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[Breads]

"If you are not black you don't get a say in the discussion" seems like a pretty fucked up viewpoint to me.

Personally I like what Drifting Spirit has said in this thread in response to the Asian person that said "nigga" to his black friends. If you aren't black, and if you say the n-word, you shouldn't automatically expect that your audience will accept it. If your group of black friends are okay with it, doesn't mean that every black person will be okay with it.

It's just a really simple way of acknowledging the people who have an actual vested interest in the matter.

You either choose to recognize this or fight for the right to say the word even if your input isn't wanted. It's not like anyone is asking for this to be enforced by law or anything. All that's being asked of people is some basic dignity and respect... which is apparently too much to ask for of people who claim to care.

 

[Sevenfold]

Is Bill Maher popular? Bloke seems to be devoid of charisma. You Americans have SO many of these type of shows I can't keep up.

Death Certificate is GOAT. Boys n the hood introduced me to Ice Cube as a young teen and the next few years of early nineties rap defined a good chunk of my personality. Fuck racism. Fuck Cube still having to educate these dumb folk.

 

[Korey]

How hard is it not to use a word?

It's like a pretty fucking simple rule: don't use it.

 

[Lightning_Roller]

Are we really having this conversation again, where people going to such lengths just so they can use the n-word? When we had this conversation so many times about why the folks who want to say it can't say it? And yet, here we are. Whether you want to hear it or not, If you are white, you have no say in the matter. Let me repeat that, IF YOU ARE WHITE, YOU HAVE NO SAY IN THE MATTER! I'll run it by one more time to bring it home.....

IF YOU ARE WHITE, YOU HAVE NO SAY IN THE MATTER!

 

[DasPenguin]

Fucking never won't be weird to me how Cube can go from real to children's movie actor at the drop of a hat.

It's called acting. Guy wants to make money, I see nothing wrong with that. Hasn't changed his music in any way. Raw footage came out in 2008. Very underrated album by the way, and he had a already made a ton of kids movies by then.

 

[Dinokill]

Are latinos allow to say nigga? Sometimes I used in front of black people and they don't seem to care.

 

[Sony]

I think the point was that maybe you shouldn't blame people of color and put the burden on them to solve white people using a word that carries a ridiculously huge history of oppression.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reappropriation

If that's why I'm being rediculed I redact my apology. I feel offended for being accused of this. I'm merely trying to think in a constructive way. I don't want to put all of the burden on people of color, but with their efforts I think we will reach the goal faster and effectively. Try to explain to my 12 year old cousin that he's using racial slurs for singing the lyrics to his favorite songs. Try to explain to my 14 year old cousin that he can't speak like his role models Chris Rock and
Kevin hart.
No, I don't want to blame people of color nor do I want to put the burden on them, but it would be construcitve, Imo, if we discuss the use of the n word by people of color, which imo as you know should be called out as well.

 

[The Kree]

The argument for inclusion on behalf of white people on this particular subject will never not be amusing.

Sucks to be left out, doesn't it? LOL

 

[Bluenoser]

Bill took his lumps on that show for sure. Never seen him look so uncomfortable. On the one hand I give him credit for having the guests he did- he knew he would face heat (although maybe not as much as he deserved) and accepted it.

However, I just don't feel like he truly took responsibility. Even when he was talking with Michael Eric Dyson, you could tell he was getting defensive, and "making excuses" despite saying he didn't want to make excuses.

It was almost like after discussing the matter already, by the time Ice Cube got out there, he was sick of being lectured, and got dismissive of the further criticism. Also, Ice Cube nailed him on his previous clouded racist rhetoric, which Bill was obviously ignorant of.

Overall, credit to Maher for walking over the coals, but next time, don't wear sandals doing it.

 

[Jobbs]

I know Bill Maher is unpopular on Neogaf, but I think he handled this mostly in the best way he could have. He had people on who could talk about the issue with authority, (he opened the show with a lengthy discussion on the topic with michael eric dyson) explain it to everyone, and explain why Bill shouldn't have used the word. I think Bill acted a bit too defensive here and there, but overall he handled this pretty well considering what's done is done.

I think "comedy misfire" and general stupidity are both sort understandable reasons for making a big fuck up. I don't personally believe that Bill said what he did out of some kind of racial animus.

 

[Yeoman]

I wonder when Bill Maher will be made to apologise for all of the things he has said about Arabs and Middle Easterners...

 

[David Ricardo]

Oh my head hurts.

The whole point is reclaim this word that was ounce used to insult us and put us down.We took that power away.

