This reply was a great example of why you should speak for yourself...

>Okayartists aren't different from anybody else.
> Nigga is a word
>we've all been conditioned to
>use and,

I sure as hell haven't been conditioned to use it. Now granted, I don't live in America. I used to sadly accept that the word must be common down there and therefore people can't help saying it. But I've realized I was being naive. You have as much a choice about whether you say it as I do...

>as a result,
>we give it positive meaning
>so that we don't feel
>so encumbered to stop using
>it...

Its use is not positive. Just because it can mean "friend" in certain situations, that doesn't mean it's a compliment otherwise. And the point is, the roots just don't go away... as far as feeling encumbered to stop using it, well, see my first sentence.

>plain and simple...

Those are two things this debate will never be...

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And now, an excerpt from Chike's List of Masterpieces:

Yi Yi - Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant Taiwanese film about life, family, stages of development, and emotions. Long as hell but there's nothing to cut. Superb pacing, photography, acting, dialogue, use of Taipei... everything. If you have patience, see it. So real, so engrossing, so insightful, so genius. Did I mention it was brilliant?