Are you offended by racial slurs or other types of name-calling?

Not at all. People are way too touchy about being “PC” 24/7.

I really never have been. Any slurs or whatever people use against white people (I’m caucasian) have never really offended me.

My theory for this is that I don’t have an extremely close tie with any particular culture. (I’m part German, part Swedish, part Italian, etc). When people insult whites as a whole I don’t really feel offended. I don’t really notice a strong cultural cohesion amongst mixed blood white people.

If I was Italian and someone went off on Italians, I’m sure I would take offense to that but when people insult whites as a whole it doesn’t really bother me.

I notice that people who have a strong tie with their race/culture take great offense to a slur against that race/culture.

The problem I have is not usually what the slur is aimed at, i.e. wether I feel like a dumb ass because someone called me one, but the reason and mentality behind the calling and the example it sets for others including my kids.

People are shouting those things to elicit a response because they believe something. If they feel they are not being heard, they will kick it up a notch, in my opinion.

I also feel that sometimes, hell yeah there is a reason to be offended. There are some evil heartless assholes out there who know exactly what they are doing when they call you names. But those are EXACTLY the ones you have to ignore and not let get to you.

No and I will tell you why. While people are doing the calling my son is studying computer science. While people are doing the calling my youngest daughter is reading Socrates and Plato. While people are doing the calling my oldest daughter is saving up enough money to go to Africa with our church group in the summer. People will always have things to say but we have things to do.

Wow. You guys ^^^^ are so rational. I haven’t ever been able to block a feeling of
hurt and outrage when people go off on, not just me, but the group they see me as
representing. The intention behind that: designed to injure,
not to resolve anything. So, fine: I don’t have to make any corrections.
But it DOES injure. It DOES.

Yes, I am. The comments are pretty much never directed at me, but as a member of the human race I am offended that we as a whole have not come far enough to stop picking on and trying to hurt each other in such a stupid way.

yes, i am. and im a white girl!

this past week a Klan member protested (in full garb) in the streets of the town where i go to college. i was so hurt and so disappointed that someone would put that kind of pressure on such a great community. not only do i now fear for my colored friends, but for myself! this man was armed and possessed the proper paperwork to keep him legal. there was nothing the cops could do. it wasn’t concealed and he was within his rights as an American.

please pray for our country.

being white, I have not been subjected to racial slurs, but I am very offended when they are used by other people about other people.
I have been hurt by words, so I am careful about what I say to other people.

Isn’t acceptance of inappropriate verbal slurs the same as acceptance of bullying.

If I walked by a child pushing a child down and kicking him I would sure as hell stop it.

If I walked by a child being called a “n*gger lover” by some white school kids because he had black friends.

Women can find shelter from the the verbal and emotional abuse of their spouses. This is because real damage can be done.

As a caucasian, I really haven’t been the recipient of slurs or jokes for that matter but when people use vulgar terms to describe others, I find it offensive, immature and unnecessary myself.

I understand that they’re only words but just hearing them and knowing the hurtful message they can send can be very mean-spirited and hateful.

There have been occasions where people did talk like this in my presence and I didn’t hesitate to voice my displeasure about their tasteless vocabularies or a complete lack of one in some instances.

I have been slurred for being a woman, for being white, for having a pretty good education, for being an American, and for being fat. I’m not that fat.

Interesting that some of us feel that whiteness
protects us from racial slurs. Like we’re immune. Ha.

Any intolerance for another human being really pisses me off. And that’s the rub right? Intolerance for the intolerant? Anyway, I have no patience for it. I’m white and I grew up in the projects where I was physically harrassed for being white. When my family moved us to PA it was the complete opposite. In fact, if you Wikipedia Hazleton, PA you’ll find that it’s one of the most racially intolerant cities in the U.S.

Long story short, despite everything I’ve been through I have maintained my belief that all people are created as equals.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

@ galicia – great answer

Of course i am pissed off. I am a chinese living in UK for quite some time now. Whenever i walk alone down street going back from work, I was disturbed by some local kids. It doesnt happen often but i feel this sort of attitude is terrible. No matter how rational one’s thoughts are or no matter what people advices are, any person would get offended to a certain extend. Racial slur means bullying !

I find it offensive, but then I consider the source and instead of getting angry, I pity the offending person for being so ignorant.

I am. I don’t like being lumped in with the racist jerks simply because I am the same colour as the jerks.

I am as white as they come…pasty even. I grew up in a very mixed area in the 80s. At that time racists were more vocal and public. One of my first boyfriends was black, and we suffered quite a bit for it. I was called a “nigger lover” and “whore”, and in addition to being called a “nigger”, he got his ass kicked for having the nerve to date a white girl. My grandfather (a real good old boy) barely spoke to me for a while. So yeah, it pisses me off beyond belief. Every time my g’father said “nigger” in my presence, I angrily called him on it. These days my reaction is less angry, and more chiding and disappointed. Inside though, I am still super pissed!

It’s all about the motivation and intent behind the name-calling. If it’s done in a friendly spirit, it’s not offensive. In fact, I’ve heard people use very PC terms that have infuriated me because you pickup on the ignorance behind their statements and blunt, very-non-PC terms used that just made me laugh (I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I did have some fun times with the German team I once managed…).

Words are words – it’s the thought behind them that matters.

I’ve seen the affect “just a name” can have on a person. I try not to let it get to me, but I have seen many of my friends for being called some ignorant racial slur. It really depends on the context and meaning behind it. I joke around a lot because my son is half Mexican so I have all sorts of fun names for him. He’s my “beaner baby”. My best friend is half black and I crack jokes on her a lot, but I don’t mean anything mean in either of these situations. (Although I never feel comfortable dropping the N bomb even when joking… I think that’s just because of my upbringing. My parent’s wouldn’t allow such talk.) I think words can be very hurtful. I moved to Texas from Florida and I after living here for 6 years, I am still not used to hearing the “n word” used so frequently. A lot of it is a culture thing too. In the town I was raised you would get shot for dropping racial slurs, here in podunk Texas it’s just like saying any other word. I hate it. But that’s just me.

@augustlan- Yeah my friends in Texas have had to learn not to say that around me. They get it up one side and down the other if they slip.

In my experience, any time someone resorts to name calling it is because they are expressing their own feelings of inferiority or inability to express their own position properly.