Saying you cant say a word purely based on skin color is text book racism because ti discriminates on skin color race and ethnicity. Also saying that anyone using ut just want to be edgy or offensive is also a bad take since they might just not have american culture values
being ignorant of African American history and African diaspora in general is not really a great excuse. but that’s why people in other parts of the world might get your excuse. it’s still pretty awful, but maybe not as awful as living in America and still being ignorant of it. or any country with a history of + hand in African diaspora, really. so like >50% of the world.
oh and if you think NOT saying slurs is racist then I think you might be one of the ignorant ones.
I dont think I understand your last point
Either way not everyone shares american values or definitions when it comes to words
Just say ninja, every time. All those songs can be fun songs about ninjas.
My ninja
Go ninja, go ninja, go!
Ninja please!
Ninja, what?!
Did you notice a sign out in front of my house that said “Dead Ninja Storage”?
No. I didn’t.
You know WHY you didn’t see that sign?
Why?
'Cause it ain’t there, 'cause storing dead ninjas ain’t my fucking business, that’s why!
Would his favorite song be “Elmo in Paris” ?
Now this is a cover I want.
I once worked with a black dude who said the word all the time. One day we were talking hella shit about our boss and all kinds of n words flying out of his mouth, and I let one loose too, froze, and looked at him and he didn’t even give a shit.
People joke about the hard R but there really is a huge difference. And besides, people know there’s a big contextual difference. Homies aren’t going to mind if you’re just hanging out with them … probably.
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Read a room. If you think people will be upset, don’t say it. If you don’t think people will be upset but they are, apologize and don’t say it
Or just… Don’t say it?
EDIT: I’ll be honest, didn’t expect “don’t say the n-word” to be my most controversial take on this platform. Yeesh.
I literally just figured out what the meme was about by your comment. I thought people were annoyed by Elmo’s voice lol.
Unless you’re Korean. “Ni ga” (니가) literally means “you” in Korean. With the not-so-recent surge in popularity of Kpop globally, I know there’s been more than one outraged person accusing Korean rappers of racism for saying “you” in their own language.
Russell Peters, a Canadian comedian, actually mentioned something similar in Mandarin years ago in one of his specials. Here he is talking about going to a KFC in Beijing.
Note: Russell is of Indian descent and uses a lot of racial jokes in both the entire special as well as this specific bit.
I worked a job where I’d often be driving people speaking Mandarin on conference calls. I had this exact thought while driving them around. I remember hearing this special around that time n laughing my ass off.
Please tell me you worked for a combined ride share and conference call service called Zoomy Zoom
Ha, it was a black car company with a lot of corporate clients. Those people would be on calls all the time.
That was pretty hilarious despite some jokes that definitely wouldn’t fly today. And were iffy then, too.
Oh absolutely. I remember laughing at that when I was a very young teenager but was cringing just a little while rewatching it yesterday. It’s not nearly as bad as some other stuff but it’s a little yikes. Wondering if thats why I haven’t seen Russell Peters in over a decade.
I just checked his Wikipedia, and it looks like he’s mostly been acting in some dubious looking comedy films with some TV on the side.
It reminds me of a problem with Japanese let’s players, how they’ve been playing more and more Western games lately, who have been playing Grand Theft Auto V.
See in Japanese culture, onomatopoeia is a bigger thing, and it’s not uncommon for people to sing an onomatopoeia or for them to be accounted for in the dialogue for media, especially in anime.
So a notice actually had to be given to Japanese Grand Theft Auto fans to stop playfully singing the N Word (as is done at the end of the infamous Franklin Roast)
Many fans mistook it for a playful onomatopoeia and just began singing it on stream in the most innocent way possible.
There are compilations of famous Japanese Vtubers doing this and it is as adorable as it is uncomfortable
Or as League of Legends personality “LS” says
Just call people 니가 and they literally cannot punish you
Oh man I remember this in college. I was grabbing some stuff at a Walgreens and this Korean lady was on the phone saying that. When I got home I told one of my roommates and he was “No, no, they weren’t being really racist, that’s a common phrase in Korean!”
Incredibly unfortunate false cognate.
“Brother” scans and rhymes, and (probably) won’t get your ass kicked.
