IS THE "N" WORD THE NEW "F" WORD ?

Michael Richards, the guy who played Kramer of the TV show Seinfeld took a public beating this week because he used the word "nigger." Actually he called someone a "nigger." He also exchanged a few "motherfucker[s]," with the offended and offending party, but the public and the media has ignored that term and focused on the apparently much more offensive "nigger."
But who is really offended by that word, as opposed to pretending to be offended?
The answer to those questions may depend upon your race and social status. If the media is any barometer of indignation, I'd have to guess that white people are the ones most fearful of "nigger." It is, after all, troubled by a history tied to slavery in this ocountry.... So the obvious implication is that to use the word means you support slavery and cruelty to blacks. ... But whose implication is it? Does it come from some misplaced caucasian guilt over a social policy that no one living today had any role in forming or maintaining? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe the implication is fostered by those who stand to gain from that guilt..... But maybe the term is not so much about (with apologies to the memory of Dr. King) the color of one's skin as it's about the content of one's character. Comic Chris Rock has a thought-provoking bit on this very subject

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q8LxO4wnCQ

Thirty years ago, the term "fuck" was a word one just didn't use. It was coarse and ugly and would in some cases get your ass thrown in jail if you uttered it in public. Then students and other militant leftists began using the word with such frequency that it entered the American lexicon, and has now lost virtually all of it's shock value and meaning. Fuck is rarely about sex. It's the first word out of our mouths when screw up something in a serious fashion, or when we're exasperated and frustrated and angry. It is an exclamation for everything and yet really means nothing.... And that's the impact "nigger" should have. If you are offended by this or any other racial or ethnic slur, then you need to take responsibility for that umbrage. You need to accept the fact that you are offended because you choose to be offended. And when you choose the not be offended, then you've disarmed those who choose to offend you.

SOMEONE GIVE CHARLIE A REALITY PILL

So Charlie Rangel said this weekend he supports a return to a military draft. ... He says if there was a draft and elected officials' son and daughters were equally eligible to be flung into harm's way, then elected officials might be more circumspect in committing troops to war. ... With a logic like that, I can't tell if Charlie has been taking too many drugs, or not enough. .... Charlie: let's talk for a moment, okay. Even if congress did re-enact an draft, what makes you think the children and grand children of rich and powerful people would be called up? And even if they were, what makes you think they would be sent to forward areas?.... And what, in the name of God, makes you think that a larger military force and pool of prospective inductees would make leaders less likely to toss them into a war zone.
Also, I con't help noticing that you say you want to pull troops out of Iraq..... If that's true, then why do we need more troops.... unless, you guys have other, bigger plans in another theater of operations.. ... I just don't know, Chuck.... I think you're lying to us about something......either that, or you're suffering from some type of terminal stupidity, like Ronnie Rayguns.