White People! Are you offended being called a "Cracka"?

[Thaluikhain]

Yeah, nah, always seemed embarrassingly weak.

"You're subhuman and should be my slave!"
"Well, um...you should be my master!"
"..."
"..."
"Um?"
"Yeah, nevermind."

Doesn't work.

The difference between "******" and "cracker" in my mind is that "******" has actually been used to refer to people who are actually being subjugated and treated in the most vile ways. "Cracker" has no such historical background in blood and torture...

Except the Inquisition, the Holocaust, and the intense racism against specific races of white even as recent as the founding of America? Being irish had a stigma for a very long time. Still does in some places.

Pretending that blacks have the monopoly on being mistreated is just ignorant. Don't be one of those people.

That's a painfully bad strawman there. You can't pretend that saying that "cracker" doesn't refer to a group that has been oppressed is the same as saying only black people have been oppressed.

Yes, the Irish (for example) were white and oppressed, but they were oppressed for being Irish, not because they were white. Cracker refers to the latter, it's not a slur aimed at the former, which would have some legitimacy.

 

[Angie7F]

I actually didnt know this was a racial slur. lol
We learn new things every day.

 

[templar1138a]

Racial slurs are any slang terms that refer specifically to skin color or ethnicity. Doesn't matter if they're offensive or not.

Anyway, as for racial slurs against white people that have any bite, I feel that pretty much the one that has the most at this point is "white" itself. In the context of activities and skills other races stereotypically are associated with, the word is synonymous with "lame" or "incompetent." For example: White dancing, white rap, white math, white jazz. It conjures up the image of white people as judeo-christrian descendants being exposed to things from other cultures, thinking they're weird but interesting, trying to replicate it, but looking like asses in the process because they don't have the fundamental cultural understanding.

That said, I don't feel like "white" as a synonym for "lame" is particularly harmful. It only causes offense to white people who are already pretending to be another race. The rest of us can embrace it in the spirit of self-deprecation. I see it as a healthy alternative to guilt over atrocities committed by our ancestors.

 

[Cecilo]

Believe it or not but "White" people were in fact enslaved at one point, not by another part of human, but by our own. I am not trying to say racial slurs are okay because of this, I just like to point out that Africans weren't the only people to be enslaved. Egyptians enslaved many people during their time.

Christians enslaved the Norse heathens, before the African slave trade. And the Norse took Christians and other Norse as "Thralls", or Unfree servants. Even before christianity, Kings, Jarls, Dukes, Counts of Ancient Europe would take slaves or serfs for themselves, whose only real benefit was that they might not be killed, and might get a warm place to sleep, possibly a meal.

Ancient Rome and Greece despite it not being talked about often, employed Slaves. Though not in the way you would think of Slaves.

But, on topic. I would probably be okay with the racial slur of Cracka if the person who is saying it, doesn't mind having racial slurs thrown back at them. If you cant take it, don't dish it out and all that.

 

[Flames66]

I only recently realised what it was referring to, and the OP has just defined the word "Honkey" for me. No I wouldn't find either offensive.

 

[Miyenne]

I wouldn't be offended at all. I'm so white I'm translucent. And being Canadian with Irish heritage, the term wouldn't apply to me anyways.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

What? That's the first time I've ever heard of such a thing. Cracker? So I taste great with cheese?

 

[Xukog]

I wouldn't really be offended, it's kind of a weak insult. However, I would mentally mark the person as an idiot and avoid conversation with him/her as much as possible.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Nonsense.There's plenty of examples of white people being oppressed throughout history.Granted it's usually by other white people but that doesn't make it any less real

Exactly, by other white people. You don't hear much about African-on-African violence, which was certainly rampart before even the beginning of recorded history. So why bring white-on-white violence up? Makes no damn sense, and is beyond the point. Yes, whites have oppressed other whites, but no race has ever fully oppressed whites to the extreme like blacks once faced. So please, don't discredit your own intelligence by using that argument.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

If a black guy called me a cracka as an insult... Well, I don't get offended easily, but it might piss me of a little bit, I'd just ignore everything they ever said because they're clearly a moron. I don't appreciate basically being indirectly accused of condoning slavery, but I just don't really care that much.

If I was in a light-hearted mood (and had some balls), I much just be all 'I hear ya buddy!'- as someone who is by birth Irish and also of Scottish descent, I could just laugh about how much I hate white people who had been oppressing my family for generations. Unfortunately I think the joke would be lost on anyone dumb enough to seriously use the term 'cracka'.

 

[Lilani]

The difference between "******" and "cracker" in my mind is that "******" has actually been used to refer to people who are actually being subjugated and treated in the most vile ways. "Cracker" has no such historical background in blood and torture...

