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Nimzovik
Guest
Must this be accepted? Methinks not.
Why is it not considered racist when an African-American calls a Caucasian-American a "cracker"?
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Indyann
Guest
Anyone who lives or has lived anywhere near Sanford, Fl, definitely knows exactly what being called a “cracker” means. Every bit as offensive as the “n” word.
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trishmar
Guest
-]I work in Harlem NY I am white. One day while I was driving home I was staring off into space a light on 124 Street. A black women leaning against the building said to me " what you looking at cracker" That is a racist statement. I was told by several black friends that it refered to the straw boss in the days of slavery who used a whip to keep slaves working. Make no mistate there is plenty of racism in the black community.-]-]/-]/-]/-]
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on_the_hill
Guest
It probably depends on who is using it and why.
In my experience, some of these words fall by the wayside. Honkey, for example. Which probably started out as Hunky, Mill Hunk. I’ve heard it as Bo-Hunk, too, used for Eastern European immigrant mill workers. Or Pollock/Pollack (sp?). The only one that actually bothered me was “fish eater.” I live in a majority Protestant area, and I heard people used to refer to Catholics as fish eaters, as a pejorative.
It’s almost always contextual, isn’t it? I call you a “smiley face,” and mean it derisively, insultingly, and when you hear me call you a “smiley face” you take it in the spirit in which it was meant.
Tangentially, a coworker told me about the word “trifling.” As in, a trifle. Trivial. Frivolous. In her kids’ school, the word trifle had come to mean an insult, because it had been frequently appended to true insults. As in, “You trifling b…” Or “You trifling w…” To the point that kids were getting in trouble for using the word trifle by itself. My coworker, a product of that same failed school system, didn’t know herself that trifle is/was a real word that wasn’t obscene.
Sorry. I ramble.
In my experience, some of these words fall by the wayside. Honkey, for example. Which probably started out as Hunky, Mill Hunk. I’ve heard it as Bo-Hunk, too, used for Eastern European immigrant mill workers. Or Pollock/Pollack (sp?). The only one that actually bothered me was “fish eater.” I live in a majority Protestant area, and I heard people used to refer to Catholics as fish eaters, as a pejorative.
It’s almost always contextual, isn’t it? I call you a “smiley face,” and mean it derisively, insultingly, and when you hear me call you a “smiley face” you take it in the spirit in which it was meant.
Tangentially, a coworker told me about the word “trifling.” As in, a trifle. Trivial. Frivolous. In her kids’ school, the word trifle had come to mean an insult, because it had been frequently appended to true insults. As in, “You trifling b…” Or “You trifling w…” To the point that kids were getting in trouble for using the word trifle by itself. My coworker, a product of that same failed school system, didn’t know herself that trifle is/was a real word that wasn’t obscene.
Sorry. I ramble.
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ThinkingSapien
Guest
There’s a recently publish book (with a potentially offensive title) that is about the evolution and origins of offensive words, including racial slurs, that some may find interesting if the title doesn’t scare them off. If you are not easily offended you can find the book on Amazon here.
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john78
Guest
next you are going to tell me that the tooth fairy , WWE Wrestling, easter bunny, peter pan, bigfoot, Fox News, and MSNBC are not real either I suppose. ?
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john78
Guest
next time instead of blowing a remark into a paragraph of a response, how about trying to understand what I said first before you go off on a rant to twist it into something it is not. Then take a few deep breaths, re read it, and then try to make a comment to what I remarked about.Ok… I will make an attempt at this.
So help me out. You think that a person (presumably* not* black) that is married to black person, has a bi racial child and has black friends is still a racist?
And this literally “…it literally cracks me up…” (?)
I will grant you, that a person may still have enculturation that may dispose one to classical stereotypical thinking, despite being married to person of a different race.
However I would simply not equate it to ‘racist behavior.’ To have stereotypical, prejudicial features in one’s thinking is no ‘moral equivalency’ to actually being a Racist.
Let us be clear just what a true Racist is.
IMHO, a Racist is one that willfully desires harm for the target race. A Racist is one that would never even consider having a ‘friend,’ let alone marry a member of the target race. A true racist would indeed entertain the idea of genocide. Examples being the Ku Klux Klan, The New Black Panther Party, Louis Farrakhan et. al.
**That **is true ‘Racist Behavior.’
To refer to a person that is married to a member of another race as having ‘Racist Behavior’ is to only cheapen, minimize and devalue the full,ugly meaning of the word - Racist.
If you can still not understand what I stated as not being derogatory that is your problem, not mine.
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KendraDZ1902
Guest
You brought it up as if it had a lot of meaning. It doesn’t. Those fools on Jerry Springer are told what to say. That is like calling an actor racist because his character is.
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Hypnotoad
Guest
I only take offence to people that call me a cracker simply because they don’t take the time to assign me a brand of cracker. I prefer to be thought of as a Wheat Thin or a Ritz but this is my pride kicking in. I’m really just a Saltine and at times a Cheez-It. 
Best part about racist slurs is if you don’t take offence to them, they lose their power.
Best part about racist slurs is if you don’t take offence to them, they lose their power.
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KendraDZ1902
Guest
Does the brand of cracker correlate with skin tone?I only take offence to people that call me a cracker simply because they don’t take the time to assign me a brand of cracker. I prefer to be thought of as a Wheat Thin or a Ritz but this is my pride kicking in. I’m really just a Saltine and at times a Cheez-It.
Best part about racist slurs is if you don’t take offence to them, they lose their power.
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Hypnotoad
Guest
One of them has to do with tanning too muchDoes the brand of cracker correlate with skin tone?
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on_the_hill
Guest
I like graham crackers.One of them has to do with tanning too much
In a particular coal mining region in the state in which I reside, cracker could be short for coal cracker, slang for a process of coal mining, and the people who hail from there affectionately refer to themselves as coal crackers. In other words, within that context, cracker would be an honorific.
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Nimzovik
Guest
Bolding Mine
Interesting. A rant eh? Silly me. And here I was thinking I was just trying to elucidate a talking point.
Derogatory?. Interesting again. The word ‘derogatory’ did not enter my thinking at the time either.
However, that said, did you understand the actual point I was endeavoring to make?
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Nimzovik
Guest
Yep… The title scared** me** off…
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Nimzovik
Guest
Indeed. Quite correct.
I used to try to live by the motto ‘There can be no insult given, if there is no insult taken.’
However I do believe that social issues being what they are* now,* and seeing the how the media and attendant race baiters are** feasting** on a disconcerting issue such as the Zimmerman trial, where in IMHO, the legal process is hampered and no doubt influenced by the zealots of the race baiting* industry,* perhaps also even the government:bigyikes: (see my above posts), and the media, it has induced me to reconsider the validity of my approach.
The time has come to actively stand for my civil liberties not only as a Caucasian, but a Catholic as well.
For it is rapidly becoming undeniably apparent, IMHO, under the Obama administration, that both are under siege.
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