Why “White Supremacist” Is Nothing Like the N-Word

From Smerconish.com: The N-word isn't just a slur--it's an expression of power.

Marjorie Taylor Greene has power.

As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, she’s elected, has willing reporters documenting her every unhinged utterance, has columnists (like me) giving her added oxygen, and can use her vote to move public policy and tax dollars.

Also, she’s white.

Each of these things gives her power.

But when she equates the term white supremacist to the N-word — as she did recently — she exhibits a fundamental misunderstanding of that power … and just how dangerous that misunderstanding can be.

What makes a word offensive? What makes a word a slur? What makes a word unsayable, such that a publication will print only “the N-word” (but doesn’t feel a need to mask white supremacist as “the W-S-word”)?

Read the full column at Smerconish.com.