The Ethical Tightrope: Degrading Remarks

As I walk around every day, I hear and see hateful actions and derogatory remarks everywhere. Affection for our fellow man is a rarity in American society in our common day and age. One thing in particular that struck me was the use of derogatory remarks as greetings. I will not type these words but I'm sure you readers know them well.

I walked into school and, not 10 minutes later, heard a group of Caucasian friends refer to each other as "my n***a." A little time after that I heard a pair of Black males refer to each other with the same term, and it occurred to me that what once was a hateful remark, one that was looked upon with disgust and only favored by Jim Crow believers, is being used freely as a greeting.

I asked a few of my classmates (Hispanics, Italians, Blacks and Pacific Islanders among them) and they all said, in one way or another, that the word doesn't have the same meaning as it once did. Is that really so? If I, a white male, walked up to a black male and said "my n***a" in greeting, no one will find it to be hateful? I highly doubt it.

Why do Americans put emphasis on the deeds of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., or Malcolm X., if they are going to trample on the things these people either died or suffered to protect? I believe that some soul searching is in order. I think that if society continues this decline, our future greeting is going to be a punch in the face and America will be an ugly place with no teeth.

Everyone is well aware of the term "foul language," but these words are, bit by bit, becoming a part of standard English. This is very sad and a little unnerving, because I believe this new trend in linguistics has no bright side and definitely has no beneficial application to our society. What would your employer think if you walked in the office screaming out curse words? He most likely will give you a termination slip and say goodbye. I bring this illustration up because it seems that this language epidemic has permeated every inch of casual and formal society. Do we want our society to be known as uneducated and slanderous in all aspects of life? I sincerely hope not.