Should MP be sacked for using " n "word

?

If a headteacher had used the word in that context who would support them? As an MP she is a public figure with some level of responsibility to set citizenship examples as well as a representative of her political party. Using racist language is either deliberate or ignorant. Either way it is a poor reflection on her and the party she represents. The party will want to disassociate from her comment.

What she said is totally unacceptable to the vast majority of the electorate. My point is that any MP who is so completely out of touch with the views and principles of the electorate should not be representing us.

That made me laugh Jalima , I would love to have seen your face , sorry I mean Sin yer faze lol ?

What Penstemmon said.

I do find it surprising that a woman of only 60 would use such an outdated and unacceptable phrase.

I suspect that only fairly racist people would have used the word "nigger" even a long time ago. Whilst I think it's unlikely that very elderly people would use the word on its own to describe a black person, I think it is possible they might use the phrase because in the "old days" it was not understood to be extremely offensive and was quite commonly used.

Maybe she should be sacked but, if so, what should happen to the other MPs who apparently made not even a muttered protest when she used the phrase?

I remember, in the 1960s, hearing an older lady describe the colour of her bedspread as "nigger brown". I don't think she was a racist, but it made me feel uncomfortable even then.

She also, whenever she mentioned a girl I knew, always described her as "that little Jewish girl". I think this was a reflection of attitudes she grew up with in the 1920s, but thank goodness times have changed.

Bill Cash and John Redwood - both very right wing, both silent on use of racist language in front of them ..... hummmm

Maybe they don't think it was racist (see my previous comment about possible other interpretations). Maybe they just feel sorry for Morris who clearly made a stupid mistake in the heat of the moment, a mistake for which she has sincerely apologised.

I don't think it's fair to condemn people as racist for saying nothing about something one considers racist. Such a stance is making all sorts of unfounded assumptions. That stance also looks like a kind of demand that people align themselves as 'goodies' and 'baddies': make the virtue signal or be damned, a prevalent attitude that I think primitive and tribal. Nuanced and undecided opinions don't seem to be allowed. That seems like a very witch-huntish and mob judgment kind of approach to me.

The term 'racist' is thrown around far too easily nowadays.

Just to be clear, I'm criticising what I see as a judgmental and labellist attitude that's right in front of me, not defending the two people mentioned about whom I know absolutely zilch.

Well certainly some if us have been clear about it being a racist phrase - and it is absolutely. I criticise her as a public representative because she used it - she may or may not be racist but that's utterly irrelevant in the context of the criticism. She's a lawyer, she should know better. It was not the'heat of the moment' there was no emotional debate going on about which she felt passionately. There is nothing nuanced about the phrase at all and the silenc of the two MPs on the panel with her then and since speaks volumes. You haven't heard of them? Really?

BTW - 'sincerely' apologised? I don't think so - how did you get to that conclusion?

If she's really sincere, perhaps she could explain why the phrase is so unacceptable - that way all her social media apologists might learn something instead of just feeling she's being hounded

bags How can you know nothing about Redwood and Cash? They've around for eons.

I think it is fairly easy, but in my opinion rather presumptuous, for white people to feel that the existence of racism is exaggerrated and to make pronouncements to that effect. Many black people would disagree but they quite often don't speak out for fear of being described as "over-sensitive" or of being "bolshie" or of having "a chip on their shoulder". There is also, of course, the school of thought which dismisses any concerns by deeming them to be "political correctness gone mad".

I think probably most non-white people would say that things are much better than they used to be but various pieces of research have demonstrated quite clearly that racism still exists and affects the life chances of black people. Instances of racism woven into the actual fabric of our langugage should, in my opinion, be challenged rigorously because language has the power to diminish and demean people.

That too is why the woman's movement was/is always being accused overly PC, as well as the LGBT community.

We must be so careful not to slid back and lose such hard won battles.

It is all too clear how easily they are lost with the sort of xenophobic/ racist language used during the referendum, and how it appears to have unleashed the dogs in the use of hate crimes and hate language.

My uncle had a big dog called Nigger. A big dark brown soppy thing he was. Named after Douglas Bader's dog because Uncle was a war time pilot too. I don't think anyone saw it as racist, and also yes, nigger brown was an accepted fabric colour description. And Nigger in the Woodpile was a saying. In the 50s. Even then though it was not a nice saying not just because of the word, or racism but because of its association with slavery. It became bad taste to use way before nigger became a racist word. Certainly in our house. But that was then. Now things have changed the word is no longer acceptable, ever. Just as Black, it seems, as a description of skin colour is no longer acceptable either. Words change their meanings. I find it hard to keep up. However, Ms Morris is only 60, she wasn't born until 1957. I'm ten years older and feel sure she wouldn't have been brought up with that saying in general use.

And what's wrong with Elephant in the Room? Why not use that? She really was very silly.

I agree Nfk

As she is an educated woman in a responsible position she is required to speak and act with judgement and thought. In this instance she has made a remark that is totally unacceptable. She should resign. If people like MPs use language like this others will think it is acceptable. How can we punish a man on a housing estate for racially abusing a neighbour when someone like her gets away with having a finger wagged at her?

Bit different trisher and I don't think that she should resign.
She was not using the expression against a person ( the man on a housing estate that you mention, would be racially abusing a neighbour.)
I think she has learned a lesson about language, that will never be repeated again.

I think the word nigger is not always used in a racist way. I don't think Morris used it in a racist way. I think she used it as a metaphor for a political situation.

The escaping and hiding of US slaves was a political situation too but one could talk or think about the issue of escaping slaves without being racist. One could, for instance, keep quiet about a nigger in the woodpile, or even discreetly help them along. I'm sure some people did.

I think it is racist to say that people of colour can use the word nigger but white people can't. I don't agree that it is by definition offensive. I don't think any word is offensive by definition. Context always matters.

Not that that stops the outrage brigade ?

I hadn't thought about it that way Baggs.

I am watching a series on Netflix called Power and they often say nigger in conversation about themselves.

I don't like the word. It was a derogatory, abusive term used to describe slaves. If African Americans (or other descendants of former colonies where slavery was the way huge fortunes were made) want to reclaim the word, that's up to them. It isn't a word that can ever be used in a neutral context. It's too loaded with meaning.
One of the dogs on Scotts Antarctic expedition was called Nigger. That and naming dark brown as nigger brown werent neutral either.