The Hasselbeck/Goldberg N-word issue is overly ridiculous. Hasselbeck says "let's move forward, stop using it altogether" and Whoopi says "No, we own the word, we can use it the way WE want to now, it's OK." For once, I stand by Hasselbeck on the issue. I'm not going to cry about it though.
The word is completely inappropriate and disrespectful on all levels, no questions asked. There's no arguing that. However, black people can't "take the word back" either. Especially the black folk of 2008. Slavery doesn't exist anymore. It hasn't existed for, I would say, most people's Earthly existence. Yes, relatives, ancestry...I get it. I didn't take part in slavery just because I'm white. Neither did any of my family, or my family's family. When racism exists, it's on a separate playing field. It's at the hands of personal will. It's not in our government, it's not in our jobs, and it's not in power. It's the minority.
Funny sidenote though (and mildly relevant)...
but, there is a lot of hate in this world. Sorry black people, you're not the only ones suffering. People hate people for ALL kinds of reasons, it stems far beyond simply being black. While some people may hate a certain race (any race, there are plenty), they also hate religions, they hate gays and lesbians, they hate people who get abortions, they hate the poor, they hate the rich, they hate the Man, they hate politicians, they hate the people who support the politicians, they hate those who are different or think differently than that of the mainstream. Yet the black button is still forefronted for some reason. It's actually quite aggravating. Mistakenly or blazingly using the N word demands headlines and front pages, it gets ratings, it ends careers, it ruins reputations, it gets people talking/screaming/fighting: it causes mass hysteria.
But what happens when suicide bombers blow up churches? What happens when bullied and tormented goth students shoot dozens of their classmates and teachers at school? What happens during Gay Pride parades when people picket saying "Fags burn in Hell"? What happens when men call women ho's and bitches in popular, mainstream music?
Oh, nothing.
That's not as horrifying as the N-word. Really?
The N-word is simply a buzz word. It sparks controversy, it sells papers, it glues eyes to the tube, and it gets under people's skin.
The other forms of hate speech are just, you know, regular, old hate speech that we disregard as "people's opinions." Nothing special, just...ugh, boring, run-of-the-hate-mill, every day kind of stuff.
BUT when it comes to: I'm white, you're black. I can't use the N word, you can.
Front page. Woah, kind of a reverse racism, isn't it? Nowadays you can't get away with saying the N word...so what's the problem? I mean, the word's existence is entirely not acceptable on behalf of my own (and many, many, many other people's) moral standard and evolved education, but lives and breathes because black people exclusively insist on using it for their own purposes? Purposes such as "terms of endearment" and household reference? Weird.
Give me a break.
Trust me, I get it: Bad people exist. Bad people have existed. Bad things happen. Bad things have happened. I get it. Let's move forward. Advance society. Continue to educate. The N word doesn't promote any advancement or education, I don't care who you are or where you came from.
Taye Diggs, for some reason (I guess because he's black and a celebrity) felt the need to comment on the issue:
“(Hasselbeck) doesn’t understand, and, no offense — I don’t think any white person has the right to tell a black person or to even weigh in on subject matter such as that,” Diggs told “Access Hollywood” on Thursday. “They don’t know what it’s like to be called that word; they don’t know what it’s like to be black.”
OK, Taye, thanks for your valuable input. Yes, so I can't have an opinion about the matter because I am (she is) white? OK. Interesting and just ever-so slightly hypocritical.
I love how we're not supposed to see in color, how we're "one" people, an evolving society, races don't separate us, it's the year 2008, yet white people CANNOT do something that black people CAN. Would that "free pass" ever fly if it were the other way around?
Absolutely not.
However, I do know what it's like to be separated from society, to be outcasted, to be ridiculed, to be treated like a second class citizen, to be devalued, to be disregarded, to be demoralized, to be hated...
So, yes, I do have an opinion and I'll gladly weigh in on the subject: the word is wrong. You, as a black person (and just because you're a black person) can't have it. Move on without it. Stop using it. It's hate. And if you, as a black person or any race for that matter, choose to keep the word alive then you choose to live (and dwell) in your own, ignorant misery.
Separation is separation. You fought against it...no, no, we fought against it, I still fight against it, and I will continue to fight against it, on all levels, for all causes, and for all people, so don't undermine the process.
Then again, you're racist if you do and you're racist if you don't, apparently.
Thanks Whoopi and Taye for your understanding of my white perspective.
