Re: N word again

[mg (Mitch Gart)]

I think it's different if a person who's a member of a group uses the word
that derogates that group, versus a person outside that group using the word.
Blacks can use the word "nigger", gays can use "faggot", and so on, and it's
not the same as a white person, or a non-gay, using the same word.  Is this 
right or wrong?  I don't know.  But the effect is real different depending 
who is using the word.  People who're a part of the group and have felt the 
sting of the word have earned a right to use the word however they want.  
Others haven't earned that right, in my opinion.

I've never been called nigger or queer because I'm not, but I can remember another
experience.  I've always been real critical of American politics and culture
and lots of things American, but then I lived in France for 3 years, and
I got real defensive about French people saying things about Americans.  I could
say something critical, or another American could say it, and that was fine, but the
same words coming from a Frenchman would really get under my skin and have a
completely different effect.  Objectively it shouldn't have mattered who was 
saying the words, but it did matter.  Does that make sense?

- Mitch