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

[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

 

[Not Matt]

my ability to actually give a single s*** about someone calling me a cracker died at birth. honstly. how is calling someone a biscut an insult.

"Oh, ruined my day. he shouldn't have called me a cracker. making me think about owning land and people" -Louis ck

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

No, who gives a fuck? What am I meant to regret other white people having had slaves? You can't insult people by associating them with a position of power. At that stage you might as well disregard race and call them a ****, certainly offends me more, being someone who has never owned slaves, whose family has never owned slaves, and come to think of it, wouldn't think himself inferior in any way for owning slaves were it a thing he did.

in any seriuos sentence. why would you use this fake word that means absolutely nothing?

capcha: whitch one is food? answers including: science, germany. i choose science.

He just misspelled it, is all. [https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=flabbergasted&oq=flab&aqs=chrome.2.57j0l3.2815j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8]

not what i was talking about. The word itself is a expression construct and not a word. its like saying " the dog au at him because he didnt know him". no, the dog barked, and au is the sound he made. and you dont flabbergast. the word itself is a false construct.

I'm sorry what? You don't accept words that might be onomatopoeia? You realise 'mumble' is also a sound a person makes simplified and used as a verb to describe what they are doing when making it?

Captcha: what is your household income? - Fuck you Captcha, what is this? I'm not answering that. Make an ironic reference to something in my post, sure, but stay the fuck out of my personal life. Did Microsoft buy the site when I wasn't looking?
(And since I had to pick something) What? You think you know my income isn't over $150,000? Fuck you Captcha, maybe I do earn that. What do you know. Asshole Captcha. I'm done with the internet, fuck you.

Captcha 2: vote pancakes - ok, but I'm keeping my eye on you ************. Don't try to elicit my personal details again.

EDIT:

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

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

You're a member of a dying, outdated species who is only barely hanging on through human conservation efforts because you don't even have the drive to reproduce. You and all your relatives are going to die and you don't even care.

 

[San Martin]

Considering that white people have never spent hundreds of years being enslaved and oppressed

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_slavery

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_medieval_Europe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_slave_trade

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_labor_in_Germany_during_World_War_II

Yeah, NO-ONE EVER enslaved white people.

It's also worth noting that black Africans have enslaved eachother just as long as Europeans, Middle Easterners, Asians and Native Americans have; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Africa

I hate to be the one to bring actual history to the table, but the Trans-Atlantic, North American slave trade did not invent slavery as a concept, so saying "THIS IS WHY ALL WHITES ARE THE DEVIL" is absolutely ridiculous.

I applaud you for attempting to educate people; learning a bit of history has never hurt anyone!

Unfortunately, one has to acknowledge that the public's perception isn't influenced so much by historical truth, as by representations in popular culture. So yes, you are right in saying that the trans-Atlantic slave trade is not the only example in history, but nonetheless, it is what is remembered by society and it is for that reason that language associated with it carries more negative connotations.

I'm sure you're already aware of this, but in most of the examples you cited it's generally the case that the victims are enslaved by people of a similar skin colour (for example white Nazis force other, mostly white, people to work), so from a that point of view, it's not so easy to start lobbing racial insults at each other.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

A person calls me a cracka, i will call them a nigga, and i dont expect any complaints. Thing is, a lot of black characters are racist and are written. When you watch any movies or tv, just listen when they say something like "Not bad shooting for a white guy" or something similar.

But as far as insults go, cracker is just stupid. I would find it hard not to laugh in their faces.

 

[somonels]

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.

I'm very familiar with the The Boondocks but that episode never clarified anything other than white people always being wrong, like with the PC name for coloured people - oops, I'm racist/insensitive again. Also, I don't acknowledge nigga as a different word but rather a bastardization caused by lacking education/pronounciation or regional accents. I just don't see how the africanized version is any less racist than the original. It would be like homos preferring themselves to be called fags.

 

[TheRookie8]

I much prefer the term "Cracker". I love crackers.

Though I suppose it is like "nigga" being synonymous with "******".

Ultimately, words only have enough power you allow them to have.

 

[Hero of Lime]

Honestly, I would be offended, if only because it still is meant to be an insult and show some malice. I've never been called any racial insult, but I would take it like I would any insult, because of the person's intent to make me feel bad, or try to get some response from me.

 

[HellbirdIV]

I'm sure you're already aware of this, but in most of the examples you cited it's generally the case that the victims are enslaved by people of a similar skin colour (for example white Nazis force other, mostly white, people to work), so from a that point of view, it's not so easy to start lobbing racial insults at each other.

If you assume that the only ethnic differences are "White", "Black" and "Asian". In reality, there are hundreds (possibly thousands, I can't recall) of separate ethnic groups of wildly varying appearances and cultural heritage.

For example, Greeks would enslave Slavs (where the word comes from), Romans enslaved Germanics and Gauls, Egyptians enslaved Jews - these ethnicities all look similar, but are distinct from one-another for various reasons.