U huh... That's not what you said and you know it. Look, if you and one of your friends are at the bar and call each other "faggot" does that authorize anyone that overheard the exchange to call you both faggots? THAT is what you are saying and I disagree. Just because I allow a friend, relative, or any random person to demean me does not give you the right to demean me as well.

Context, man. Are you really trying to tell me that you and your friends never call each other names that might have resulted in a fight were it some random stranger? Is this concept this hard to understand? If black people want to allow other black people to call them nigger, don't they have that right? Can't I decide what I'll allow each individual person permission to call me without repercussion? If me and Derf are at Mc Donalds and he flicks a french fry at me, I'll laugh because we are friends. If a hot chick does it, I may smile and go and get her number. If you throw food at me, I'll probably get up and attempt to beat the shit out of you. It's the same thing, I get to decide what my response will be. You don't get to insult me in any way and then decide what I'm allowed to feel or do about it. Dude, you can do whatever you want, as long as you are willing to deal with the consequences of your actions. Now are we on the same page?

I agree with everything here. But again, you're talking about a stranger calling another stranger a name. What if 2 white or latino friends want to call each other niggaz? What is the problem with that?

Makes sense to me, Tigger.

But I gotta say that the whole "reclaiming the word and turning it into a positive" is :bs: As long as a word is in common usage, it's going to take a lot longer to forget where it came from. It doesn't lose its power or some crap like that. All its racist baggage just gets dragged on into the future. Stop using it, and it fades into irrelevancy.

We have one rule in my group of friends. Don't dish it out if you can't take it. I think it applies here as well.

If my friends and I are cutting each other down and you come into the conversation and start doing it to, we wouldn't care. We don't need to come up with a bullshit reason to pick a fight. We don't have chips on our shoulders which means we've been in very few altercations.

To sum it up, we don't need a bullshit reason to be pissed off. We have absolutely nothing to prove.

Umm...I never said that I have a problem with that, just the opposite. I don't care what you call other people, who does? I have been and only will be concerned with what you call me. If you read my posts, I have repeatedly put my responses in the first person. I do not claim authority to allow or disallow what you can and cannot say to other black people. If anything, I have attempted to explain why some black people allow their compatriots to refer to them as niggers. Again, all I can say is context.

Oh btw, in reference to your example, the only thing about those situations that tends to irritate me, is when the two parties notice that I am within earshot and give me that, "oops sorry" look. Basically, they've just referenced me as a nigger.

Okay I disagree and I'll give you a few examples;

Motherfucker: at one time, the use of this word meant literally, one who has intercourse with his mother and has been the cause of many, many fights and perhaps even deaths.

Punk: at one time this word was synonymous with homosexual and it's use would immediately result in a fight. My father hated that word and would beat your ass if caught using it.

There are several others. In a way, the more it's used the LESS power it has imho. Watch TV and count how many words that are common place now that wouldn't have been allowed 20-40 years ago. Heck, kids barely get in trouble for saying shit, dick or asshole anymore.

See, context again.. Now you're talking about a group of "friends", before you were talking about random people. Dishing it out amongst friends and taking shit from some random dude are two totally different things. Besides, I don't believe that you and your buddies could be hanging out at the bar and some dude can walk up and say, "Hey you faggots get the fuck out of my way!" and you won't care because you all had just been calling each other gay a minute ago... Hmmm then again maybe you would now that I think about it.

Yeah, I get the idea that words change meaning over time. But neither of those words were kept alive (as it were) by the groups they originally targeted. Over time, the association just got lost, because people stopped using it in anything close to its original context.

In this case, not only is the word still around, but the idea that it refers to black folks is also being kept intact. That's a dumb idea, in my opinion.

I'm glad that I'm part of that group of people that calls people by their first names.
I'd be embarrased to use slang or nicknames in public.

I've worked hard for my elitist label

Good point! I'm not sure that any black people are running around and claiming that white people can't call each other niggers... I'm not sure if any black people would be offended by that...maybe, I don't know. All I said was that regardless of the circumstances, you can't call me one. Even if I did allow my boy Derf to call me one. Even if I have Lil Wayne blaring from my stereo. Even if you just got done watching the last Spike Lee joint. Etc.