I don't think its matter of being black, white, asian, hispanic etc.. The guys wanted their 15 minutes of fame and found an easy way to claim it. It's much easier to play an innocent, hurt victim (and demand national apologizes) than to move on and spend their time on something more meaningful - like posting on ET
Hmm, words dont effect you........ how about, "you have been sentenced to 200 lashes, and then being hung by the neck until dead". There just words, arent they ?
the problem is.....the young black man today uses the word nigger like its the greatest word ever. they use it in their music, their comedy and their movies......so for a young black male to tell me he is upset over a white person (or any other race) using the word i say...to bad for you......but the problem is that most older black people still view that word as one of the most vile words on the planet. They do not use or want that word to be used, ever. so yes...much of the black population is very offended by that word but the rest of us are bombarded by the younger black generation throwing that word around left right and centre that for most of us we cant see why it aggrevates them so much.
The CONTEXT in which the word is used determines it's intended meaning. Where the word is used... How the word is used... It's NOT what you say, it's HOW you say it! It not the word but the "associations" one attaches to the word. Associations are powerful. No one cares about a piece cloth per se but if that piece of cloth is red, white and blue then some people may stand and salute while others may want to burn it.
I don't know why black American people get so upset at it (you'll notice that black people in Africa are no way near as sensitive about the word). Gays don't get as upset if called fags, Irish don't get as upset if called paddies, English people don't get as upset if called poms whilst in Australia, Jews don't get as upset if called yids or shylocks. Yes, they will get upset, but not the same ludicrous hysteria that you see with black americans (and a few british black people). I suspect it's simply another example of the growing tendency for Americans to be super-sensitive pussies about everything. So someone called you a name - big fucking deal. Come up with a more creative insult back to them. Do you see the French crying when 100 million Americans start calling them "cheese-eating surrender monkeys"? Do Korean grocers in LA ganglands start whining on talk shows because of the countless examples of racist abuse they suffer? Let's face it - the Al Sharptons of this world are like that because they are simply not real men, just spineless crybaby pussies who can't take the fact that some prejudiced morons don't like their skin colour.
Yes, but calling a black person a nigger should have no greater or lesser effect than saying "you bald bastard" to someone with no hair, or calling an obese person a "fat cunt". If that Seinfeld guy had said to the heckler "Shut up you fagass cocksucker", do you think he would have lost his career over it? Or if it was two mexicans heckling him and he said "Fuck off you wetbacks!". No he wouldn't. People would have sensibly realised that an insult is just an insult, not a moral equivalent to paedophilia or slavery. But when the nigger word comes into play, for some reason Americans get their knickers in a twist and lose all sense of proportion in a desperate desire to compete for who can be the most politically correct person or get on Oprah. It's time the rest of the world identified this for the pussified hypocrisy and spineless conformity that it truly is.
This is how it has been put to me when I brought up the same point. I was asked "how would I feel if my brother called my sister a bitch?" well I said I would tell him to layoff but that is about it, it wouldn't really bother me. "well what if a stranger called your sister a bitch?" See then its a different story, I would have to hurt someone. See the difference? It might be confusing or seem unfair as you might say, but thats life. Also does fag and the other names you mention carry the same history? Do gays have to go to different schools, do they have to sit at different lunch tables, sit in the back? No. When it comes to that word, it carries a dark history for not only blacks but for our nation as a whole, so why even use it?