is the word 'cracker' racist?

[Bay Area]

I though "cracka" was talking about a Saltine cracker. A white guy is white, saltine crackers are white.

 

[kpt018]

Honesty has no place in a discussion on race!

Kindly GTFO.

This discussion comes up, I think, because white folks this is the equivalent of the N-bomb. It just isn't.

 

[spamking]

Well, it's domination, once again.

"Redneck" and all the others are slurs towards the poor. Why? Because the poor are victims of domination, just like nonwhites, women, gays, etc.

Bull . . .

Redneck and "all of the others" are often directed at the entire population of some states.

An entire state's population is NOT poor, and are not victims of domination.

 

[kpt018]

of course you would. you already know everyone sees you as a joke

????

Everyone in the war room sees me as a joke? Or in the hypothetical?

 

[IDL]

"Racist" isn't a racial slur.

Cracker, honky, n-word, and all the rest are racial slurs. There is no racial slur with the same level of offense towards whites as there are towards nonwhites.

I never said it was a racial slur, and of course it isn't. It's just a word that can be used to hurt and humiliate whites. It has a lot of power behind it.

You said there weren't any, so I offered that as an example. That's all.

 

[spamking]

Aside from it being inappropriate in the work place, I'd laugh it off.

What is the insult? I'm acting like a slave driver? Ok, it's really just taking reality (that I'm working them too hard) to an extreme in your example (and I have been told I work employees too hard). It's not an attempt to say that I am inferior in some way based on race. I'm Irish, Polish and German, so using one of the unflattering racist comments that is used for those would be a problem, yes.

If you have to ask then you're not getting it . . . or aren't understanding how they are trying to insult you.

The fact that you're claiming to be more offended at being called a nazi says it all.

 

[kpt018]

If you have to ask then you're not getting it . . . or aren't understanding how they are trying to insult you.

The fact that you're claiming to be more offended at being called a nazi says it all.

So, explain why I should be insulted.

 

[spamking]

So, explain why I should be insulted.

You don't feel that being categorized as a slave owner who enjoys whipping his slaves as insulting?

Fine . . .

But for anyone (not necessarily you) to justify or excuse using the word due to the description I provided above in one breath and then use the same historical context to condemn using the n-word seems a little disingenuous.

I mean if it's ultimately all about power and oppression why wouldn't you be insulted?

Did you in fact own slaves back then? No. And the person using cracker to describe you knows that, yet they are feeling justified in using it to insult you because some white guy in 1850 did own slaves and probably did enjoy whipping them a little too much.

 

[kpt018]

You don't feel that being categorized as a slave owner who enjoys whipping his slaves as insulting?

Fine . . .

But for anyone (not necessarily you) to justify or excuse using the word due to the description I provided above in one breath and then use the same historical context to condemn using the n-word seems a little disingenuous.

I mean if it's ultimately all about power and oppression why wouldn't you be insulted?

Did you in fact own slaves back then? No. And the person using cracker to describe you knows that, yet they are feeling justified in using it to insult you because some white guy in 1850 did own slaves and probably did enjoy whipping them a little too much.

But none of what you said here is a claim that I am inferior based on my race. Maybe I'd be upset that my employees viewed me as that harsh and are using an extreme to describe my behavior, but it isn't racism.

If someone called me a dumb Pollack, that would be different.

Just to restate what other posters in here have said, n-bomb is racist because behind it is the belief that blacks are inferior based on race. That just isn't the case with cracker.

 

[IDL]

Too many definitions of what racism is and isn't. These discussions get so confusing.

 

[36thDisciple]

Louie CK hit it on the head. The word doesn't offend, even if it's meant to, because it holds no fucking power.

I see the 'reverse racism' advocates are in here saying otherwise. Sorry, you lose again. Keep screaming from the rooftops about how we need a White calendar month and how you hate Cain's tattoo though; it's all very entertaining.

 

[afrdzak]

It's a racist term....but does anyone actually get offended by it?
Others have said it already, but it falls pretty damned low on the racism scale when compared to just about every, single other racist term.

 

[mudflap mike]

It's a racist term....but does anyone actually get offended by it?
Others have said it already, but it falls pretty damned low on the racism scale when compared to just about every, single other racist term.

link to said racist scale?

 

[IDL]

Louie CK hit it on the head. The word doesn't offend, even if it's meant to, because it holds no fucking power.

I see the 'reverse racism' advocates are in here saying otherwise. Sorry, you lose again. Keep screaming from the rooftops about how we need a White calendar month and how you hate Cain's tattoo though; it's all very entertaining.

No word has power on its own. It's up to the individual to give it that power. Of course, society does have a big influence on individual perceptions but it varies quite a bit.

Who is to say one person can be offended and another can't? It all boils down to individual perception and context.

 

[Poatan Power]

Yes, but none of us give a shit. Even though referring to someone as a person that would crack the whip to their slaves and conduct themselves in such a way is terrible.

Pity parties are for cancers to society, no matter the color.

 

[afrdzak]

link to said racist scale?

common sense

 

[spamking]

Louie CK hit it on the head. The word doesn't offend, even if it's meant to, because it holds no fucking power.

I see the 'reverse racism' advocates are in here saying otherwise. Sorry, you lose again. Keep screaming from the rooftops about how we need a White calendar month and how you hate Cain's tattoo though; it's all very entertaining.

Holds no power according to whom?

Something that is offending to you might be completely powerless to me . . . just like something I deem offending might not bother you at all.

I can't necessarily tell you what to be offended over . . . . only what is offending to me.

 

[panamaican]

Too many definitions of what racism is and isn't. These discussions get so confusing.

There's only one definition but too many people don't want to use it.

 

[IDL]

There's only one definition but too many people don't want to use it.

People tend to pick whatever definition suits them in the moment.

 

[StrikerKing]

I got jumped, beaten, and mugged when I was a kid by a group of black teens. I gotta say, during the beating I found myself being quite offended by statements like "beat that cracka's ass" and "fuck this honky bitch". Looking back, I guess I shouldn't have been so offended according to some of the posters here.