The N-Word
June 30, 2013
1885 illustration from Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, captioned “Misto’ Bradish’s nigger”
SOMEDAY “African-American” will be a racist slur, a term so unacceptable that any public personality who recklessly uses it in private will be disgraced and threatened with the loss of his livelihood in the same way the syrupy and dissembling cooking personality Paula Deen has been disgraced and threatened for using the word “nigger” in private. Nigger, black, colored, negro — they’ve all become unacceptable because sooner or later they have all become associated with facts that do-good, holier-than-thou, know-nothing whites wish to deny. Those facts are the laziness, immorality and criminality of a significant number of blacks. “African American” will be eclipsed the more it is associated with reality. A new term will come into vogue, as “people of color” has come into use in recent years. It doesn’t matter. Whatever it is, it will be discarded and become a racist slur as long as reality is denied and honesty is taboo.
I don’t have too much sympathy for Deen, even though she appears to have lost much of her empire. She of all people could afford to be honest. Instead of pleading guilty, she could have said, “Look, black people call each other ‘nigger’ all the time and why shouldn’t they? It only means “black” and nothing more. Look it up in the dictionary. ‘Nigger’ comes from ‘niger,’ the Latin word for black. I know it does have negative associations and that’s why I have only used it a few times, such as the time when I was telling my husband about the black man who put a gun to my head in a bank, but how come blacks can say that word without losing their entire livelihoods, and I can’t? Besides, it’s only a word. Y’all heard of the expression, ‘Sticks and stones can break my bones but names can never hurt me?’ Grow up, America. I’ve never harmed a … an African American in my life.”
—- Comments —-
Bill R. writes:
That was a brilliant analysis.
The more undeniable become certain inconvenient truths about blacks as a group, the more reactionary and oppressive becomes the response of our ruling elites on the left (including the leftist elites of big business). As far as they’re concerned, no mercy must be shown to even the slightest infraction of the rules of racial thought-control whites are demanded to observe (and, in fact, as the case of Paula Deen has shown, better hope they’ve observed all their life), lest such infractions promote, for once, a truly honest and fearless atmosphere of racial dialogue. In short, the left knows, or at least suspects, the truth about race and fears it like no other, for in it they perceive, quite rightly, an existential threat to their utopian vision of radical, and especially racial egalitarianism, something which, since it does not exist in fact, must be artificially manufactured and then imposed by force. History shows repeatedly, and vividly, that such tyrannical impositions are notoriously, if not brutally, averse to any whiff of dissent or challenge whatsoever.
Jay from Goshen writes:
Bravo!
I never understood the constantly changing names for Americans of sub-Saharan African origin. I had always thought of it as indicative of their fundamental insecurity, dislike of their blackness, combined with a genius (let’s face it) for manipulation and pardon the pun, emotional blackmailing. (And white complicity – there is no blackmail without a willing chump.)
I think I’m right, but the explanation lacked the key element, which you supplied. All these names become somehow wrong, as soon as they become identified with blacks. “Nigger, black, colored, negro — they’ve all become unacceptable because sooner or later they have all become associated with facts that do-good, holier-than-thou, know-nothing whites wish to deny.”
True, true, true, true!!
Then we have to make up another name. I wonder what the next one will be.
About Deen. She could have avoided this whole mess by running a more professional operation. I don’t have any sympathy for the woman who is trying to extort money from her, but apparently Deen’s shop was sloppy and unprofessional and exposed her to this sort of legal chicanery. And just because Deen is a victim now doesn’t mean that she’s anymore more than another cheapo media creation.
But I still have to have sympathy for her, just a bit, because she’s a middle-aged, none-too-bright Southerner who just doesn’t realize that this ain’t her country anymore, if it ever was. It’s their country now, don’t you know that?
Roger G. writes:
I admit that I may be missing the point, or that I may not know enough about the incident, but why the lack of sympathy here for Paula Deen? Isn’t she another innocent victim of the viciousness we’ve decried for years? I’m guessing that she has no interest in the cultural issues which (rightly) so greatly concern us, but I’m not certain that’s a fault. Some people are just made that way, and in a healthy society it would not be a problem. What I’m saying is that I guess she’s only interested in her cooking, and I don’t see anything wrong with that.
Laura writes:
She should have been honest and insisted she did nothing wrong. Instead, she issued profuse apologies, which were an admission of guilt. Many people truly can’t afford to be honest because they might lose their jobs. But I think she would not have lost all of her business and wealth if she had defended herself and refused to apologize.
Jay writes:
The more I think about Paula Deen, the more I think she does deserve our sympathy. Perhaps she didn’t handle the situation the way you suggested. I agree, it would have been better. But she doesn’t deserve the vilification she is getting.
Please see this.
Federal laws, a litigious culture ripe for extortion attempts, “sexual harassment” laws, the works – all of these set the snare for Deen’s entrapment. Add to that the insane culture of Negro sainthood victimization, and you’ve got a Kafkaesque nightmare into which ANY of us can be destroyed. (Remember the Cambridge cop? I can’t even recall his name now. If he had not had black friends, he’d have been “Deened.”)
Kidist P. Asrat writes:
I feel sorry for Deen. She got walloped! I think she’s shell-shocked, and temporarily witless (I don’t want to say insane, but she’s not “right in the head.”)
The whole world is watching her and has judged her as evil incarnate, the way people see “racists” these days. And racist/evil incarnate means anyone (any white) who doesn’t bow down to the black gods and goddesses.
Deen is viscerally reacting to the fact that she is now considered an evil person. She should have taken time out before she made her announcements, but again, I don’t think she was thinking right.
I wrote about her here.
She will probably recover, and possibly she will reform her business. But I think this time she will seclude herself to sympathetic whites. There is already a small movement of whites which is spiking up her book sales at Amazon.com. Generally things will go in that direction. If blacks and their “non-racist” white “friends” wish to dismantle white America, which means America, let them do so, and see how far they can get. I think that will be the general feeling of these whites. This reminded me of Larry Auster’s idea of remaking America, away from all these ties and heavy burdens.
Mike Berman writes:
There is another reason, aside from Paula Deen’s groveling, why I cannot be sympathetic. She voted for Barack Hussein Obama. Twice. She endorsed Black Run America. She wanted that hope and change and she got it.
When I get asked if I’ve ever used the N-word, I reply, “Every day! I’m a big fan of rap music and I sing along.” I advise everyone to pick up some CDs and memorize some of this garbage. Think of it as insurance.
Andrew writes:
