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[DJ_Tet]

I once had a white co-worker tell me that I speak well for an African-American. He didn't understand how that could be construed as a back handed compliment. The same guy loves to talk about "wiggers". People who don't understand how calling someone a wigger might be offensive to some, are the same kind of people who think that telling a black person he speaks well and doesn't sound half retarded is a compliment.

Chris Rock has a great skit about this in one of his comedy specials. Talking about how people complimented Colin Powell on how well spoken he is. "He went to college motherfucker, how is he supposed to speak?" :lol

 

[Dreamfixx]

Yes it is still an ugly word. It's been used casually in the ghettos forever, but that has a lot to do with the psychology of opression. People say it's used to rob the word of it's power, but all you have to do is watch a white guy call a black guy a nigger and see how full of crud that idea is.

I think you're overreacting. The fact that any black person responds to the word as "oppressive" means that those using the word to insult anyone will always have it to insult you. Instead of letting it get under your skin, you should shrug it off, realize that it's just a word, and not be so sensitive. You're only adding fuel to the fire.

 

[karasu]

Uh, yes it is, so says the people who differentiate between words with -er and -a, and to deny this would mean to say that blacks are consciously and purposefully degrading themselves.

No it isn't. Remember that ebonics controversy? Same thing here. Nigga is just how blacks say Nigger. It predates hip hop by centuries. Salves used to call the black that kissed up to the master (aka Massa) a house nigga. No one was ever making a concious decision to pronounce it with an A and not an R. It's just the way people talk. When I was up north some kids pronounced it 'nigger', black kids not white ones. Ali said "No Vietcong ever called me nigga", he didn't say 'No Vietcong ever called me niggerrrrrr"It IS self degredation, whether you realize it or not. Kids are fooling themselves. It's another one of those aspects of opression that was internalized by the black community. Like the belief that light skinned blacks have good hair, and dark ones have bad hair. Come on, Malcom X explained all of this 40 years ago. It's no coincedence that the angrier someone is the more frequently the word is used. It's not really like 'man', or 'dude' at all.

One thing that happened to me that was magic was that I was leaving, sitting in the hotel lobby, and a voice said,

"What do you see? Look around."

And I looked around, and I looked around, and I saw people of all colors and shapes, and the voice said,

"You see any niggers?"

I said, "No."

It said, "You know why? 'Cause there aren't any."

There ain't no niggers in Africa!

'Cause I'd been there three weeks and hadn't said it once.
And it started making me cry, man. All that shit. All the acts I've been doing. As an artist and comedian. Speaking and trying to say something. And I been saying that. That's a devastating fucking word. That has nothing to do with us. We are from a place where they first started people.

.

 

[karasu]

I think you're overreacting. The fact that any black person responds to the word as "oppressive" means that those using the word to insult anyone will always have it to insult you. Instead of letting it get under your skin, you should shrug it off, realize that it's just a word, and not be so sensitive. You're only adding fuel to the fire.

Are you kidding me? I'm adding fuel to the fire? Would you say that to a woman who dislikes being called a bitch or a cunt, a homosexual who dislikes being hit with the F bomb, or anyone else offended by any other word that humans use? That's ridiculous man. I'm upset when someone seriously calls me a nigger, I don't get violent or anything of the sort. Words aren't just words, they're our primary form of communication. They're symbols of how we feel about everything from what we do to who we see. Implying that they have no power completely ignores reality. I mean come on, people are banned here every other day for the mess they say. :lol

 

[WrathOfOtaibah]

So let me get this straight (going by the goth and wigger threads)

Posing as a goth = Good
Posing as a thug = Bad

Where the disconnection here?

People who have something against wiggers tend to be as big of morons as wiggers themselves.

 

[Acrylamid]

How about a black guy who was brought up in a WASP-esque household, and is unsuccessfully trying to fit into the ghetto culture?

I call them Uncle Tiggers.

