if I typed "gyp," few would even notice I used a slur.
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pnwmom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:59 PM
Response to Reply #20
28. I didn't want to get involved in ranking slurs,
but I think the C word, for example, is just as nasty.

And while I have heard that some African Americans might use the N-word among friends, I have never known women who call their friends the C word.
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blondeatlast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:54 PM
Response to Reply #15
24. +!, nt
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Papagoose Donating Member (361 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 10:10 PM
Response to Reply #15
40. The N word is codified as the worst word at my kid's school
It's the only single word which if even uttered will get a kid suspended that I know of. Her school population is largely of Mexican descent...if a kid uses a derogatory term for Mexicans, they get detention or less. If a child uses the N word, it's a suspension or worse.
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blondeatlast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 10:14 PM
Response to Reply #40
44. Can you give us some hard evidence of this? I've taught at a few schools,
sent my kid to a few more, and their rules specify that ANY slur will lead to temporary suspension; they don't specify any words (because they know that the kids are clever...).
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blondeatlast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:49 PM
Response to Original message
21. Are you relying only on our opinion, or do you have an opinion of your own
on the matter?
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ZombieHorde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:55 PM
Response to Reply #21
25. I am considering the opinion of my fellow DUers. Some are suggesting the "n-word"
has a different history than the other slurs. The "n-word" seems to have been the common slur used by lynchers according to some posters.

I didn't have an opinion on the reason, I wasn't even sure there was a reason.
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Hugabear Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:54 PM
Response to Original message
23. maybe because of the unique history in the US
We embraced the idea of enslaving an entire race, then fought a vicious bloody over slavery. Add a few generations of Jim Crow laws, segregation, lynchings, terrorist organizations dedicated to violence against blacks.
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Ohio Joe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:56 PM
Response to Original message
26. I think it is the most common... Not the worst
I do not see these things in terms of, worst to best, but rather in being at all.
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leftstreet Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:58 PM
Original message
DU admins will pry unRec from my cold dead hands
:puke:
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ZombieHorde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 10:00 PM
Response to Original message
31. I understand. I love unrec too. But don't fear honest inquiry. nt
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blondeatlast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 10:03 PM
Response to Reply #31
33. If it's honest, tell us what YOU think. nt
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ZombieHorde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 10:08 PM
Response to Reply #33
38. I don't know the reason. Some posters have suggested the "n-word"
was the favorite of lynchers, so the word became associated with extreme violence. I don't know very much about the colloquial speech of lynch mobs, but that explanation seems logical to me.
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leftstreet Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 10:05 PM
Response to Reply #31
34. Honest inquiry my ass. Your presupposition is disingenuous
If not downright vile

(Perhaps you didn't mean it that way?)

You present no evidence that a significant portion of people in the US are using ANY slurs.
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ZombieHorde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 10:15 PM
Response to Reply #34
46. What is your interpretation of my OP? What do you think I am claiming and asking? nt
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Mister Ed Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 09:58 PM
Response to Original message
27. Simple. It is no mere insult. It is a threat.
The threat is very well understood by those who issue it and those who receive it. The word carries with it a history of humiliation, of torture, of murder of the most grisly sort imaginable (or unimaginable).

It is a deep, ugly, sinister threat.
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angstlessk Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 10:00 PM
Response to Original message
30. Also, spic, Camel Jockey, kyke, chink, dago,
so NO the 'n' word is not the worst....just as abominable as all the rest
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ZombieHorde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 10:01 PM
Response to Reply #30
32. Then why is the "n-word" the only one not written out in your OP? nt
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Name removed Donating Member (0 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 10:07 PM
Response to Reply #32
36. Deleted message
Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.
 
Manifestor_of_Light Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 10:05 PM
Response to Original message
35. Some stupid girl called me the N-word once.
In high school. In the late 1960s.

I called her "white trash" and she called me "N----- trash".

I am white. About as light pink as you can get, in fact. English ancestry. I have light ash brown hair and hazel eyes.

The depths of the stupidity I cannot abide. Why would a white kid call me that when I'm white too??


:shrug:
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Whisp Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 10:07 PM
Response to Original message
37. is there a logical reason for using 'gay' as an insult?
if the people that are used as a negative adjective don't like it, then it shouldn't be used.

whats so fucking complicated about that?
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blondeatlast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 10:10 PM
Response to Reply #37
41. Exactly. It really is as simple as that. nt
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ZombieHorde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 10:13 PM
Response to Reply #37
43. I don't know the logic behind most slurs. I agree we should avoid using slurs, but
I am still interested in language and conventions.
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Recovered Repug Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 10:11 PM
Response to Original message
42. Reading the OP, I can't help but think of this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6341HeJDgU
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ZombieHorde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 10:25 PM
Response to Reply #42
48. That is what I am asking about. Fortunately for me, I seem to have my answer. nt
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spanone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Mar-05-11 10:15 PM
Response to Original message
45. slavery
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