And then, obviously...certain exceptions must be made. The N-Word, for instance. It's like Hitler. Even people who don't believe in Hell, generally concede that Hitler is there. It's sort of "understood." And even people who, like me, decry the very idea that certain words, just in their combination of sounds, are somehow "bad" - even people like me have to admit that the N-Word sort of rises above that. The N-Word is worse than bad. It's impossibly bad. It's irredeemably bad. How bad is it? It's so bad, it's like superbad. It's superbad TNT.
Although, I have to admit this: I am a bit confused as to why it was acceptable sitcom dialogue back the '70s. Either it's just a cyclical thing, and it will eventually calm back down again, or else...a far more frightening scenario: the N-Word is getting progressively more offensive as time goes on. It's becoming more and more bad. And it's already the baddest bad word on the books! How much worse can it get?
It could get worse. I picture it just getting more and more bad until it has become like one of those Unconscionable Curses like in one of those Harry Potter movies, so that whenever it's uttered, the Ministry of Profanity will sweep in on brooms (or something more suitable, I don't know, the "this situation" equivalent of brooms), and haul you off to Azkaban (or I don't know, some bad-word-themed equivalent. Asskablam? No, that's too potty-mouthish...not the sophisticated mark I try to aim for in here).
Anyway, it's a weird situation, there are a lot of confusing aspects as to just how and why it has grown to the status that it currently enjoys, and I'm not sure what to do with it. But I'm pretty sure I have to put it down as an exception to the rule. The N-Word is a genuinely bad set of syllables.
So don't say it!
If you're white.
You know what? I think I just realized what it is. And I think it makes sense. It's that African-Americans, as a people, have been put through so much agonizing b.s. by White America, that if they have decided as a group that they want to get excessively hysterical and sensitive about a two-syllable word...then honestly, the least that White America can do is humor them on that. And while I think that's essentially a patronizing, condescending stance for White America to take, to think it can just pat them on the head and refrain from using their special word, and that makes everything else all good...meanwhile continuing to perpetuate the same systems that keep their young men killing each other or rotting in prison, that keep their youth ensared in a street-minded pop culture that denigrates education and glorifies...
Wait. Can I say "denigrate"?
I think I can. Yeah, I can.
Anyway, that's all getting too complex. Point is: the N-Word is bad. And White America is exploiting that fact in some way, I'm sure of it. To draw attention away from...something.
It's a complex issue.
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