This dude, whose job it is to interview actors, nearly weeps on camera when challenged by Sam Jackson to say one word. They both know the word, you know the word, I know the word. But he won't say it. The word is "nigger." He doesn't want to say it even though he knows Sam Jackson has said it on camera thousands of times and asked him to say it. His lame ass defense is that the question won't make it to air if he says it, but by not saying it, the question still won't make it to air. Why not say it?

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The word "nigger," more than any other word, scares the shit out of white people. And a lot of the time it should. It's loaded like Uncle Jack over the holidays, and has a dirty history, also like Uncle Jack. But if Sam Jackson asks you to say it, in the context of a discussion about its use in a movie Sam Jackson stars in and the perceived controversy around it, is it racist? Fuck no! How can you talk about something you refuse to say? That's idiotic. Even Harry Potter knew it was OK to use Voldemort's name. Pretend it's evil and magical and you give it more power than it deserves.

Does this mean you should go to Starbucks tomorrow and belt out, "Gimme a mochaccino, nigga!"? No. God no. Because in that context, it is inappropriate. As inappropriate as following it up with "and put some cinnamon on it, bitch tits!" There's no need.

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We've become so afraid of the word "nigger" that we have to call it "the N-word," and we're starting to do it with other words, too. Like "retard." But the thing is, an offensive word is offensive in context. It can't exist in a void. You're a fool to use it as a racial epithet, as an insult directed at a real person who deserve it in no way, just like you'd be a fool to call someone with Down syndrome a retard. I'd go so far as to say a person who does that is retarded. But if you want to discuss the history of Africans in America and racism, can you not use the word? Should you be afraid of it? You can't be. It makes it the boogeyman of words. It makes it so two people, in the privacy of their own home, wince if they happen to hear it on TV. You should never let a word control you, intimidate you, or make you uncomfortable, and that applies to people of all races. Intent is where insult lies, and hate. Not in language. So fuck that shit right in the ear.