I mean he literally used a racial slur as an insult. It's not like he was repeating it as a "this what this other person said" or reasonably discussing the word and just not saying the n word, which I actually agree shouldn't be taoo.
Using a racial slur against someone is a pretty strong signal that you are prejudiced against that particular race. That insult is not even a common catch all insult like gay or other stuff is. It's pretty unusual to say that.
Im not saying he's a racist but that's a pretty weird hill to take the "the word racist is now meaningless" stance on.
I don't know. I understand your point, but this is all so subjective. A true racist to me is someone who actively believes one race is superior to another, or someone who denigrates an individual or group based solely on race.
Using a racial slur as a catch all insult doesn't necessarily denote real racism. If Pewdiepie knew the person he was insulting was black, and that black identity was the crux of his insult, then that's far more damning.
I hang out with a pretty diverse group of guys, including black guys, and the n-word has been used interchangeably with the f-word (bundle of sticks), c-word, p-word, *****, and all other kinds of racist/homophobic/sexist insults, especially when competing with one another. And we're in our 30s.
I think the context here is pretty harmless. But then again, my black buddy thought the context was over the line. So maybe I'm wrong and lack proper perspective on this.
We both agreed, though, that labeling Pewdiepie an actual racist because he called some faceless, nameless video game player an n-word is a bit absurd.
That's what I mean by "racist" having been stripped of critical meaning. "Racism" should mean a lot more than "casual, self aware prejudice every human being on planet earth is born with."
And it's incidents like these which strip the word of meaning. If Pewdiepie is a racist, what does that make David Duke, or the white supremacists in Charlottesville? The "hyperbole creep" in our language restricts effective, salient communication.