Let's be honest for a second. Name calling is antiquated, and it should be a pretty hard and fast guideline that we treat others with respect. However, every single person here that thinks that whites should take it, but also saying that minorities can't is saying something about their outlook on those particular races: Whites are strong enough to deal with names, but other races aren't.

When I was growing up, most of my black friends could handle that word just fine. I used to walk out onto the basketball court and shout, "You N-word (hard r... how ridiculous that I have to type it that way), need to get off MY court," in my worst southern accent. They would laugh. There'd be some back and forth about me being a cracker. Some would even jokingly respond in a "slave" voice. The thing that was obvious to everyone there was that I was playing around. I meant no disrespect. Even guys who didn't know me picked up really quickly that I was cool with everyone there. I have never once used that word as a genuine insult. Intent used to matter.

That said, anyone who's hung out with black folks wouldn't even flinch at what Eric Adams said. I don't think he was being derogatory. I just get annoyed because the expectations are different, and people can't tell it's because of an innate bias whites have about their own superiority.

Truth-be-told gets passed around in republican circles for the same reason that January 6th gets passed around in progressive circles: It's a rhetorical power grab.

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