I ask all DUers who serve on juries to hide bigoted slurs.

[rogerashton]

114. There are differences.

I've read several of these threads today. A lot of hot air has been blown about how some terms of derogation are OK while others should be avoided because it is ok to derogate some people but not others. The difference is not in the people. The difference is in the words.

Look, sure, "cracker" is a term of derogation for some southeastern white people. It expresses class prejudice. Growing up at the buckle of the Bible Belt, we nonpoor white folks used it in reference to Georgia and north Florida poor-whites. It wasn't quite as derogatory as "white-trash," but getting there.

Let me get a little closer to home. Many people would call the folks I grew up among "rednecks." It is descriptive. When my dad was driving a tractor for a living, he had a chronic sunburn about the shade of mahogany. I once got a reprimand for referring to myself as a "redneck" (for that reason). The person who reprimanded me said that in describing myself as a redneck, I was expressing racial prejudice against nonwhites, since, as everybody knows, the word "redneck" means "racist." Of course, she didn't think of herself as making a negative judgment based on skin color. I have heard people use the word "redneck" with the understanding that "rednecks" are not only racist but also ignorant, depraved, violent, and offensively poor. Nevertheless, if somebody calls me a "redneck," I frankly couldn't care less. It just doesn't matter very much to me.

But there are words that do matter. I don't think I need to tell anybody on this board what they are.