Every time you use that word, you are just remembering there is 'us' and there is 'them'. If you want to take the power away from it, just stop using it. One day, little kids will grow without knowing that word exists nor its meaning, and the world will be a better place.

 

[Korey]

Are latinos allow to say nigga? Sometimes I used in front of black people and they don't seem to care.

Here, I made a flowchart:

 

[eizarus]

Bill Maher looks like a bad guy from an 80s movie. And his opinions reek of ass.

Lol this. He seems like someone who'd be the assistant of the CEO in RoboCop (original not remake)

 

[Lightning_Roller]

Here, I made a flowchart:

Can we just post this every time a thread like this comes up? I know it won't stop the idiots who twists themselves into pretzels to be allowed to say the word, but it's good to have for reference sake.

 

[Murkas]

My black friends let me say it, but only on Tuesdays 14:00-16:00

 

[fantomena]

All my white friends uses it, I don't use it and have told them not to use it, but they still keep using it.

 

[_illmatic_]

The funny part about language and words is that people are gonna say what they want, when they want. If we were to stop using the word, that's gonna magically take the power away from it and nobody is gonna say it ever again? Miss me with that bullshit. White people have an open lane to say it as much as they want if they choose to do so, however the public has a right to react the way they choose to do so.

If you don't agree with one group of people saying it and another can't, that's fine, however that still changes nothing and there will always be a status quo. At the end of the day I just don't understand why a white person would want to use it soooooo bad.

 

[Peléo]

Hopefully this unfortunate episode will make people refrain from using the word in the future. I feel progress is being slowly made in this direction. May take decades until it stops being used though.

Regardless, I think his analogy is either poor or I can't grasp the whole of it.

It’s like a knife, man. You can use it as a weapon or you can use it as a tool. It’s when you use it as a weapon against us, by white people, and we’re not going to let that happened again … because it’s not cool … That’s our word, and you can’t have it back.

In this analogy, what scenario would be the equivalent of using it as a tool? Parents/Teachers explaining to children the history behind the term and why it shouldn't be said ever?

I think a better comparison would be to white phosphorous: It shouldn't be used at all.

 

[Revolutionary]

Are latinos allow to say nigga? Sometimes I used in front of black people and they don't seem to care.

Depends on how uptight the black person is. In NYC, no one gives a shit. In FL, some geek actually got offended.

 

[Messofanego]

Here, I made a flowchart:

Some people will still not get this

 

[Clefargle]

Depends on how uptight the black person is. In NYC, no one gives a shit. In FL, some geek actually got offended.

Christ I need to stay out of these threads. Too much cringe

 

[Dinokill]

Can we just post this every time a thread like this comes up? I know it won't stop the idiots who twists themselves into pretzels to be allowed to say the word, but it's good to have for reference sake.

My mon is a white latina with European ancestry and my dad is a black latino(his dad/ my grandfather was from Trinidad and Tobago). I'm like Obama, lol.

 

[Saturnman]

Here, I made a flowchart:

"Huh is it yes or no for me?"

 

[besada]

Some people will still not get this

They get it, they just don't care. No one has much of a misunderstanding regarding whether it's socially acceptable for whites to use the word. We know it's not.

It's not complicated. Some people are anti-social douchebags who think their desire to be included in the use of the word is more important than its history and the pain it causes.

 

[wildfire]

Depends on how uptight the black person is. In NYC, no one gives a shit. In FL, some geek actually got offended.

Please try that in East New York or any other 95% black New York neighborhoods and see how many dirty looks you instantly get.

Sure handful of us will be indifferent about it (depending on how familiar they are with you) but most aren't (and practically everyone is not towards a stranger)

 

[SkyMasterson]

I like how Bill Maher cuts off Symone Sanders during her impassioned statement, cause Maher couldn't take it anymore and just wanted off the subject. Ironically enough, to promote Cubes record which was/is about injustice to the black man/woman.

What a douche nozzle.

I agree with one of the posters above on how I don't think Maher took this criticism to heart and kept making excuses. He definitely was uncomfortable, as he should be.

 

[The Kree]

I like how Bill Maher cuts off Symone Sanders during her impassioned statement, cause Maher couldn't take it anymore and just wanted off the subject. Ironically enough, to promote Cubes record which was/is about injustice to the black man/woman.

What a douche nozzle.

I agree with one of the posters above on how I don't think Maher took this criticism to heart and kept making excuses. He definitely was uncomfortable, as he should be.

