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Interesting thing that popped up in a conversation with Sarah and Dylan. When I grew up I never heard Nigger used in a derogatory manner. Quite to the contrary I only heard it used in a very positive, inclusionary manner. I don't want to get into a whole discussion about anything inclusionary is necesarily exclusionary, but my point is that regardless I've always known that it was a very powerful epithet. I knew this only because I was told by my parents, or the media, or Mark Twain, etc and so it was an academic point in my mind that it was an incredibly charged little phoneme.

As a result I haven't any sort of issue, personally, using the word in a joking manner, or hearing anyone else use it, it is just not wired to the section of my brain that cringes at curse words. Through the power of empathy and self-preservation I found that I cannot ever use it regardless of my feelings toward it. But my reasons for not using it are similar to my reasons for putting down the toilet seat: I know it bothers you so and really it means nothing to me so I just don't bother.

Flip side of the coin: "Faggot". I heard it used all the time in a negative way, and even typing it takes some effort on my part.

There was a comedian that discussed making a snack called "Niggers". It was a funny point, but it seems suddenly salient. Really, all you have to do is flood the media with positive uses of, ahem, that word and the negative ones will fade into the background.

This is what most minorities do when they adapt their respective epithets. Rappers and, if you will, dave chapelle constantly use "Nigger". Gay dudes will jokingly call each other "Fag" and I can't tell you how many times my dad called me "pinche mojado" affectionately.

It doesn't quite work because the minorities won't allow other people to use their epithets, even when used in the exact same fashion. Pity. It seems like only when we have a free flowing exchange of glad-tidings combined with racial slurs will we truly reach togetherness.

We're getting there I suppose. It'll take forever to diffuse some slurs, but the majority of them are being freed.

I guess you can consider slurs an equivalance function on a set. To make the set "whole" you need to make each of these functions include all members. =-D

MM...blathering, I need to code.