Did you ever read The N-Word of the Narcissus by Joseph Conrad. Neither did I. No one has read it because that is not the name of the novella. If a white person, like a New York Times science reporter, says aloud the full and correct name of Joseph Conrad’s novella, should he be disciplined? Should he be fired? Or should we examine the context in which the taboo word was used?
Ex-NYT reporter Donald McNeil writes: "I thought the context in which I used this ugly word could be defended. I now realize that it cannot. It is deeply offensive and hurtful."
No, the N-word is not inherently offensive, though many people take offense at its use. Words are not offensive. People take offence. Words are not hurtful. People feel hurt. And not all people. And not every time they hear the “offending” word.
Yes, sometimes people use words with the intention of hurting others’ feelings, but not always. Not every time, for example, that the N-word is used is it used to hurt. Watch the very funny and still timely Chris Rock video clip from 1996 or the “Nigga Please” music video from 2011.
Ah, but McNeil is white, so he’s not allowed to use the N-word. Only black people can use it. Nonsense! Nobody owns words. Yes, it’s different when a Jew tells a joke about Jews than when a Gentile does. But the idea that ONLY Jews can tell Jewish jokes or jokes in which Jews are the butt of the joke deserves to be closely and critically examined, if not rejected outright. Why? Because context matters.
As Gregory Bateson once wrote, “Without context there is no communication.” To ban all use of a particular word or all use of it by a particular segment of the population is to unduly empower that word. Saying “the N-word” instead of the forbidden “n _ _ _ _ _” expresses a reluctance to utter the profane.
Saying “Adonai” rather than pronouncing the Hebrew letters as written -- “"yud hei vav hei” – evidences a reluctance to utter the sacred. But those are personal choices. No one is punished in our society for writing or saying Jehovah or YHWH. But saying or writing the N-word can still cost you your job.