It's not that he couldn't take it. It's that it was redundant by that point, the show has a format and a time limit, and he was trying to move along to the next thing. If all you want to see is Bill Maher take a lashing, just look around the internet. It's ongoing.

 

[Skilletor]

It's not that he couldn't take it. It's that it was redundant by that point, the show has a format and a time limit, and he was trying to move along to the next thing. If all you want to see is Bill Maher take a lashing, just look around the internet. It's ongoing.

What if I want to see him show his apology was honest? What then?

 

[RedHoodedOwl]

Can HBO replace with Maher with Ice Cube?

 

[Revolutionary]

Please try that in East New York or any other 95% black New York neighborhoods and see how many dirty looks you instantly get.

Sure handful of us will be indifferent about it (depending on how familiar they are with you) but most aren't (and practically everyone is not towards a stranger)

I used to trek to ENY every week to buy weed. No one cares.

 

[Arkeband]

Cube's line about having a black girlfriend was great, since that was a direct dig at Maher.

 

[HStallion]

I know when I get really tired that word just starts coming out.

 

[moggio]

I fundamentally disagree that it is never appropriate for a [white] person to say "nigga" (or the alternative), but it has to be done with careful consideration; not just flinging it out there like some smug prick as Maher is want to do.

 

[The Kree]

What if I want to see him show his apology was honest? What then?

Does that equate to him just nodding and repeating, yes, I was wrong, for 60 minutes? He said at the top of the show that he understood that his intentions didn't matter, what mattered is the pain the word causes. Whether he is to be interpreted as sincere or not seems to be subjective. He's smug, arrogant, and has his ego and principles always on display, so I get why it's hard to take the apology seriously when he doesn't tuck his tail between his legs and crawl away. I don't know where else there is to go for a guy like that. If you didn't like him before, there's nothing in his personality that was ever going to make him convincing to you.

 

[TyrantII]

At the end of the day I just don't understand why a white person would want to use it soooooo bad.

Because it gives them the appearance of power in their sad, pathetic lives.

IC hit an important and insightful note when he said the word can be used as a tool or a knife, but mostly a knife. If it's not being used as a tool in education of the past, it's a knife.

What if I want to see him show his apology was honest? What then?

Looked honest to me. Honesty doesn't require understanding, which is where I think he's failing. But the conversations also failed to touch on that, that a guy with Bills progressive views had that joke pop into his head and he blurts it out without thinking.

The problem to deconstruct is how culture had deposited that idea into his subconscious, despite rationally never going there untill now. Understanding that deep seated cultural conditioning ain't easy. And it's scary to confront it for most people, because it attacks their view of their own agency above such things.

 

[Skilletor]

Does that equate to him just nodding and repeating, yes, I was wrong, for 60 minutes? He said at the top of the show that he understood that his intentions didn't matter, what mattered is the pain the word causes. Whether he is to be interpreted as sincere or not seems to be subjective. He's smug, arrogant, and has his ego and principles always on display, so I get why it's hard to take the apology seriously when he doesn't tuck his tail between his legs and crawl away. I don't know where else there is to go for a guy like that. If you didn't like him before, there's nothing in his personality that was ever going to make him convincing to you.

It equates to him using his platform to engage in the conversation he created, not looking and sounding like a spoiled kid who had his toy taken away and doesn't want to talk about it.

I don't give a shit a shit about Mather. I do care that supposed allies should use their platform to right a wrong. But he really doesn't think he did anything wrong and that's what is happening on this show.

 

[Mengy]

Here, I made a flowchart:

This right here. It's really incredibly simple. Myself, as a white person, I simply do not use the word , EVER, and whenever I hear white people use it I cringe and wonder "why?".

Growing up in southeast PA I have heard many white people use it all throughout my life, and honestly it's almost always been used in a negative and derogatory manner. Even today I know white people who utilize the word as a weapon against black people. However, they almost always only use it around other white people, never to a black person's face. That does not make it acceptable though by any means, and that clandestine use of the word behind the backs of black people, even still today, is a large part of why it's simply unacceptable for any white person to use it at all. The meaning is still there, and as Ice Cube put it so succinctly, it feels like a weapon when used by white people at all still today.

If you are not a black person then be respectful and just don't use the word, period.

 

[OG Shaka Zulu]

All my white friends uses it, I don't use it and have told them not to use it, but they still keep using it.

Let em use it. They will slip and get a wake up call.

 

[Future]

It equates to him using his platform to engage in the conversation he created, not looking and sounding like a spoiled kid who had his toy taken away and doesn't want to talk about it.

