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

[SirPlindington]

Hell no. It's hilarious! Por ejemplo, read this here joke:

Whadya call a restaurant fulla white people? Cracker barrel! lolololol

 

[PrototypeC]

Ha! Are you kidding? I might get hungry for salty foods, at worst. You'd have to be pretty thin-skinned. What does it even mean; that I'm brittle and breakable, or that I go well with soup? Even if it was the former, I can't imagine clutching my chest in horror and rage. I can't imagine feeling like less than a man, less than a human being.

"Hey everybody! Look at the cracka!" <--- Hardly anyone would even turn around to see what the fuss was about, let alone be annoyed, let alone be OFFENDED.

I expect someone else has already posted Louis C.K.'s set on the subject. Even if you don't like Louis C.K., it's pretty clever.

 

[Smeatza]

In that case, I still don't feel it holds up.
I don't think an insult really works if it's trying to guilt someone in to feeling bad.
It'd be like trying to get your opponent to admit that they were wrong at the start of a heated argument.

Fair enough, although I think it's more trying to play on insecurity than guilt.
Like if one was to use "big ears" as an insult, the insult would be targeting the receivers insecurity of having big ears. They haven't violated any moral standards by having big ears, it's a vulnerability, a weakness of their self image.
Like being descended from a slave driver.

White people are not in any way shape or form in danger of experiencing the REAL problems of racism unless they troll through a ghetto at 3 in the morning after some black kid gets shot by a cop and acquitted. There's no worries about not being able to get a job because the interviewer thinks you're just going to steal everything. There's no fear that you're having a bunch of kids with different men just so you can collect a bigger welfare check. You don't have to worry about being wrongly profiled by the cops, maybe even being assaulted or shot for the slightest bit of error. There are clearly instances where white people have been the victims of racism, but, overall, it is the absolute whitest thing ever to believe that you've experienced true racism because you were called "cracker" or because you can't say a word.

It depends entirely on where you are.
I imagine there are some places in the world, the Middle East or Africa perhaps, where being white is not an advantage at all. Perhaps even communities within the developed western world where that is so.

 

[ninjaRiv]

Been watching a lot of the George Zimmerman case. Last night I was flaberghasted when Erin Burnette of CNN referred to the word as a racial slur.

I'm sorry, but there is not a world where Cracka or Cracker could offend any white person. Right? I mean I'm pretty sure any of hear the word our minds do not jump to our skin colour but to delicious Saltine crackers. It's like calling someone Spaghetti.

Even honky... If I get called a honky the only thing my mind jumps is the old Jefferson's TV show.

Is there any white slur that has any bite at all? I mean I suppose "You impearalist swine whos anncestors kidnapped and enslaved my ancestors for years and then tried to pull that segration bullshit" but that'd be to hard to say in conversation.

Spaghetti Western was a racial slur used to mock westerns directed by Italian directors.

OT: I personally don't give a shit about names or racial slur. They're about as offensive to me as the word poncho (keeping with the Spaghetti Western theme, you see). It seems stupid that people let these words live and don't let them die out. That whole "we can say it but you can't" culture is counter productive.

But I do find it offensive when people decide "hey, you can't be offended. You're white therefore you've got shit easy." This is also counter productive and stupid.

 

[Muspelheim]

No, not really. Not that much more than if you called me any other old nasty name. I will reguard the person as a smeghead, and I'll make sure to enlighten them about that, but it's less about the slur and more about being insulted in general.

What I do find a bit disheartening is the vague idea of there being some sort of a white world conquest gene, as if the reason why global colonialism with all the horrid crimes it entailed happened is because white people are inherently evil and cruel. It was circumstance. Had they been different, I'm sure another folkgroup would've done the exact same thing at some point. We're all the same, we human beings. Capable of the same things. The rest is up to chance and circumstance.

Hell, if anything, "white devil" sounds vaguely flattering, doesn't it? I'm sure the people believing in the master race fairytales would like to hear that.

(as for the oppression, I do beg to say that the majority of white people in older times were oppressed. It's just that it was done by kings, nobles and clergymen, that is other white people. What it means I can't really say, myself. I still haven't made my conclusion)

 

[SaetonChapelle]

I'm sorry, but there is not a world where Cracka or Cracker could offend any white person. Right? I mean I'm pretty sure any of hear the word our minds do not jump to our skin colour but to delicious Saltine crackers.

Wrong.
It is very much a racial slur.

Even honky... If I get called a honky the only thing my mind jumps is the old Jefferson's TV show.

Yeah... The TV show where the main character used it as a racial slur.

True, but apparently the worst slur for a white guy black people can come up with never made it past 3rd grade standards.

The term "cracker" is actually derived from the slave owners who would abuse their slaves with the crack of a whip. To call someone a "cracker" means they are such a terrible person they would be willing to inflict horrendous abuse on another human being for self serving reasons.

