N Is For Not That

 

I've been watching the tv series, 'The Madness,' on Netflix. I have about three more episodes to go. It's good, but we've all seen the plot a bazillion times. 

A man witnesses a murder, is blamed, sets out to find the real killer, the authorities are all idiots....

That's where I'm at so far. I do have one issue with this series. The main characters are African American who use the n-word, with an a at the end instead of, er. His wife calls him, "my n***a. His friend says it, too. 

Whether you soften the word by changing it a bit, it still has horrific connotations. Why would you ever say it, especially to a spouse or friend? Why ever say that ugly word?

Now I've seen people ask this question before and get attacked, the response being one that makes no sense to me. "We can call each other that, but don't you dare say it!" 

Remember when you got a bar of soap shoved in your mouth if you said the f-word? Ok, maybe that's only in movies. I never said it growing up. My parents swore, mostly taking the name of the Lord in vain, but never, f*ck. I did have an uncle who used the word. He was the asshole relative. He swore, had a tattoo of a naked lady on his arm, drank, screamed at his children, screamed at me. Yeah, that was the type who used the f-word. Now, five year olds say it.

I write it all the time, even though I don't use it in my everyday vocabulary. I hear it in practically every movie I watch. We've been desensitized to the word. The f-word never really bothered me. When I hear the word, I don't think of couples in the act. It's a swear, like fudge, darn, dang it and phooey.

But, that n-word. It has a past, one that brings up images of ugly, angry, evil shits who hurt others because of the color of their skin.

I don't want to hear it when I'm watching a Netflix movie. I don't want it to become an acceptable colloquial expression no matter who says it. 

Anyway, I'll probably finish the series tonight. I'm going to watch it to the end just to see if it's as predictable as I think it will be. From now on I will no longer watch a show or movie which uses the n-word as a greeting to another human being. Yeah, I sound like the white Karen who doesn't get it. I don't. I won't. Ever.