Scary N-word

No, dummy, not "nudity"--although that word seems to scare the shit out of Censor Board members too. The scary N-word is of course "nigger"--it's a bad bad bad bad word! "Comedian" Michael Richards, better known as Kramer from Seinfeld, shouted the word repeatedly in response to hecklers during a stand-up comedy routine. Oops, bad career move. Everybody hates Kramer now.

"Throw his ass out! He's a nigger!"

As we can see from the ensuing brouhaha over that incident, "nigger" is a highly offensive word--very possibly the most offensive word in American English. But, as you probably know, there's something mind-bogglingly ridiculous about the use of the N-word: it's not offensive if black people say it. Many black people affectionately call each other "niggas." Black rappers include the word in their lyrics all the time. It's all cool.

But the word somehow becomes totally unacceptable when uttered by someone who isn't black. The racist rant of Michael Richards was of course clearly offensive. But even in cases where no offense is intended, the use of the word is magnet for trouble if you're not black. Remember Jennifer Lopez? A few years ago, she got a lot of flack for having the N-word in her song I'm Real, which by the way was written by black songwriters and performed as a duet with Ja Rule, a black guy. Hmm.

Come on, America. Why are you so afraid of the N-word? Words by themselves are neither good nor evil... they're just fucking words. Words only have power as long as people use them. If African Americans seriously want people to stop saying "nigger," the least that they can do is stop saying the word themselves. It's only fair.

On a related but lighter note... ever wondered what Quentin Tarantino's famous "Did you notice a sign in the front of my house that said 'dead nigger storage'?" line in Pulp Fiction would sound like if he wasn't allowed to say "nigger"? Well, wonder no more. Listen to this.