The above bumper sticker (which might as well say "Please fuck up my expensive automobile") is being sold by Paula Smith at Stickatude.com. Smith defended the language that the sticker uses in a recent interview with Forbes, going so far as to say that the vile, racial epithet "nigger" isn't offensive. Her reasoning is two-fold.
1.) "According to the dictionary, 'nigger' does not mean black. It means low down, lazy, sorry, low down person. That's what the N word means."
2.) It's not a bad word, "Because I don't use it. I have kids here around me that are black kids. I call them my own kids. I've helped black families... to guide them in the right direction. Paintball is one of these things. We like to laugh and have a good time. That's our way of life."
Well, Paula Smith, despite the fact that you obviously spent long hours researching both the definition of the N-Word and its historical origins, I have to tell you that you are most certainly wrong. To be honest, the only thing more offensive than both using the N-Word and shortening it to just "Nig" is defending said use of it with your lame ass excuses.
I mean, come on. Are you really trying to tell us that our ideas about that word are wrong simply because you yourself do not use it? You can't just undo hundreds of years of history like that.
"Good news, everyone! Paula Smith doesn't say the N-Word!
It's okay to use it in polite conversation again!"
I also want to know what dictionary it is that she is looking at. Merriam-Webster, Dictionary.com, and Oxford Dictionary all proclaim that word to be both highly offensive and racially charged (i.e. in reference to people with dark skin). So, I suppose in a way Smith is right. The N-Word does mean "low down, lazy, and sorry." She just forgot to add on "Highly insulting; a racist word directed towards black people."
Paula Smith, unfortunately, did not stop there, further defending her rationale by stating, "And besides, Obama is not even black. He's got a mixture of race. It's his choice of what his nationality is."
Yes. His nationality is American. If what you meant to say was "race," then I'm pretty sure that President Obama identifies himself as a black man. He's also been described by everyone as America's first black president. So... I think that's settled. What Paula Smith should have said was not, "It's his choice of what his [race] is", but "Obama's mother was white, so I identify him as white - regardless of what he says - so that my bumper sticker isn't horrifyingly racist."
This vehicle ornament presents me with a dilemma. Part of me wants to deface every car I see with it, while the other, more pacifist part of me wants to sit back and say that everyone has the right to voice their own opinion, no matter how disgusting it may be. As the right would see it, I'm either a violent, radical liberal that loves to oppress free speech, or a person that sits back and lets racism and hate run rampant.
Luckily, there is another solution. While I highly doubt I will see any of these stickers in Maine, here's what I am going to do if I run into one in a parking lot:
There. Of course, if I see the actual owner of the vehicle with the sticker, I'd just say this rather than leave the note under their windshield wiper.
And I urge all of my readers to do the same. Don't vandalize their car, as that will only perpetuate the right's idiotic logic. If you must vandalize something, take a black permanent marker and color in the entire bumper sticker. Be sure to leave the enormous cost of that sticker (Three $1 bills) pinned beneath a wiper.
I wish I could say that this isn't a popular bumper sticker, but it is. It's currently the site's highest selling sticker, along with the ever-funny Kenya Lost It's Idiot sticker. Oh, and did I mention that Paula Smith finds the message to be "cute"? Because she does.
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