On Michael Nugent's blog, Blueshift Rhino said:
As much as I do not wish to encourage this, I must say that I see Steersman’s point and anyone arguing that “cunt†is OK at least some of the time, but that “nigger†is never OK, is in serious need of either a new irony/hypocrisy meter or a much better explanation of how these two words are qualitatively different.
To the extent that this is vaguely related to the offensiveness of “Cream Crackers,†carry on. But keep in mind that – to me, at least – all you are doing is carrying on.
Leaving aside for a moment Steerman's obsessions, I think this is a discussion we should have. I hope Steerman's joins it here, rather than keep derailing the thread at Chez Nugent.
I disagree with Blueshift Rhino because "cunt" can be used as an insult against anyone. Actually, I believe it is most commonly directed against men, It bears no relationship to sex: when someone is called a "cunt", we know it is not equivalent to calling that person a "vagina", and its offensive content does not hinge on any genetically or epigenetically determined characteristic. I also believe that the choice of a vulgar synonym of "vagina" is largely accidental; as I've said somewhere else, in Italian sexually-related insults involve the male genitalia: "coglione" (bollock; dolt), "cazzo" (prick; generic exclamation) and "minchia" (prick; generic exclamation), whereas female genitalia are associated with positive ideas: "figa, fica, figo, fico" (cunt; nice, beautiful, excellent).
"Nigger", on the other hand, can only be used against black people, and suggests that the genetically determined melanine content of the skin is correlated with undesirable intellectual, moral and characterial traits.
Steerman has argued that words such as "nigger" can be used in a non-racist way when directed at an individual. His argument hinges on the premise that, at least in some cases, generic judgements largely regarded as prejudices might actually be valid. Thus, the Irish travellers might actually possess the characteristics assigned to them by the connotations of the derogatory term "knackers." When calling one person of that community a "knacker", we might be using the word as shorthand for "you are behaving in exactly as expected by current prejudice, and in so doing you are harming yourself."
Though I can understand Steerman's reasoning, I doubt his theoretical point can ever be translated into practice. Some words have become so toxic as to preclude any rational discussion, and are best avoided altogether.
