The "N-word."

Michael Richards did it. He said “nigger”. We all saw the incident so there’s no need to describe it. Is Richards, the man who made Kramer an American icon, a racist, or was he venting out his frustration and anger at what seemed to be disrespectful audience members? I don’t know, people can sink to low levels to offend individuals when in fact that is not how they act in their daily lives, and how they feel about people from that “group”.

What I do know – or at least think I know – is that racism is an extremely complex subject, in which no one has an absolute answer or solution.

Let me pose a couple of questions: How can you universalize the treatment and relations between human beings when they are inherently different? Also, if there really is such a thing as political correctness can you, and should you, strive for it?

I will admit, I wasn’t exactly shocked by Richards’ use of the word “nigger”; I was shocked by his anger. It truly makes me think on why I should be shocked by him saying “nigger” when in the room next to mine someone is playing a rap song in which a black man has probably repeated it 20 times.

Ok, maybe it’s “nigga”. Big difference.

I don’t fully understand why some black people use the term if they are so offended by it. Perhaps they are trying to appropriate the word so that it loses its effectiveness in offending and becomes a friendly term. At least that’s the idea I get when I hear someone go, “Wassup nigga.” But if that’s the goal they shouldn’t act offended by its usage in the first place. Also, there’s such a spectra of opinions regarding the usage of the term in the black community that there’s no way to universalize its meaning between blacks.

So we are stuck with relativism, not only cultural relativism but also individual relativism.

The people Richards called “niggers” are suing him. There is something wrong with that. What Richards did was offensive, and those people have the right to be offended - if that happened to me I would never go to his show again - but to sue him? Like it or not Richard has the right to freedom of speech. Also, I don’t believe the people he offended have the moral high ground to sue him when they replied by calling him a “cracker-ass” and a “fucking white boy”, both with pejorative connotations to them.

More importantly, we need to have a good look at our society before we crucify Richards. Wasn’t the mistreatment of the Qu’ran by some members of the U.S. military a form of bigotry? But how many people were truly shocked by that? Calling someone a “nigger” and disrespecting what for many is a sacred book has a similar effect: they both attack what those groups consider the fabric of their own identity. So why tolerate one and not the other? Furthermore, aren’t racial profiling, the migration of white people to suburban areas because of the black population in urban areas – which leads to de facto segregation - and the idea of American exceptionalism all forms of discrimination and intolerance?

I believe that in one way or another we all have prejudice. How many times have you caught yourself saying, “That’s so gay,” when referring to something you are not comfortable with? How about, “He’s such a Jew,” or, “That’s retarded,” or, “Quit being a nigger.” And how many times have you read generalizing comments about “frats,” or “GDIs” in the Free for All? Don’t those manifest one form or another of imbedded prejudice? And, can you honestly claim you never said something similar?

Humans operate in groups, and groups automatically generate labels that in turn lead to prejudices. As I said, it’s in human nature to have prejudices, but I do believe it’s something we should fight against. But I also believe that there are many more dangerous forms of discrimination that we should be worrying about than an anger outburst by a comedian. Just have a look at our prisons, or our Congress.