carved angel

Since I'm white, I don't really feel that it's my place to say how offended people of another race are allowed to be, regarding a word that is used toward them in a derogatory way. Especially since the word carries a lot of emotional weight, historically.

I don't think that such words should be removed from the dictionary, however. Some words are hateful, but have been part of the English language for a long time. Not putting a word into the dictionary does not mean that the word no longer exists. We, as a country, spend entirely too much time ignoring our collective problem with race as it is, and I don't see how trying to delete or redefine offensive words will help the situation. Ignoring the race problem is not making it go away, and removing slurs from a dictionary isn't going to make people stop saying that word. The "n" word is offensive to a lot of people, as it was used during a particularaly shameful time in our history. But do we want to forget this time? I know a lot of people would like to, but a forgotten past is more likely to be repeated. It isn't as though Websters hasn't noted that the "n" word is a slur, and made it clear that the word is offensive. When we try to sanitize everything, it just makes it easier to forget what a nasty world this is sometimes. And if we just gloss over everything, will anything ever have a hope of being fixed?

Also, I'd like to point out that I can definitely see how the definition of "McJobs" could offend the people that work there. I did my time in a restaurant (though not McDonalds), and it was one of the hardest jobs I've ever had. It's true that the job didn't pay well, and there wasn't much chance of advancement, and I didn't particularly care, since it was just a summer job for me to get by. But I do think the definition has somewhat of an elitist ring to it. It's easy for people that have probably never worked at a physically taxing job a day in their life to be so flippant about something like that. Imagine what that definition must sound like to someone that will be working at a job like that for the rest of their life. Pretty depressing, huh?

The "n" word is offensive, and "McJob" can be considered offensive as well. They are disagreeable in different ways, to be sure. The "n" word has more history behind it, for one thing. But both words smack of elitist snark, and are derogatory. Yet both have a place in the dictionary as common parlance, and, if anything, to remind us that throughout history, belittling others has always been important to the human race.

posted by gish  # 10/29/2005 02:29:00 PM