I don't give a shit a shit about Mather. I do care that supposed allies should use their platform to right a wrong. But he really doesn't think he did anything wrong and that's what is happening on this show.

Really have no idea how anyone could have that impression after that show. Literally said he did shit wrong. Had people on the show lecturing him on how wrong it was. He addressed directly that there are certain things he doesn't apologize for, but this one deserved it.

At this point, you are either willing to hear an apology or you are not. It sounds like many here simply are not

 

[OG Shaka Zulu]

At this point, you are either willing to hear an apology or you are not. It sounds like many here simply are not

It sounds like many here have several decades of living as Black people in America and understand every nuance and mental process on display when white people are encountered with race. Bill learned nothing from this except "don't say n-word" in public. He's not even close to appreciating the reason for what he said as being wrong.

Trust me, any white person dumb enough to say house nigga in that context... did not do the knowledge within a week's time. Its impossible to do so growing up in America.

 

[PabloBolivar]

It sounds like many here have several decades of living as Black people in America and understand every nuance and mental process on display when white people are encountered with race. Bill learned nothing from this except "don't say n-word" in public. He's not even close to appreciating the reason for what he said as being wrong.

Trust me, any white person dumb enough to say house nigga in that context... did not do the knowledge within a week's time. Its impossible to do so growing up in America.

Exactly. Like how is this still even a conversation in 2017.

 

[deadlast]

You can use it as a weapon or you can use it as a tool.

How is it a tool?

 

[brochiller]

Which is what it is and what the whole root of the n-word controversy is all about. Whites have been allowed to loot and plunder Black civilizations and bodies with impunity for centuries. Blacks being able to say something that they "can't" drives some people up the wall.

To me if the black community really wanted white people to stop saying it they would remove it from their lexicon as well to completely remove it from white peoples' minds. Some people will never understand that a word can be said by one race and not by another, that's a battle you can't win.

 

[Ms.Galaxy]

I fundamentally disagree that it is never appropriate for a [white] person to say "nigga" (or the alternative), but it has to be done with careful consideration; not just flinging it out there like some smug prick as Maher is want to do.

The only time I feel that it's okay for a white person to say the N-word is the same time Germany feels when it's okay to show Nazi symbolism. For historical purposes only.

A white teacher talking about the N-word and other slurs that were used to demonize blacks in an American History Class? Sure.

Outside of that, don't use it. At all.

 

[Sunster]

Being a white man is pretty easy in my experience and not saying the n word is probably the easiest part of being white.

 

[Skilletor]

To me if the black community really wanted white people to stop saying it they would remove it from their lexicon as well to completely remove it from white peoples' minds. Some people will never understand that a word can be said by one race and not by another, that's a battle you can't win.

Sounds legit. Next we'll fix racism by not talking about it. So it's not in white people's minds.

 

[OG Shaka Zulu]

To me if the black community really wanted white people to stop saying it they would remove it from their lexicon as well to completely remove it from white peoples' minds. Some people will never understand that a word can be said by one race and not by another, that's a battle you can't win.

Black people saying it has nothing to do with "nigger" being said in the white community.

Let's be honest, the only time White people hear Blacks saying it really or why this is even a "controversy" is due to rap. Rap blew up in the late 70s... I'm sorry dude nigger was alive and well in white America when rap was born (as it still is today). There are roughly 200+M white people in the US. They don't all listen to rap, and homogeneously white communities are all over the place so most don't even interact with Black people... yet nigger is still alive and well in these white communities. Black people have nothing to do with that.

People understand completely but being white in America and told "no" is too much for some.

Being a white man is pretty easy in my experience and not saying the n word is probably the easiest part of being white.

Lmao! Thank you.

 

[Mr.Shrugglesツ]

To me if the black community really wanted white people to stop saying it they would remove it from their lexicon as well to completely remove it from white peoples' minds. Some people will never understand that a word can be said by one race and not by another, that's a battle you can't win.

The epi tomb ignorance.

 

[EdibleKnife]

To me if the black community really wanted white people to stop saying it they would remove it from their lexicon as well to completely remove it from white peoples' minds. Some people will never understand that a word can be said by one race and not by another, that's a battle you can't win.

Let's make it simple for everyone lurking: I never understood why one race could own another as property. Or why my skin color was an indicator that I was worth of violence being acted upon. Or why people in the highest levels of government see fit to deny me my civil rights. But I guess we all just have to deal with some unfair bullshit huh? Want it change, change the worst parts of our culture first