Originally Posted by
pacox
They are essentially the same world.
It's a word synonymous with call someone lower, sometimes subhuman. It's was used to always remind black people that they were below white people and no matter what they do they are still just a "nigger". It's offensive because it was always used to refer to a black person as a second class citizen, even when someone wasn't being particularly hostile towards the person they called a "nigger". There aren't many words that carry the same weight that aren't racial slurs as well (no excluding misogynistic terms).
It's an absolutely ugly word and is still used in the same fashion.
Why do black people use it? First, not all black people use it and just as offend when a black person says, the difference is that it's silly to think that a black person would use it in a pure derogatory manner. It's true that it is used to lessen the impact of the word and thus not uncommon to here refer black people use it in conversation, it's still not considered appropriate to use in a business-causal setting and should never be used as to demean someone (that's not to say it not used as a pronoun when talking bad about someone but you don't just call someone a nigger/nigga to make them feel bad).
White aren't "allowed" to say it? Well they are and black people are allowed to assume they are being crass, racist, and demeaning. Why some white want to say such a negative word is beyond me. I don't go around wishing I could call gay people "fags", women "cunts", Hispanics "spic" because I know how those words are used against them and how those words may make them feel. Why do they white people who want to say the word want to say such a hateful word. All of all the words you call someone you want to use on of the most demeaning and then have me assume you're just being nice, get that shit out of here.