Is it racist to ban the word "nigger"?

[borrofburi]

It's been on my mind since I watched shanedk's video about his rules for posting on his channel (essentially a list of things that he feels justify blocking you), and one of them is that you're not allowed to use the word "nigger" or any of its variants.

Now I'm not accusing shanedk of being a racist; far from it, I imagine his entire purpose is to, at the very least, force the racists to be relatively polite (though he's fond of telling me that "only actions matter" and "intentions are irrelevant" (I may be paraphrasing)). However someone pointed out in the comments that there are plenty of real world scenarios where the variant "nigga" can be a term of endearment. So I looked up "nigga" on wikipedia to find:

the word nigga is used more liberally among younger members[6] of all races and ethnicities in the United States, although its use by persons not of African descent is still widely viewed as unacceptable and hostile, even when used without intentional prejudice. In addition to African Americans, other ethnic groups[7][8] have adopted the term as part of their vernacular.

This mirror's my personal experience as well, so I confess I have not followed up on the three sources there.

Which got me thinking: given that the primary usage of the word is by minorities (using it in a non-prejudiced way), is it perhaps unintentionally racist (in the institutional/systemic/structurally racist sense, where no one is necessarily being intentionally racist) to ban the words "nigger" and "nigga"? Might it not have the effect of punishing primarily those who have a cultural difference where "nigga" is a term of endearment, i.e. punishing minorities?

 

[Gnomesmusher]

I haven't decided what to think yet. But on another forum I frequent, the words "jew" and "gays" are banned. And topics about gay rights very very often pop up and yet the word is censored. Now if I were gay or jewish, I think I'd be kind of offended that any mention of my religion or sexual orientation is not allowed. It might be a different story with the word "nigger" though.

 

[ImprobableJoe]

It strikes me as being possibly lazy; easier to ban a word than to figure out context.

Speaking of context, when you're talking about YouTube, the limited number of characters in the comments, and the drive-by nature of much of the commenting, banning potentially offensive words seems to be more sensible. A place like this, I'd hate to see words banned outright regardless of context, although I've got no problem with banning specific people for being aggressively racist.

 

[Memeticemetic]

Unless the comments are on a video about the word, "nigger". I just can't see any use of the word that is constructive or appropriate. Even the colloquial use, "mah niggah" would be unlikely to occur since very little camaraderie occurs on YouTube. That said, I think it's just petty and silly to have a policy regarding a specific word. Or, perhaps, run away white guilt. White people are kinda pussies, after all.

 

[ImprobableJoe]

Unless the comments are on a video about the word, "nigger". I just can't see any use of the word that is constructive or appropriate. Even the colloquial use, "mah niggah" would be unlikely to occur since very little camaraderie occurs on YouTube. That said, I think it's just petty and silly to have a policy regarding a specific word. Or, perhaps, run away white guilt. White people are kinda pussies, after all.

That's a little racist of you, huh?

 

[Memeticemetic]

That's a little racist of you, huh?

Ironic honkey is ironic.

 

[ImprobableJoe]

That's a little racist of you, huh?

Ironic honkey is ironic.

Context is a bitch, huh? :lol:

 

[)O( Hytegia )O(]

I still have friends I go up to and, actively, utilize the phrase:
"What up, my Nigga'?"

I had to work hard and bust a cap in 3 Gs before I could use that word (/sarcasm).

 

[BrainBlow]

A word only gains power when you give it the power!
The context is what matters. People don't get that.

 

[barboft]

I don't believe in banning words. It's so 1984.