An open letter to Skinner (POSTED IN THE AFRICAN AMERICAN FORUM)

[Android3.14]

169. What color am I, are you, is anyone on the internet

I tend to agree with your rule of thumb, but for online forums, we have sockpuppets galore, with a great many being people pretending to be non-white, trans, member of different religions, disabled, etc. Is it okay for a white person pretending to be black to use the N-word?

And it still side-slips the question of whether it is okay to quote the use of the N-word. As a poster upthread showed, the context is important, but I also noted that appropriate context is a subjective judgment call.

Personally, I am a near-absolutist when it comes to freedom of speech. I think a person has the right to pretty much say whatever they want, offensive or otherwise, and the responsibility to face the consequences of saying it, except for going to jail. I choose not to use the N-word in order to be polite, avoid appearance as a racist and continue engaging in discussion.

It's kind of like refraining to defecate in the subway.

let's take the subway analogy even further, 1SBM's mistake was discovering someone had defecated in his subway car and then tossing the excrement in the next car and saying, "It is just awful that someone left their crap in my subway." Then he became upset when people in that second car said, "Get that poop out of here."

Now we are all in a third subway car dealing with the same stupid shit.