Quote Originally Posted by poop
Are you really being put out by not being able to say it to a black person while another black person can?
I don't like racism. I just see racism different to most people. When someone says to me black people can use a word that white people cannot, I see that as racism, more so than the use of a single word. There are different standards of behaviour being applied here. It's not a case of the word meaning different things. The word "fuck" means different things, it's still an offensive word. The word "nigger" is offensive in just about every nation in the world. So some people have decided to "reclaim" the word or whatever is going on. Fair enough, they can do that all they like. So can I. Not that I'm going to, but those who say that I can't use the word while black people can, they are being racist, even if it's unintentional. Racism isn't necessarily conscious, it's treating people differently based on their race, and that can come from the subconcious.

The word "tosser" is a completely different issue. For one, it's not particularly offensive here, it's kinda mild; furthermore, it doesn't have the historical connotations that "nigger" has; for another it's not like we have one group of people using the word regularly, while at the same time saying another group of people can't use the word because it's offensive. So your "tosser" analogy really isn't cutting it.