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Originally Posted by Defiant
Well my point is if this word is offensive then the people who its offensive too should perhaps stop using it. I thought it was just common sense myself..
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No, because words only have power over you if you *let* them.
I know gays who deliberately refer to each other as "queers".
If someone says to me "you make bondage gear, you're a pervert!" my response is "yes, and your point is...???" to which the response is generally silence because they have *no* comeback. The idea is that the *claim* is bad enough that nothing else is needed, but by totally failing to rise to their bait they are left with no other ammunition.
The problem comes when, with a word like "nigger" it becomes an "us and them" situation. It's may be ok for one black person to use it to another, but not for a white person, because that's just racist and we can't have that.
The Atkinson situation is unfortunately a classic example of this, as has been pointed out, if he'd have said "ba$$$$d" or "scouse git" or whatever, there wouldn't have been this outcry, but we now have a situation of effective *reverse* racism which is just as prejudicial and divisive as the original plain racism