Except the Inquisition, the Holocaust, and the intense racism against specific races of white even as recent as the founding of America? Being irish had a stigma for a very long time. Still does in some places.

Pretending that blacks have the monopoly on being mistreated is just ignorant. Don't be one of those people.

Except none of that has anything to do with the word "cracker" or its pejorative use. I'm not trying to imply that nothing bad ever happened to white people. It's just that nothing bad ever happened that involved the word "cracker," never giving it much historical baggage. The Nazis never used the term, the Spanish didn't use it during the inquisition, and the word came from slaves so it didn't even exist until well after the American colonies were founded.

 

[Cornish]

I wouldn't even notice it, unless it was in the middle of a conversation. In which case I'd call them out on it. It seems like a rather stupid and ugly word to use.

 

[Malty Milk Whistle]

No, as I often try to crack wise so I take it as an encouragement. Using the topical word is like a nigga whipping himself.

Kinda related - is using the word ****** prohibited on this forum and that's why people use nigga? Which is still essentially the same.

This informative sketch will show you!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NY1y1aggUA
God I love Boondocks.
OT: not really, get called it ALL the time by my friend. To be fair we take the piss outa each other a lot. Which can get awkward when her incredibly far left black power sister comes round.

 

[Smeatza]

Really? Because I gotta say I always thought it was referring to being white as a saltine cracker. Out of curiosity, do you have any sources? I wish to edjumacate myself.

My primary source was a museum visit in the United States (Georgia specifically), so I don't have that to hand, but lets see what I can find.
Hmm, all I can find is a wikipedia page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_%28pejorative%29
All the sources for the whip-meaning are books as well and so not easily accessible without a library visit.

Looking at this wikipedia page it seems there are other theories to the origin of the word I was not aware of.
-An Olde English/Celtic work for a loudmouth or braggart. Used in Shakespeare's King John.
"What cracker is this same that deafs our ears with this abundance of superfluous breath?"
-A word that refers to the staple diet of cracked corn that many poor white folks had back in the day.

Still, saltine crackers weren't around till the late 1800's so I doubt it originally referred to that, although admittedly, that doesn't say much about the modern meaning.

 

[knight steel]

You know sometimes I wish I was a black Girl-Don't know why, as a white man in a first world country making good money you would think that I would have it made and would never want to be something different but I do I want to be a Black girl and sometimes it make me sad just thinking about it.


Anyway as for your question yes it offends me because everytime someone say's it I'm reminded of how white I am and I get all depressed and I cry like this:

Spoiler

 

[darkstarangel]

Not really offensive, even if it is a racial slur. In Australia it would be considered a nick name. Infact, in Australian work environments profanities can be both an insult or a regular word depending on the context. As the saying goes, 'Calls mates c**ts, calls strangers mates'.

And considering our ancestors suffered similar tribulations to the africans we're exempt to the guilt from the whole black history issue. We dont take offense as easily as most americans do, & reacting to words like cracka or nigga only gives them power over you. Thats why they're still commonly used. Nobody calls women wenches anymore because it doesn't affect them as much as kitchen jokes do.

Infact, the only thing that does offend us are the politically correct nazi's who react to little things out of context or cant take a joke (within reason) & get more offended than the minorities they think should be offended but usually really aren't. And call racism, sexism, or homophobia when someone has a disagreement with them, like immediately labelling someone a racist because they dont like Obama being president, not on the grounds that he's black but because they genuinely diagree with his policies. I hate those people.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

It wouldn't offend me, it's far too impersonal.

You'll have to do better than stock insults to get to me.

 

[TheWanderingFish]

Not at all. Then again, you can call me whatever the hell you like. I'm completely capable of ignoring people with my brain.

 

[Wintermute_v1legacy]

Like someone before me already said here, English isn't my first language either, but similar words in Portuguese don't offend me. They used to when I was a kid in school, but I'm not bothered by them anymore.

However, since americans are apparently so interested in races and shit, what "offends" me is when someone tells me that I simply can't be white because... I was born in South America. NO WHITE PEOPLE ALLOWED IN SOUTH AMERICA APPARENTLY. That's something that always left me wondering "what?"

 

[MetalDooley]

Nonsense.There's plenty of examples of white people being oppressed throughout history.Granted it's usually by other white people but that doesn't make it any less real

Exactly, by other white people. You don't hear much about African-on-African violence, which was certainly rampart before even the beginning of recorded history. So why bring white-on-white violence up? Makes no damn sense, and is beyond the point. Yes, whites have oppressed other whites, but no race has ever fully oppressed whites to the extreme like blacks once faced. So please, don't discredit your own intelligence by using that argument.

I'm not the one who claimed that white people have never been oppressed.Whether it was by other white people,blacks,asian or feckin martians is irrelevant.Fact is millions of white people have been oppressed throughout history and claiming otherwise is silly