 

[The Faceless Master]

to all those people who said they don't understand how words can hurt, i have one thing to say to you...

i hope you have kids, (especially little girls) so i can find them, abduct them, rape them, brutally murder them, then post the pics on the internet...

Spoiler

not really, but yes, words can hurt, that's fucked up huh? imagine you could invoke a feeling like that with just six letters...

 

[Socreges]

On MSN-

Me: is the word "wigger" offensive to you?
Friend (who is black): now why would dat word be offensive to me

:lol

As for "dat", he speaks stupid on MSN. But well-spoken (particularly for a black person!) in real life.

So let me get this straight (going by the goth and wigger threads)

Posing as a goth = Good
Posing as a thug = Bad

Where the disconnection here?

People who have something against wiggers tend to be as big of morons as wiggers themselves.

...what??

 

[guess]

But well-spoken (particularly for a black person!) in real life.

what?

 

[Acrylamid]

On MSN-

Me: is the word "wigger" offensive to you?
Friend (who is black): now why would dat word be offensive to me

Reading this for first time, I had a WTF moment as I thought this was really the screen name with which he is listed in your MSN.

On topic: The Wikipedia entry for Wigger shows why I don't like such phrases:

The condition is sometimes seen as evidence for a lack of identification with or interest in a person's own culture or simply as an interest in subcultures such as hiphop and 'street' which are typically associated with blacks.

What does "own culture" mean, anyway? As long as someone hasn't created art himself (e.g. written a book or recorded music), he has no "own culture" and it's his right to identify with the culture that he wants. Why shouldn't it be "his culture" - because he's white or because his from a wealthy background (in which case it should better be called "wigger" for "wealthy nigger") ? I mean it's not like someone arbitrarily decides to live like an Inuit, it's still part of American culture and culture doesn't belong to a race or a social class (ok, I also believe there is no "American culture" and no "German culture" etc. as there's only "Human Culture" in different forms that don't match frontiers, but this leads to far... Thumbs up to all who decide from one day to another that they want to live in an igloo). Almost all classical music was written by men, does this make women listening to it to "female men" or "fen" ?

(Sorry if my text seems a bit disjointed, it's 2 AM here.)

 

[Ninja Scooter]

people are so ignorant. If even ONE person finds that word (be it wigger or nigger or nigga) offensive (for good reason) then that should be enough to get someone to stop using it.

 

[Pellham]

people are so ignorant. If even ONE person finds that word (be it wigger or nigger or nigga) offensive (for good reason) then that should be enough to get someone to stop using it.

That's not going to stop me from using the word 'midget' even though a lot of midgets are trying to get people to be politically correct and call them 'little people'.

All I care about is the status quo, and as far as the status quo is concerned around here, wigger is a funny term.

 

[Socreges]

what?

Have you been following the thread? It was a joke.

 

[Laurent]

I'm not sure if this is what you're insinuating, but spelling it with an A means nothing. That's just how we tend to talk (not all), especially down south. Brother tends to be pronounced 'brotha', "sister" "sista", "the" "tha". 'Nigga" isn't a new word with it's own meaning, that's garbage propugated by a couple of hip hoppers in reply to controversy. It's nigger spelled phonetically. Plain and simple.

karasu +100000

 

[Gantz]

I remember in high school when that SNL Wigger skit came out. Me and my group of friends thought it was funny and used variations of it for all the wanna-be gangstas. We called all the hispanic homeboys spiggers and the Asian riceboys Chiggers etc..

 

[Odoul]

I remember in high school when that SNL Wigger skit came out. Me and my group of friends thought it was funny and used variations of it for all the wanna-be gangstas. We called all the hispanic homeboys spiggers and the Asian riceboys Chiggers etc..

Once again, what does that make the black homeboys?

 

[Blackace]

Once again, what does that make the black homeboys?

Aiggas.... African-American + Nigga... ohhh wait...

 

[RonaldoSan]

What does "own culture" mean, anyway?

cul·ture
n.
The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought.

