Major drama on MBTIc discussing the "N" word

[Lateralus]

And I freely admit that I don't like those who look down upon poor whites.

Well, first of all, your definition of redneck is incorrect. At least that's not what I consider to be a redneck. So we're probably having a semantic argument here. I grew up relatively poor and my family is white, but we were anything but rednecks. We had no cars on blocks in our front yard. We didn't pronounce the word 'wash' as 'warsh'. And so on.

Back when I was in college, I once had to deliver a pizza to a redneck's house. He had a big confederate flag in the front window. When I got to the front door, it was open and there was a guy sitting on the couch with a shotgun. That was the only time I was ever actually afraid when I delivered a pizza.

I also worked at Radio Shack for a while when I was in college. One day, this guy comes in and asks "Yall gots sum war?". After asking him to repeat himself a couple times, I realized he was asking if we sold wire. Later, he asked "Yall gots puters?". He was asking about computers.

A similar argument could be used to justify the N-word, as Chris Rock himself has demonstrated. So nice try at hair-splitting.

Huh? Did I ever say Chris Rock shouldn't use the N-word?

[Sniffles]

Not all poor whites are rednecks. Redneck is more a way of expression.

The term often is used to refer to poor whites, particularly those in the South and other rural areas.

All in all, I don't give a shit if people use the word.

[Sniffles]

Huh? Did I ever say Chris Rock couldn't use the N-word?

Chris Rock made a famous rant about how there's good Blacks and there's niggers. Long story short: good Blacks try to make something of themselves, Niggers are social losers who give Black people a bad name.

[heart]

The term often is used to refer to poor whites, particularly those in the South and other rural areas.

I grew up in Texas and there were plenty of "rednecks" who were well into the middle class. Cars littering their lawn don't come cheap! Mullets, sleevless flannel shirts, spitting chewing tobacco all over the place and bathtub booze. That's what comes to my mind.

[Sniffles]

I grew up in Texas and there were plenty of "rednecks" who were well into the middle class.

Well that's Texas. The common stereotype is that of poor rural whites.

[heart]

Well that's Texas. The common stereotype is that of poor rural whites.

I think its the same in the South. It's a lifestyle choice. I can look out my apartment window here and see a family of rednecks living in a house that has to be valued at $350,000! They have a rooster in the yard that crows 24/7 and five pick-up trucks in the drive way. I have seen their muttets and their kids with their dirt rings. They have the loudest parties!

[Ivy]

Please demonstrate this, rather than just merely claim it's a fact.

Gosh, where do I begin?

1) Redneck is not typically used to refer to all white people, while the N word is often used to refer to all black people.

2) People who are referred to as rednecks aren't in large part the descendants of slaves. They are primarily the descendants of people who came to the US by choice.

3) It's conceivable that someone who isn't a poor white could use the word in some contexts and offend no one.

4) I'm tired of typing.

[Sniffles]

I think its the same in the South. It's a lifestyle choice.

Considering that class distinctions are blurry within American society; we're both right.

[Lateralus]

I grew up in Texas and there were plenty of "rednecks" who were well into the middle class. Cars littering their lawn don't come cheap! Mullets, sleevless flannel shirts, spitting chewing tobacco all over the place and bathtub booze. That's what comes to my mind.

Sleeveless flannel shirts. I prefer the overalls with no shirt look, myself.

[Orangey]

Perhaps we should clarify that "white privilege" only exists for a small portion of the white population. Need we forget that nearly half the people living in poverty in America are white.

I know, but the standpoint theories don't discriminate in terms of socioeconomic status. They maintain that (1) white people are privileged in society, (2) black people are not privileged, (3) white people as a group have it in their interests to retain this power structure, therefore (4) this interest will be subconsciously manifested by white people even if they claim to not be racists. This is why it is so much more unconscionable for any given white person to say the N-word than it is for any black person because it supposedly serves their ideological interests to denigrate anything associated with "black". It associates power with race.

I don't agree with this at all for the reasons you mentioned and more.