The Pharmakon of Nigger

 

The Pharmakon of Nigger

Nigger is a very powerful word, one which I believe should not be excised from our language.  It's a perfect pharmakon--an ancient greek concept wherein the cure and the poison are one and the same, depending on the measure.  It's the origin of the pharmacy.  Similarly, nigger does not emanate measuredly from the mouths of all people.  When heard, it can feel poisonous and hurtful.  Let me offer a recent example of nigger as a cure: http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0017/bain.php. It's the story of Bryonn Bain ("Walking While Black") and how he came to draft the Bill of Rights for Black Men.  Bain's poultice for curing racism would lack potency without the pharmakon of nigger.

Off-handedly, I'd say nigger is a more powerful word than bitch, but that may be as a result of my privileged viewpoint as a man.  There's no doubt that bitch has been so mainstreamed that it no longer sounds poisonous to most people.  It's rather insidious isn't it?  A slow-killing word with deep effects and long-term consequences stemming from a long history of poisoning society against women. Anecdotally, as I "became" gay, I had several early closes brushes with bitch.  Some gay men call each other bitches, but I must admit I had to draw the line here.  While I was just becoming comfortable with being called a fag, being called a bitch was beyond the pale.  I've often drawn out the overlap between homophobia (and to some degree, pedophilia) has with misogyny.  It seemingly arises from a deep-seeded fear of men becoming women or being forced to perform the woman's sexual role.  It's really sobering stuff when you think about it and the disparagement dates back as far as pharmakon's etymology.

But as with all good drugs, bitch's mainstreaming has produced useful cultural side-effects.  The connotation of someone bitching at someone else is a valuable addition to our lexicon.  If someone can suggest an acceptable alternative, I'll try it out.

--r