Your own culture would be the stuff transmited to you while growing up.

I think racism in any form is the result of our naive belief in stereotypes.

 

[Odoul]

Aiggas.... African-American + Nigga... ohhh wait...

DUH. Can't believe I've been so blind all these years.

 

[Gantz]

Aiggas.... African-American + Nigga... ohhh wait...

LOL you guys are so politically correct! :lol

BTW not all black people are from Africa :lol

 

[fallout]

Aiggas.... African-American + Nigga... ohhh wait...

Aiggas ==> Eggas ... chickens are fucking racist!

 

[Odoul]

LOL you guys are so politically correct! :lol

BTW not all black people are from Africa :lol

No, I just don't appreciate, either implicitly or explicitly, being referred to as a nigger.

 

[suupabuu]

I don't take offense to it. I'm sure if everyone knew that it was offensive to blacks, they'd stop using it. Their intent is to label white people "acting" black, not "white niggers."

Some people take nigga and nigger different nowadays. It might have the same meaning technically, but not socially.

 

[Blackace]

LOL you guys are so politically correct! :lol

BTW not all black people are from Africa :lol

then where are we from? we had to come from there at sometime!

 

[tmdorsey]

It should bother me for the reasons Star Power listed but in reality it really doesn't.

My thoughts on the use of the word nigga(er):

I grew up hearing the word used and using it myself. It never bothered me because I never heard it used in a racial context.

White people using it unforunately is one of those unchangable double standards for me like how it's ok for men to have multiple sex partners and not women. For some reason beyond my control I get offended when I hear a white person use the word no matter what the context.

Classic of example of this Pulp Fiction. Jules and Marsellus Wallace use the word doesn't bother me, but when Quentin Tarantino's character uses it, sounds pretty offensive.

 

[karasu]

LOL you guys are so politically correct! :lol

BTW not all black people are from Africa :lol

god I hate this 'politically correct' bs. Sometimes being "politically correct" is all that stands between you and an ass whoopin.

 

[BobbyRobby]

Yay for Dreamfixx! Yay for rationality!

 

[RaymondCarver]

I'm really white, from the country, and somehow I ended up dating a Catholic country girl that's gone to private Catholic college that I just happened to meet in the big city.....


NOw, I tell people that I may be white but that my soul's got fro and Asian eyes. I can dance, where as most white people can't seem to. I'm that guy in the clubs just going off and having a blast, not really caring about what people think and just listening to the music and letting the beat, next hit of the kick drum dictate what my body will do. It still really surprises me when I'm just out having a good ole time and some people come up to me and tell me how well I dance. How'd this white country boy do it? ... Thanks, rave culture. It doesn't matter what color you are under club lights. You'll be pink and blue and red and flash like in the flicker of a film reel under the strobe lights.

Hmm...
Do I like the term "wigger" as a racial epithet? Not really. Do I know a couple of people that embody the term? Yes. However, I think it's silly, and I'd rather say someone is "ghetto" instead.



Also, my druggie days led me to believe that "wigger" is someone who is "wigging" on the club drug ecstasy, which was called a "designer drug" back in the 80's. I never called it "wigging," but friends of mine from Houston called it that back in the day. My crew and I call it "rolling" to this day, but there were the few odd party folk calling it "wigging" on "wiggers" i.e. ecstacy pillz, disco biskets. However, drugs are bad kids....Bad. Don't do it. You can't handle it.



A few of you who are uptight should eat some of these biskets yourself or smoke some reef or toss back some beers with your fellas. Lighten up. Guys, we're not on this planet long enough to hate eachother or make each other uncomfortable or perpetuate negative things. If you feel the need to call someone by a racial tag, do it in jest and then explain yourself if you get a smug expression. Just be cool. Just try to be honest and genuine. That's all you can do. People can sense if you have ill will or not--most of the time. Possess a good disposition and it won't matter what you call each other.