Eugene Volokh discusses his refusal to cater to idiots by using the term “N-word” when quoting statements, where the term nigger was used. While I agree with him, it just occurred to me that we are both missing the politically correct point.
I started to take another path, but then I had this flash and changed direction. I’m gonna bet that if you haven’t done this yourself, you know somebody who has.
Let’s test this premise. Call Fido, now speak the following terms: treat, car, ride, walk. If your Fido is like every dog I’ve ever had there is a reaction. Now try it again. This time spell it out: t-r-e-a-t, c-a-r, r-i-d-e,
w-a-l-k. Probably didn’t get a reaction. Dogs can’t spell.
If Nigger is offensive, why isn’t the term N-word? I would maintain that it is. To deny that fact is an admission that there is nobody more prejudiced than a liberal. To self righteously use N-word rather than nigger, implies that the utterer thinks black folks are to stupid to know they have been insulted. For a black person to be mollified by the use of the term N-word, validates the liberal belief.
The problem with attempts to ban language is it never works. The Nazis tried and failed, as did Stalin and his cronies. Language can change with time. Shakespeare used the phrase “Get Thee to a nunnery.” Given modern usage one would expect to find:
This is more in line with what Shakespeare was talking about. In his day, a nunnery was a whorehouse.
Huckleberry Finn had a lot to say about “Nigger Jim.” Most of it dealt with respect and affection.
Back in the late sixties I found a copy of Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises at my grandparent’s house. I wish I had kept it. It was a copy published shortly after it came out. I didn’t know it then, but it gave credence to the term “Banned in Boston.”
I didn’t like the story. I couldn’t understand why Hemingway wrote the way he did. In every passage where a character used profanity, blasphemy or obscenity, the fact was noted. The actual term was never noted, just that it fell into a category deemed inappropriate.
Years later I read a more modern version of the story. Judgement was suspended. The characters used terms with which I was familiar.
I guess we’re all guilty, to one degree or another of self censorship. I generally use terms like liberal or democrat rather than more lengthy overwhelmingly negative terms that they so richly deserve.