You got that right, my ninja.
I think “homie” would work too actually, and feels more correct since it’s slang. Like:
“Got my brothers in Paris, and we goin gorillas”
Vs
“Got my homies in Paris, and we goin gorillas”
But I mean it just comes down to which sounds better to you.
Whoa whoa whoa easy on the hard-r “brother” there.
“Got my brothas in Paris…”
Okay but if I’m doing karaoke I’m gonna sing the song like it is. I’m not the guy who’s just gonna skip the word or say “neighbor” or something, sorry.
*picks the song “my nigga” by YG for karaoke
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Elmo’s favorite song
you know karaoke is optional, right?
Speak for yourself
I may not agree with you on Bailey’s, but I can agree on this.
Vodka has less calories.
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I see, in fact it would be racist not to say the n word
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No one is surprised.
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So is putting the word in the song. I’m not ruining my vibe over dumb shit. Don’t put it there and I won’t say it
yeah! if black people can say it, I can say it to. It’s racist to not say the n word.
Fr if they are comfortable saying it among themselves then it obviously doesn’t offend them they’re just being racist to exclude people based on skin color
Yes it’s very racist to say you can’t sing a certain music because the color of your skin. If someone gets upset that white guy said it then blame the song writer not the guy singing.
exactly. here’s to eating paintchips
This comment is ironic because most of the time that music isn’t even written for you.
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I wouldn’t categorise the immense racist history and implications of thr n word as “dumb shit”
There’s so many songs to choose from
There’s so many words to choose from.
Also I don’t choose my songs based on whether or not they have the n word in them. If I like a song and it has the n word in it sucks to suck I’m singing it
King shit
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Yeah this is the one instance where idgaf I’m saying it.
You’re missing out on a lot of really, really good music.
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I don’t know how to say this in a way that doesn’t sound like I’m shit talking so I’ll just put this here and say I mean it without sarcasm or insult.
That’s a hell of a sacrifice, and I wouldn’t make it, but I do respect your commitment.
yeah I get this. part of ADHD for me is having a lot of impulsive words floating through my head. I try to avoid things I wouldn’t want falling out later. I remember in high school I had a revival of “aw, gay” that kept popping up in my head, even though it had already died out socially years ago and I hadn’t said it (in that manner) in years. I probably saw it again on TV or something and it just stuck. it took a lot of conscious power to just stop saying it reflexively when I died in a video game or whatever.
What do you mean you’re “not allowed to speak” it? lol. Y’all are so weird about being racist.
You’re ridiculous. You have that much trouble not saying nigga that you have to pretend the word doesn’t exist?
❄️
Nah. I listen to 90s hip hop quite a bit. No way around the word.
I still don’t even dare to say it even when I’m alone in my car and singing along because I don’t want to slip if I ever sing it in public
If it’s in the song I like I just go along with. Me doing that isn’t in any negative way. If the artist don’t like some people say it, they shouldn’t put in there.
Skipping it or bleeping it out is like censoring art.
He did give her a second try on the song.
Hypocrite
He actually mentions this on his new album in the song Auntie Diaries, which is about him learning to understand his trans aunt and cousin. He uses gay slurs throughout the song as an example of what he’d say when he was younger. There’s a very poignant moment I’ll paraphrase:
“I said those words but I didn’t know any better. I was taught that words were [just words].” - Kendrick
“Kendrick, ain’t no room for contradiction. [Let’s look at it from a different perspective]. F* F* F* we can say it together, but only if you let a white girl say n–” - Cousin who’s trans
“If the artist don’t like some people say it, they shouldn’t put in there.”
I think I’ve heard the response to this from creators, the idea is that it isn’t made for you. They create media informed by black experiences and tailored for black audiences. They don’t feel like they should have to change that to accommodate white/non-black audiences, and not doing so shouldn’t be a free pass for people to turn bigoted language back at them.
Take what you will from that, and consider that I cited a vague “they” with no clear reference or origin. I’m going off shoddy memory, and as a non-black person.
I do the same, but this is really the issue with words some people are allowed to say but others aren’t. Hearing something all the time and not saying it just isn’t something we’re built for. So it’s kind of like encouraging a cultural separation.
