It's all in how you use a descriptive term for a person.

[MineralMan]

Negro, Gay, Lesbian, Transsexual, Mexican, Oriental, whatever.

All of those words are neutral or negative, depending on how they are used. It's the context that matters.

The United Negro College Fund is not a racist organization, but a white person using the word Negro in a certain tone of voice and in a certain slurring way is a racist.

Gay is not a discriminatory word. It appears in all sorts of contexts. However, if a person uses the word to describe someone who they do not like, it is a homophobic slur.

Lesbian a perfectly good term, but, when used by a sexist, homophobic person to slam people, then it is homophobic.

The rest have the same characteristics, and there are more just like them.

There are lots of words that have different connotations, depending on who is saying them and in what context. Even the word "woman" is often misused by misogynistic people. The same applies to the word "man."

Before we can condemn the use of any word that is a descriptive word describing a person, we always have to examine the context of its use and have a look at the person using it.

There is no single way to interpret some words. Context is important, as is the character of the person using it.

[MrScorpio]

1. Context is everything

The GOP is a great example of when people try to twist it to suit their own ends

[MineralMan]

2. That is most certainly true, to misuse a phrase from the

Lutheran Catechism.

[Skittles]

3. "Negro" reminds me of "Spinster"

very fucking outdated

[janx]

5. It is outdated, but the analogy isn't quite the same...

The people who used the term negro didn't use it to denigrate others, while the people who used the term spinster used it to denigrate any woman who wasn't married (and therefore was relegated to spinning thread for a living instead of living off of a man's wages).

[MineralMan]

6. No doubt it is outdated. Yet, it is not patently offensive, given its

use by a prominent educational foundation dedicate to the education of black Americans.

Many terms in wide use are outdated. That, in itself does not mean they should not be used. I have no doubt that there are many black Americans of advanced age who use that term in describing themselves.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

4. More to the point, it wasn't used as a descriptive term for a person

No point defending things that didn't happen.

Harry Reid used the word "negro" as an adjective modifying the word "dialect," not as a noun.

He he described Barack Obama as "a negro" it would be a much bigger story, and on merit.

I don't think twice about using the word "negro" as an adjective modifying "baseball league" and sometimes modifying "spiritual."

I wouldn't say "negro dialect" but I would do that 100 times more readily than calling any PERSON "a negro" in 2008.

[MineralMan]

7. I can't remember the last time I used the word "negro," except

in this thread and when discussing the United Negro College Fund. However, I don't consider the word a pejorative word, unless it is used by a racist. When I hear it used in a neutral way by someone older than about 60 years, I assume that that is the expression they learned in their younger years, and simply ignore it as out of fashion today.

Now, I have heard it used in a pejorative tone of voice, by people easily identifiable as racists. In that case, I have a different opinion of the word as so used.