Paris Barclay, the openly-gay Emmy-winning television director, gave an interview this week to AfterElton.com about gays in TV and a variety of other topics. I encourage you to read it (after you have read my Star Trek piece!). What jumped out for me is when Barclay was asked to comment on the Ann Coulter foot-in-mouth controversy:
"What this — and what happened with the Isaiah Washington situation — has given us is a really interesting moment in history to talk about the expression of hate and whether it is OK. Jesse Jackson and company did a little bit with "nigger" last year, and there was a little bit of a brouhaha.
I think what's happening now between Coulter and Isaiah is that it's becoming something that people are talking about, and it's all good. "What does this mean to you" and "Were you offended by that?" I've had a gazillion conversations about my own personal reactions to the word that I've never had before because this stuff is in the news."
AE: We say the N-word; we don't even say the word "nigger" now. Is the F-word an equivalent level of offense?
PB: "To me, it is. For me, it's extremely parallel. Even with the fact that gay people can call each other "faggots" — that means a different thing. Just like black people can call each other "nigger" or "my nigger," as is the expression, that's a different thing than abusively being called that word. So, it's not just that word itself; it's how it's used and who uses it that gives it its power. So I think those words are really equivalent because the use of it — how it's used and who uses it — redefines the strength or the weakness of the word. It can be a term of endearment, or a casual address or it can be a slur depending upon how and who uses it. "