The N-Word and the K-Word

Please note: this is an OPINION piece and this is my humble opinion. I am sick to death of the Media glamorizing certain words or actions to reap online clicks or paper sales. I read an article yesterday – the person in the limelight is a well known and much loved celeb. After an altercation he in now without work and "shamed" it's utter rubbish! Politicians say the most awful racist things constantly and nothing is done. One word said in anger makes a half page highlight. It's not right.

   
It amazes me that in our modern age we are not really concerned with things like over-sexualized television content during "family hour" and teenage promiscuity, drug use, child trafficking, corrupt politicians and gang violence – hell, it hardly makes "news" anymore. But if someone 'non-black' in the USA says the N-word (despite the fact that most young trendy African Americans use it in their every day conversations, and have no real history, hurt or resentment linked to it at all see: www.lamebook.com) then it is a MAJOR news story with the 'culprit' head in hands – ashamed and remorseful and begging forgiveness.  

In South Africa there is the K-word.

It is an ugly word.

I get it.

It is as offensive to Black people as "Kill the Boer" sung by Julius Malema, and "Mshini wam" (bring me my machine gun) by President Jacob Zuma, are to Whites.
  

I am the product of an abusive home situation and I was sworn at violently every day till I was 13. That doesn't mean that every time I hear a swear word I have a melt down. They are just words to me. The sentiment behind the words has more effect on me than the *actual* word itself.

If a nasty word is said in drunkenness or in anger – it really doesn't get any deeper than that – it's carelessness. No need to "go deep" and try to "figure out why I said it" – you had a beer or two, it affects your tongue. Have you all read the statistics about how your mental capacity is affected by alcohol?

"The cerebral cortex and alcohol

The cerebral cortex processes information from your senses, processes thoughts, initiates the majority of voluntary muscle movements and has some control over lower-order brain centres. In the cerebral cortex, alcohol can:

• Affect thought processes, leading to potentially poor judgement.
• Depresses inhibition, leading one to become more talkative and more confident.
• Blunts the senses and increases the threshold for pain."

http://www.bloodalcohol.info/how-alcohol-affects-the-brain.php

Case in point:

A South African celebrity who has worked incredibly hard to entertain us for over 20 years has now "fallen from grace"

Picture the scene:

Some men are drinking at a team build, they are known for enjoying a few too many beers. The one guy owes the other guy a lot of money, has not paid back a cent. Mr Borrower has recently bought a car and a house despite owing money to Mr Money Lender. Mr Borrower is now harassing the tipsy Mr Money Lender and pretending that they are bosom buddies (Mr ML is famous – who wouldn't?) After a repeated harassment and altercation, the money lender is so enraged that he spits out the worst insult that he can think of: the K-word.

And boy oh boy does it cause a ruckus.

Mr Money Lender quits his job/s and sits in his home in shame. The nation looks on in mock horror as verbalised tut-tut's ring out.

Not really.

The average man-on-the-street has more to worry about than the K-word. The man on the street is trying to survive, trying to earn a living. This was a private spat that was dragged into the media because of one word. If Mr Money Lender had said "F---off stupid twat!" we wouldn't be hearing about it now would we. (?)

My husband posted something online last night:

"It takes just one act of stupidity to destroy ninety nine good deeds"

And this is true here, I think.  

We can take three lessons from this situation:

1. Stop drinking so much.

2. Don't lend money to anyone.

3. Think of a new insult to throw.

 

Now, this poor Mr Money Lender is supposedly broken hearted and spending time deep in thought as to WHY he called out this god-awful word… While Mr Borrower STILL owes him a lot of money and is now hanging onto the sympathy vote so that he doesn't have to repay Mr ML.

I think that this world is SERIOUSLY skewed.

Children are exposed to violence, sexually explicit material, women are abused every day, men are treated badly by the mothers of their children… there is SO much wrong going on and no one gives a rats… but say those two magical words K- and F- and voila! Media presence! Ratings go up! The shame! Front page news! Vilification! *sigh*

How do YOU feel about these two words? I don't want a History lesson – we know where they come from and the ugliness that went with them – I want to know NOW – are YOU affected by these words? Are they just being glamorized by the media? Do they truly make the user into a vile monster? or just someone who didn't think before they spoke…

   

Sandy Bigara