Personally, if the individual was calling me a "cracker" out of angry, I would be offended. Not because of the word itself, but it's meaning. However, I have never been referred to as such and never heard of another person in my social group to be.

 

[Maevine]

Pfft, cracker isn't even a little insulting.

Really want to offend the hell out of a white person?

Call them a racist. Then observe their decay into madness.

 

[ninjaRiv]

I'd like to add my thoughts to the "whites have been slaves, too" argument I see going on: Shut up, cracka! Heh... Anyway, the point isn't that black people are the only race with a history of being enslaved. heck, black people have been slavers, too! No, the point is that it's still used against them. People still believe black people should be slaves. But I should point out that there are organisations of black people who want to enslave or eradicate white people. So really, this is all about the individual. A fat person can face as much as abuse as a black person sometimes. Sometimes, more. Note: I said A black person, not black people. Some black people live very well with plenty of money and respect behind them. Some white people are spat upon and worse. Individuals, man. They all fucked up, yo.

Ramle ramble... Finished.

EDIT: bonus ramble; I have the urge to quote everyone in this thread and say "Shut up, cracka!" That is an odd urge, right?

 

[Traun]

I also mentioned the French and Russians. They're all "white" but you'd be a fool if you couldn't tell the difference between them.

Wow, just Wow.
Talk about bigoted and ignorant.

Are you saying it's bigoted and ignorant to be able to tell the difference between someone from France and someone from Russia?

I'm saying it's bigoted to claim that all members of any nation are the same and ignorant to claim you can tell them apart, the implication of your post was such.

Just so you know, "America" is neither the center of the world, nor is the world one big global America. In most places there is a difference between being a citizen of a nation and being the ethos defining the nation. For the most part, yes, you can tell if someone is Russian or a citizen by Russia by looks alone. The same way you can tell whatever or not someone if French or German or Polish or Greek or whatever...

Telling what citizenship someone has is a different matter all together.

 

[Casey Holscher]

The big difference is that most "slurs" against white people all carry the connotation of power and dominance, while most slurs used by whites against other races generally are used to connote that all members of that race are "sub-humans" and are considered to be little more than animals, inferior in every way to ACTUAL humans(AKA The White Man).

Its like the difference in calling someone a "Demon" and "Dog Sh*t".

 

[lastjustice]

I'm a mutt, but I'm mostly white in appearance. (got some Cherokee native American in me too.) I laugh off most slurs anyways. Even the ones that are actually accurate. If that sort of thing bothered me, I'd offed myself, as the heavily Hispanic neighborhood I lived in other kids thought was funny use Polish in place of the word stupid. You're going to have to do much better than toss out Cracker or Honky to offend me. I'd probably laugh and say is the best you got?

 

[SinisterGehe]

If you call me Craka, Cracker, Milk, Milk-face... etc... Then I am allowed to call you black, ******... ect...

We are all equal that means that you can not say that you have the unique right to some words, if it is so then we have that right also.

Also... No I am not offended... I find person who calls me something like that to be VERY immature and not worth my time.
(I also am from country and culture that didn't have anything to do with the slave trade, we barely had a towns when Europe and America industrialized and did that shameful stain to human history...) So you can't use slavery as excuse to try using racial slurs towards me.

No one can reserve words for their own private use, all culture belongs to humanity and every human is part of it. (Also there is no "races" in my worldview, there are just people.)

 

[ninjaRiv]

I also mentioned the French and Russians. They're all "white" but you'd be a fool if you couldn't tell the difference between them.

Wow, just Wow.
Talk about bigoted and ignorant.

Are you saying it's bigoted and ignorant to be able to tell the difference between someone from France and someone from Russia?

I'm saying it's bigoted to claim that all members of any nation are the same and ignorant to claim you can tell them apart, the implication of your post was such. Or are you saying that you somehow intrinsically know that Thierry Henri is French and Stanislav Lebamba is Russian, from looks alone?
How about Mo Farah, you can tell he's English how exactly?

I thought it was common knowledge that people's heritage could be identified through some facial features. And clothing, hair cuts, behaviour etc.

It's not ignorant at all, most Europeans can pick out a Russian from a line up pretty easily. It's not 100% accurate, of course. Not everyone shares these features. But it's accurate enough.

And, actually, I can tell that Mo Farah is pretty. Something about his mouth gives it away (no, not his accent).

 

[Cheese of Borg]

Different Racial slurs have always been regarded differently due to history. You can call someone a cracka in public without so much as an eye roll. You can make a slanted reference around Asians and maybe get yelled at. Call someone an N (Im not even saying it here) and the room falls silent. In my opinion it is all about historical context of the word.

 

[Something Amyss]

Last night I was flaberghasted when Erin Burnette of CNN referred to the word as a racial slur

It is, by its very definition, a racial slur.

I'm sorry, but there is not a world where Cracka or Cracker could offend any white person.

I wish to live in the world you live in, where it's possible to believe that.

