Well sorry, for expressing my personal opinion on the matter. Captain Obvious Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
They're not making a film about the official or unofficial policies of any of the Allied nations. Well, then, "Slo-Mo" Jackson should just say bugger RAF cooperation and make his film, and 1,001 fine points of super-duper accuracy be damned. After all, 99% of the people who ended up seeing it wouldn't know it was wrongly depicted if they showed the mission being flown by Sunderland Flying Boats, for fuck's sake ! He could get Tom Cruise to star as Guy Gibson, and then Tom will have fought for both sides in WW2 - on celluloid, that is. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
If they call guy Gibson's dog nigger, they should also show Guy Gibson blowing his nose and going to the toilet. After all, that would be historically accurate.
And dialogue could be added where he says "I want my dog buried at [X time on Y date], the time the operation will begin. I want to pass into the next world with him at my side." Name free.
Couldn't they call the dog "Blackie"? That would still be politically incorrect and keep the non-PC people happy, but it wouldn't be the N word, which could have people burning cinemas down. Presumably the dog was called nigger because it was black in colour, not because the squadron kept it as a slave.
Wiki The term "nigger" has taken on pejorative qualities, as it implies not only darkness of skin, but a general lack of intelligence and sophistication. At the time of the word's origin, various English-speaking North American settlers who set cultural standards considered black people fundamentally inferior and less civilized than white people. The term is generally considered offensive to black people, not only because it singles them out on the basis of their skin colour, but also because, due to its origin, it carries connotations of slavery, inferiority and oppression. This term is generally derogatory when used by persons not of African descent (and sometimes when used by persons of African descent), but, it is also used by some black people among themselves, positively, especially when used in the form of "nigga," in a form of reclamation. It is important to note that many people do not believe that "nigger" is able to be reclaimed, because of its fraught history and continued pejorative usage. Usage by non-blacks, however, is almost invariably considered offensive. Thus, the term is both potentially liberatory while also being highly contested. In its pejorative sense, it arguably ranks as the most insulting racial epithet in the English language, with strong connotations of cultural and intellectual inferiority or deficiency. The controversial nature of the word makes it unacceptable for use in most modern mainstream American media. The word is usually censored in direct quotations or euphemistically referred to as the "N-word" to blunt its potential negative impact. Take your pick...
Pardon my stupidity, but I thought you were asking a general question as to why "nigger" is / has been historically considered derogatory. Please elaborate as to what context you were asking the question, so that I may better attempt to provide a satisfactory answer... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
The word idiot has a definition which can easily be justified as derogatory when applied to someone who is not an idiot or applied to an idiot in a callous/malicious manner. Nigger has no definition. Saying it is derogatory doesn't define it or make it derogatory. Without a definition, it is not derogatory. Without a definition, it is not a word.
i completely agree.. but in the point of huck finn the use of the word is to show the relaionship of huck to the slave.. to show the contrast of how he treats jim, as oppose to the other black people in the story.. i have never seen this film so i cant judge.. but i am in part african american and i have no problem with it being used in a historical context.
according to Websters Ninth New Coligate Dictionary the word Nigger means....1: Negro 2:member of any dark skined race 3:a member of a socially disadvantaged class of persons...all persons who feel left out of the political process. Now this is just to dennotative definition.. there is also a connotative meaning for the word.. nigger for a very long time has had a meaning.. and whether or not that meaning is in the dictionary it doesnt mean that it isnt a word. the word gay has been transformed from its once cheerful meaning to a dirogitory word used to belittle a group of people. the point is that there is a widely accepted meaning of the word and that if that is the case, whether or not there is a satisfactory dictionary deffintion, it is a word. just look at the elementary book Frindel.
how does any word become derogatory?.. people make it so.. do you think that when we started reading and writing and communication became widespread that someone just came up with this list of things you shouldn't say to one another, and people listened because it was this pre-ordained list?... no people put meanings behind this word.. im pretty sure the word CAT would become a derogatory word if for hundreds of years people called you that while they were beating the shit out of you for dropping a bag of cotton... any word can take on any meaning because of the way people choose to use it.
It's derogatory because it's a word that carries the implications of every negative stereotype about black people; it reduces someone to something infinitesimal, less than a caricature. And what do you mean it has no definition?
the only nonsense is the fact that you don't seem to understand a simple concept like connotative definitions. its derogatory because we make it so.. just like any other word..