I mean, it’s not that difficult. I listen to plenty of rap and I don’t think I’ve ever spoken the word, certainly not in public. I don’t see it as cultural separation but as cultural respect.
Eminem has gone an entire rap career without saying it, and he doesn’t seem very fussed about it.Edit: He has said it before earlier in his career, but not now for quite a while. The general point I’m making is the same though.
For me when I hear someone speak my internal monologue patterns itself after their speech for a while, and I’ve heard others describe the same. Accents shift over time if you move somewhere with a different accent. I think it’s possible to have your words follow a set of rules, but for most people that will take active filtering that will make their speech less off-the-cuff and might slip if they are tired or drunk or something.
You know it’s interesting, because I’m the same way, but I haven’t had that happen for me. Not saying you’re wrong, it’s just interesting how the phenomenon varies. If I have one long listen/exposure, multiple hours long, then I’ll it happen to me. That isn’t a common occurrence though.
I get your point though. I suppose it just comes down to how someone’s brain is wired, and to what level they can separate it from their own speech.
If I recall correctly, many organizations that advocate in the interest of black people prefer no one use the word.
It’s for that reason why I advocate for everyone to be allowed to say it just like we do with cracker yea one is more prominent than the other but man if we are equal than shouldn’t it be easy to decide if slurs are allowed at all or not yet again I advocate for all slurs to be allowed by everyone because banning them just gives them power via significance
Same reason I tend to avoid songs with swears.
Sir this is a Christian house hold
When the artist makes the audience do the chorus in a gig, Elmo better not fuck it up
It’s funny because we made the word powerful by forbidding certain people to say it yet the people it’s the most offensive to say it the most.
it’s almost like context is important or something. nah, couldn’t be that! nuance is for pussies
Depends what you think the nuance is. Maybe the nuance is that a group of people are self-perpetuating negative stereotypes and have trapped themselves in a situation where they can never be criticised for it, and where the they consider protecting that toxic trait to be “winning”.
…or it’s the difference between using it in slang vs using it as an insult/perjorative. And people usually get that. The whole hard R thing represents that difference really well. There’s nothing wrong with taking back power over a slur. I can’t think of any better way to mock the people who use it, in fact.
Generally speaking, the group taking back the slur isn’t going to use it in a bad way, so it’s assumed they’re using friendly slang. If you aren’t part of that group, that basic assumption isn’t there. And considering how many racists are still alive today, that’s fair. For me, it’s also just basic respect. The slur isn’t used against me and probably won’t be. I have nothing to reclaim.
Look at it this way. Eminem has gone his entire rap career without saying it. He’s really good friends and colleagues with a lot of black people. Undoubtedly someone has “given him permission” at some point, and I imagine almost everyone he’s with would be fine with it, but he still doesn’t use it.It’s ironic, actually. The people who understand this are also probably the people most likely to be “given permission”. And they don’t use it. That should tell you everything you need to know.
Edit: Correction, he had used it in the past, but he stopped quite a while ago. The general gist my point though is still the same, he’s built an incredible rap career without saying it much at all, and he clearly hasn’t seen the need to in a long time.
I agree with your message but Eminem has used it in his rap several times. I know it’s old and some of those were as backing vocals just nice to see that he realized it wasn’t right for him to say so he stopped.
Ohhhh gotcha. Let me edit my comment. Thanks for the correction!
It’s not a difficult concept. Just don’t say it. The word doesn’t have any power above the comradery between black people and hatred coming from a white person. The power dynamic is what’s important.
I never said it was difficult, it’s just ironic. I don’t say it. Can you read or are you just saying what you are thinking? It has a lot of power, it can make a room erupt into a riot in an instant or cancel your whole career/life…Look at Morgan Wallen for example…
Look at Morgan Wallen for example…
Would have been so easy just to not say it, unless it was in his heart.
Wait, so are you telling me “Elmo’s Song” was originally ******'s song?
Yup. All those “la la las” you hear now? Originally something else
Same as Yada Yada Yada
Yada Yada Yada Yada Yada… I’m 100% Yada
I still believe “and if you don’t know, now you know, boy-o” is a much better line.