Even honky... If I get called a honky the only thing my mind jumps is the old Jefferson's TV show.

My friends and I used to walk around callng each other honkies. In retrospect, the intent behind it was probably dickish, but whatever. I was young and stupid. Now I'm older and slightly less stupid.

Is there any white slur that has any bite at all?

Without context, slurs only really have bite if people let them. Fortunately, a lot of white folks are so desperate to find equivalence with the trials and tribulations of groups their ancestors actually oppressed that they are willing to oblige any and all takers. Several of my friends even equate "cracker" with "******." That's right, THEY'RE JUST THE SAME BECAUSE REASONS!

 

[Jamous]

Technically it -is- a racial slur, seeing as it's a 'slur' connected to race, but I don't think anyone cares. It certainly doesn't have the weight of centuries of systematic oppression behind it.

 

[Alexi089]

Context dependent. A black friend who makes inappropriate jokes calling me cracker wouldn't bother me, cos taking the piss out of each other is part of how most guys I know develop friendships. Used by some stranger or uppity wannabe political activist to single me out or irrationally demonise me makes it obvious that it's meant to be offensive, and I'm going to have fun looking for opportunities to undermine that person.

It does seem about as acceptable as, say, a Frenchman or Polish person making Nazi themed comments to a German they've just met, though. You wouldn't get away with shouting 'Sieg Heil' to a German over here, so I really see no reason why a white person should be obliged to take it on the chin when a black person calls them a cracker in a derogatory fashion.

As far as I'm concerned, the only people who would be offended by being called Cracka would probably be just as offended by a black person speaking to them at all.

Not a very rational assumption. Have you considered that some people don't like being singled out by their race, or associated with humanitarian crimes they had nothing to do with?

 

[DoPo]

Considering that white people have never spent hundreds of years being enslaved and oppressed[footnote]Inb4 some white supremacist "proves" me "indisputably" wrong on this point[/footnote], there really isn't a white equivalent of the N-word which says "oh hey, I think you're utterly inferior and I wish I could put you back to work on my plantation".

Yes, but of course - thanks for clearing this up for me apparently my ancestors didn't spend five centuries being enslaved and oppressed [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_%28Ottoman_Empire%29], no that must have been something I fabricated in order to feel superior about my skin colour. Thank you for this revelation - I...I didn't know. I am sorry that until now I thought the word "giaour" was used by the Ottoman to refer in disdain to the white slaves and to remind them to know their place but apparently it was literally delusions of grandeur.

Honestly, go read some history, and THEN throw your snide remarks when you're sure, you aren't, you know, wrong or actually insulting. The world is a big place, you just showed you don't know it enough to try and preemptively insult people...while, in fact, insulting people at the same time.

So you live in Turkey eh. And were still feeling the sting of social repression and segregation as early as the mid 20th century. Not to mention, as per the article you linked, outside forces worked hard to curtail the Ottoman slave trade during the 19th century, especially Russia. In other words, other superpowers led by white people told that superpower to stop, which surely must've happened with the black slave trade to get it to stop.

No, I'm not in Turkey, and no I don't know what the rest of what you wrote has any relevance to my post.

 

[Cartographer]

...snip

I'd put it to you that "Russia" encompasses enough different ethnic groups that while you think you can identify all Russians on sight, you in actuality can only identify a very small number of a very specific ethnicity. Hell, maybe I'm wrong and you are intimately familiar with the some 160 different ethnicities of Russia, in which case, good on you for being so social.

...snip

Last I checked, I'm European and I'd never make so wild a claim that I could identify a Russian on sight. 160 different ethnicities (not counting immigration) and you know them all well enough to identify them on sight? And not mistake them for Kazaks, Afgans, Ainu, Polynesians? I am extremely sceptical of your claim.
I'd never be so arrogant as to say I'd be able to identify on-sight someone from my own country, let alone the country with the largest landmass on the planet.

...snip

What has America got to do with anything?

Russia, 160 ethnic groups.
France, harder to judge since it's illegal to ask on census' there, but at least 24 different ethnicities.
Poland, same as France, difficult to judge but at least 21 ethnic groups.
Germany, at least 14 different ethnic groups.
Greece, at least 10 different ethnic groups.

So you're saying you know on sight, even where ethnic groups overlap, what nationality someone is?
So you'd know a Russian Turk from a Greek Turk?
You'd know a German Czech from a Polish Czech?

Frankly, I just don't believe you and your statement that you can is a broad generalisation based on ignorance.

 

[Traun]

So you'd know a Russian Turk from a Greek Turk?

That's a Turk.

You'd know a German Czech from a Polish Czech?

That's a Czech.

Frankly, I just don't believe you and your statement that you can is a broad generalisation based on ignorance.

I'm sorry, but it's hard to take your claim of me being ignorant seriously, when I have observed people from various nations being able to identify nationality with a very large degree of success on sight.