The power of words.

Oh Lord, Big Brother's at it again! As I've said before, I don't watch it, and have no desire to watch it, but the grandchildren currently talk about nothing else, so I'm drawn into it whether I want to or not. It seems a (white) contestant has been peremptorily evicted for using what I must apparently refer to as "the n word" to another (black) contestant. Channel 4 deemed this to be unacceptable and offensive - but offensive to whom? If the transcripts of the exchange I have read are accurate, the black contestant seemed more shocked by the fact that the word had been used than offended by it. And it seems from various posts to newsgroups that the word is common currency among young black people themselves. So the interesting question which springs to my mind is - if a black contestant had used this word to another black contestant, would Channel 4 have taken the same stance - and if not, isn't what they did racist? I've said it before and I'll say it again - isn't it about time we all grew up?