White People! Are you offended being called a "Cracka"?
- Thread starter DudeistBelieve
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Technically speaking, yes "Cracker" (see also "Whitey", "Honkey", and "Peckerwood") is a racial slur. As a Black man, I never use it except in the case of confronting a racist white person.SaneAmongInsane said:
That said, I think the reason these words don't have the same bite as the N-word is because of just that. They don't have the same impact. Simply put, those who have gone around calling someone "Cracker" and meaning it have done a lot less damage than, well, vice versa.
I don't find it offensive in the slightest, but if someone I knew was using it to try and cause offense then my opinion of them would drop. It's not so much the words people use but the intention they have for them that is offensive.
Although I guess calling someone a cracker suggests they are full of shitty jokes and have a paper crown. Which is quite mean.
Although I guess calling someone a cracker suggests they are full of shitty jokes and have a paper crown. Which is quite mean.
I'm not American, so I'm unfamiliar with the word. I am Greek however, and it's pretty safe to generalize and say that we are a loud, rude and quite aggressive bunch. So, I've grown quite immune to words over the years. What does offend me are things like sleaziness, stupidity and pretentiousness, even more so when the three of those are combined, which I've unfortunately seen plenty of recently.
I love it when I am called a Cracker, it gives me a chance to say, "Fine, but If I'm a Cracker, I better be Ritz...I don't like any of that Saltine shit". You know...you would think that this is a terrible joke, but I have used it in the past against several of your stereotypical black gangsters and they found it to be pretty damn funny. At first I really didn't care about the phrase...now...I look forward to being called it. What can I say...I like making people smile.
I'm really hard to personally offend, so calling me a 'cracka' which is a stupid thing to call someone in the first place, has even less effect on me then it would one the other white people who think it's stupid.
I'm not offended by it and was called it a bit in high school. Though that was among my friends and I and we were quite a diverse group: White (included me), Black, Asian, Latin (also included me), and even a bit of Native American. We'd call each other slurs here and there, but no one would care since it was in jest. Though even if someone said it to me with actual racism behind it, I wouldn't care. Really, the last time I was subjected to racial slurs directed at me, it was a short white guy calling me a ****** and I was more confused than offended since I look white as hell. But note, cracker (cracka) is a racial slur, at least here in the US.
No, I don't get offended if someone insults me for being white, because I don't give a flying spaghetti monster. I'm not white, I'm Irish, there's a difference 
Seriously though, it's nothing to be proud of the way I see it, just a skin colour. I have never met someone who thought being white or black meant a thing either way. If someone tried to insult me for being white, I would laugh in their face. May as well insult me for having brown hair, average height or freckles, it means so little to me.
Seriously though, it's nothing to be proud of the way I see it, just a skin colour. I have never met someone who thought being white or black meant a thing either way. If someone tried to insult me for being white, I would laugh in their face. May as well insult me for having brown hair, average height or freckles, it means so little to me.
MTE, it's toothless. It has about as much bite behind it as calling someone a "poopyhead". It has no history of being accompanied by violent oppression, so it's offensive in kind of a dress-up, make-believe kind of way, seen as offensive by people who want to try the concept of "that's racist and I'm offended!" on and take it for a walk around the block. I find such people incredibly silly.SAMAS said:
Honkey and Cracker are used as racial slurs against whites, yes. They don't offend me so much as they give me a quick snapshot of the quality of human being I'm interacting with.
That isn't where the name cracker came from, it has nothing to do with cracking a whip. Cracker means a braggart (as in "not all it's cracked up to be"). From Shakespeare's King John: "What cracker is this . . . that deafes our ears / With this abundance of superfluous breath?" Specifically in the south "cracker" referred to the "poor white trash" that existed beneath rather than apart of the plantation system.DoPo said:
Ah yes, the white villain version of history. Slavery, warfare, and genocide are ubiquitous through history, including amongst groups that are now thought of as oppressed. Triangle trade slavery was obviously horrible, but it (a) there was nothing really unique or special about it and (b) had a significant African component (i.e. Africans purchased from indigenous African slave traders). Just to pull one example, there Barbary pirates sold over a million Europeans into slavery.SaneAmongInsane said:
Perhaps that's where it was first used but I know language and words do change over time. Right now, for example, this very word can also refer to criminals, and the heritage of a racial slur and Shakespeare doesn't change anything.SOCIALCONSTRUCT said:
However, I don't really know if the whip was or wasn't a key defining feature - that's what I've heard and several other people in the thread echoed the same connotation. You're the first to quote Shakespeare, in fact.
I'm not talking about the origin of the word, I'm talking about how it is used. It's not common parlance even among the politically incorrect youth in the UK. The only time you'll really hear that word in the UK is on an American tv show.SOCIALCONSTRUCT said:
A racial slur is a racial slur because of how it's used. Most of them in and of themselves are not horrid names, but it's the context that they are used in that make them so.
As a kid I went to a few all black schools (where I was the only white child or one of a very few), and the reception was not exactly great (Both by the students and teachers). If you are a minority of any type and everyone is calling you any name in a derogatory way...it's not fun.
As a kid I went to a few all black schools (where I was the only white child or one of a very few), and the reception was not exactly great (Both by the students and teachers). If you are a minority of any type and everyone is calling you any name in a derogatory way...it's not fun.
If someone actually referred to me as such I would be offended that the person in question had chosen to define me by the colour of my skin above anything else.
This is not to say I have any strong feelings about the word itself, even when used in this context. I firmly believe that the intention and attitude of the person speaking is what is fundamentally offensive about any offensive communication and I do not hold the belief that any word is fundamentally offensive in itself.
Now with regard to whether something is a slur or not really depends on the intent of the person using the word(s) in question and the reaction of the person being talked to/about. For something to be a slur there has to be a nagative or derogatory element to the useage and if neither party interprets the word(s) in such a way then there is no slur.
This is not to say I have any strong feelings about the word itself, even when used in this context. I firmly believe that the intention and attitude of the person speaking is what is fundamentally offensive about any offensive communication and I do not hold the belief that any word is fundamentally offensive in itself.
Now with regard to whether something is a slur or not really depends on the intent of the person using the word(s) in question and the reaction of the person being talked to/about. For something to be a slur there has to be a nagative or derogatory element to the useage and if neither party interprets the word(s) in such a way then there is no slur.
im white and i honestly dont care what other people call me race. cracka kinda sounds funny to me.
just think of it this way. white people are the most evil and racist sonsofbitches ever. we've ruined possibly billions of non white humans lives, and families. Wrecked multiple countries so badly they are ravaged by racialism and starvation and what? you're going to complain that someone called you a cracker? we deserve so, SO much more than simple name calling.
just think of it this way. white people are the most evil and racist sonsofbitches ever. we've ruined possibly billions of non white humans lives, and families. Wrecked multiple countries so badly they are ravaged by racialism and starvation and what? you're going to complain that someone called you a cracker? we deserve so, SO much more than simple name calling.
I don't mind someone calling me a "cracka".
I would mind being treated differently for being a "cracka".
But let it never be said I don't appreciate a good-natured racist joke.
I would mind being treated differently for being a "cracka".
But let it never be said I don't appreciate a good-natured racist joke.