The N word in Literature

[Zero_Vault]

This is where I draw the line.

Stephen King is great, but he's a racist in my eyes.

Anyone who writes this words harbor racists, stereotypical, ethnocentric thoughts.

No one should be allowed to write this word--and passed off as literature.

 

[Chuck]

Nugget?

 

[AndThePickles]

If it's culturally applicable, I don't see how it's racist. Say you have a character who is a racist and they use the term. How does that make the AUTHOR racist?

 

[Franklin Richards]

So Huckleberry Finn isn't literature?

And what if you're writing a story about racists? Are we to believe that they don't say that word?

 

[Tanin]

I guess I can't like Mark Twain anymore

 

[Chuck]

I still wanna know where I can get this Stephen King novel about nuggets....

 

[Gilpesh]

I like how Zero_Vault has grouped together everyone who uses the word...

 

[Eggyman]

King isn't racist. Or he may be. Bottom line: Just because he uses the word does not make him racist; it makes the character he's flavouring his prose with racist.

 

[The Lizard]

This is where I draw the line.

Stephen King is great, but he's a racist in my eyes.

Anyone who writes this words harbor racists, stereotypical, ethnocentric thoughts.

No one should be allowed to write this word--and passed off as literature.

Nah, it's not the N-word that makes me question Stephen King's mindset as much as the pointless random shock-stuff he throws into his stories, like the twelve-year old kids having a gang-bang in It. Of course, I don't consider King's works "literature" anyway.

And how about Quentin Tarantino, who wrote himself into Pulp Fiction as a character who says "n***er" to Samuel L. Jackson's face about 20 times?

 

[Immortalfire]

I guess I can't like Mark Twain anymore

 

[odiin]

Nah, it's not the N-word that makes me question Stephen King's mindset as much as the pointless random shock-stuff he throws into his stories, like the twelve-year old kids having a gang-bang in It. Of course, I don't consider King's works "literature" anyway.

And how about Quentin Tarantino, who wrote himself into Pulp Fiction as a character who says "n***er" to Samuel L. Jackson's face about 20 times?

I always thought it was silly how some people got offended by that. This a movie that, like most Tarintino movies, has tons of bloody violence and characters who cuss every other word. Of course it's offensive, that's sort of the whole point! How can you say "I was fine with Ving Rhames getting raped in the ass, but once they started throwing around the "N" word, they just crossed the line!" The whole damn movie crossed the line, that's part of what made it so enjoyable! People enjoy vulgar entertainment. Using that word doesn't make Tarintino racist. Hating black people is what makes someone racist. That's a distinction I'm shocked people don't seem to be able to make.

 

[wiegeabo]

I always thought it was silly how some people got offended by that. This a movie that, like most Tarintino movies, has tons of bloody violence and characters who cuss every other word. Of course it's offensive, that's sort of the whole point! How can you say "I was fine with Ving Rhames getting raped in the ass, but once they started throwing around the "N" word, they just crossed the line!" The whole damn movie crossed the line, that's part of what made it so enjoyable! People enjoy vulgar entertainment. Using that word doesn't make Tarintino racist. Hating black people is what makes someone racist. That's a distinction I'm shocked people don't seem to be able to make.

I agree.

I think George Carlin said it best. "There are no bad words. There's bad thoughts. Bad intentions. And words." Words are neither good or bad, it's how they're used that's important.

 

[amazingfantasy15]

This is where I draw the line.

Stephen King is great, but he's a racist in my eyes.

Anyone who writes this words harbor racists, stereotypical, ethnocentric thoughts.

No one should be allowed to write this word--and passed off as literature.

This is a very broad sweeping generalization. What if an author was writing a story about a group of black kids in the inner city, looking for authenticity, he has them using the N word. Now this book is written to show the plight of inner city black kids and got many people to think and want to change things. Does that make the author a racist? Or someone using his gift as a writer to be a political activist? Well, he used the N word in the book, so he's a racist, doesn't matter if the book got some people to make some changes for the positive he's a racist.

 

[blackcobra]

Stephen King backing Barack Obama

Published: Jan. 19, 2008 at 8:55 PM
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SARASOTA, Fla., Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Horror story writer Stephen King is throwing his support to Barack Obama, saying having a black U.S. president is what the country needs.

King told the Bangor (Maine) Daily News the United States needs "a big change."

"We've had enough Bush Republicanism to last the country for a long time," he said. "We're seeing a lot of chickens come home to roost because of Bush administration policies. You can't pump billions of dollars into a foreign war without it affecting the economy."

King, 60, said he found it "an amazing thing" to see the two front-runners be a woman and a black man, the Daily News reported Saturday. But, King said, he prefers Obama, the senator from Illinois, over Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

"Obama has the least baggage of the two and is willing to try new things," he said. "It wouldn't be business as usual. Also it would do wonders for us in the world community to have a black man in the White House."

King's new novel, "Duma Key," is to hit bookstores Tuesday. It's the story of a construction worker who suffers the loss of his arm and memory after almost being killed by a crane at work.

© 2008 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Entertainment/2008/01/19/stephen_king_backing_barack_obama/9954/

/case closed

 

[terry78]

I'm not sure what you're getting at here. I have read Tom Clancy books where he's had characters use the word, but usually they weren't exactly likeable and got a comeuppance at some point. Using the word in entertainment isn't a sin, as there are many that do use it, whether in public or private. If it's done with malicious intent or just in a "wah wah, I wanna say it because my black coworker can" way, then no.

 

[odiin]

Honestly, I'm a lot less offended by the use of the "N" word in popular entertainment than I am by how freely people seem to throw around the word "Racist."

 

[Eggyman]

I'm just blown away by the thread maker. King may write a character using the 'N' word, but that doesn't make him racist. King also writes about killers, but it doesn't make him a killer.

Fictional character. FICtional characters. [/Holden]

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

This board seems very fixed on the subject of black people.

 

[terry78]

This board seems very fixed on the subject of black people.

We're taking over, fool.

When Barack becomes prez, all our money is going to read, "In Jeezy we trust, what what?"

 

[Eggyman]

We're taking over, fool.

When Barack becomes prez, all our money is going to read, "In Jeezy we trust, what what?"

Fo' shizzley

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

This is where I draw the line.

Stephen King is great, but he's a racist in my eyes.

Anyone who writes this words harbor racists, stereotypical, ethnocentric thoughts.

No one should be allowed to write this word--and passed off as literature.

Asinine.

 

[Eggyman]

One word to own them all and in their stupidity bind them

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

One word to own them all and in their stupidity bind them

I liked your point as well.
If Steve writes a story about a demon who says, "I'll eat your soul and rape your corpse, b****.", I guess he's now a rapist, murderer and misogynist.
...nevermind that the Demon is there to represent an Evil to be overcome by Good, or that Steve says,

"having a black U.S. president is what the country needs."

Wow, what an incredibly open-minded racist.
Why, I believe he's the only anti-Black racist who wants a Black president.
And, I guess, all the Rappers who say "N*****" are racists too.
Weird.

Anyone who writes this words harbor racists, stereotypical, ethnocentric thoughts.

 

[C.F. Kane]

I never understood the logic behind "if author X makes character Y that does Z, therefore X supports Z".

Does that mean Shakespeare supports teen sex, regicide and cannibalism?

 

[terry78]

I never understood the logic behind "if author X makes character Y that does Z, therefore X supports Z".

Does that mean Shakespeare supports teen sex, regicide and cannibalism?

Well, he did wear that frilly collar....suspicious if you ask me.