I love the logic of Matt Barnes as it really underscores the entire issue to me.
"The word I used is a word that's used on the court, used in the locker room, used amongst my friends and family; it's a regular word to me," Barnes said. "I think my mistake was using it in a social manner, which I regret and I apologize for it. But you guys have to get used to it."
"If you look at the particular way I said it, kids are seeing that through music, through their favorite artists, and probably some of their favorite movies and even on TV now," Barnes said Friday. "The word is not necessarily a racial slur. Everyone is trying to paint it like I made some kind of hate crime or something. It's a word that I guarantee you will be used out here on the court today. It's a word that I've already heard in the locker room. It's not as big a deal as people are trying to make it.
"My mistake was making it in a social manner in the platform I used it on."
"This is a new day and age, and for my generation, that's a very common word," Barnes said. "You hear it on the radio, you hear it in movies, you hear it on TV. It is what it is. It was never intended for any person on the team."
"I think the way it's said makes people cringe," Barnes said. "I think if you put an -er at the end, that makes people cringe, but if there's an -a at the end, that's like people saying 'bro.' That's just how we address people now. That's how we address our friends. That's how we talk. That's how my wife talks. That's how my family talks. People talk that way now. I think if you put the -er on it, it's offensive, and if you have an -a on it, it's more slang."
"Emotion takes over, and you do and say things that you don't mean," Barnes said. "I realized the particular word I used was probably going to be blown out of proportion. I got a text from my agent and a text from couple of other people saying you need to take that down, and I was already in the process of doing that.
"That was my biggest mistake. It was all out of emotion and frustration and out of the fact that Serge has history with this team. We don't like him, and he doesn't like us. I should never have pushed him, but the fact that I pushed him doesn't warrant an ejection. If Chris [Paul] would have pushed him, would that have been an ejection? If [Kevin Durant] had pushed him, would that have been an ejection? You could answer that yourselves."
http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/stor ... et-used-it
Well, I think there is a large group of people in Idaho, So. Oregon etc who would tell you to just "get used" to their White Supremacist culture using the N'er word the same way Rachel Jeantel and others use "Cracker" to describe white people and feel its usage is justified due to their "culture."
I can just imagine Matt Barnes 100 years ago commenting on Jim Crow laws by telling others to "get used to it."
Frankly whenever I hear people use the word, I'm reminded of the end of the always funny "The F-Word" audio bit explaining the versatility of the word.
I'm sure you can think of many more examples.
With all these multi-purpose applications, how can anyone be offended when you use the word. We say use this unique, flexible word more often in your daily speech.
It will identify the quality of your character immediately.
Say it loudly and proudly: F' YOU!