I honestly think the use of such a word is completely unnecessary as well as ignorant. Just because it's meant as a joke doesn't mean that everyone's gonna find it funny, and not being sympathetic in the least if it turns out to offend someone makes the matter much, much worse. I recall a case where a comedian was in a high school and made a joke, something like a teacher doing something stupid and dying in a fire or something along those lines. Little did he know the the school had lost a beloved teacher in a fire during a recent incident.
Anyone who says "lawl they're just words lawl" are f-!king kidding themselves. By that logic then words such as "f-!k off" or even "I love you" would mean nothing, and if that still rings true, then you seriously need help. Words are one of the truest forms of communication and to be able to feel emotion through them is vital towards the success of a community. Many words can be interpreted differently depending on how they're said and who hears them, and you need to take responsibility for what you say if it unintentionally hurts someone just because they or someone they know may have gone through something that will make them see the word differently than you.
If you say something and someone gets mad, you can just as easily say apologize for the misleading of words as you can go about saying "lawl QQ moar", the latter choice of which very much so makes it look like you couldn't care less of what others see the word as, which means you may as well have meant it in an offensive manner since you very obviously don't care what others think of it.
I think both sides are weary from arguing with each other for far too long over far too many recent issues. Jamal, Arc, and possibly Miros honestly should have taken a breather from arguing back and forth, because it's showing quite clear that they're all getting quite wound up and have lost most (if not all) of their patience.
My opinion in regards to the n-joke that was tossed...I think it was in poor taste, but not at all worthy of a ban or even a warning. I DO hope, however, that when true racism issues pop up on the forum, that the members of the board handle it with much more seriousness than they appear to be in this thread.
Oh, and if you are really so fine with the word, maybe you could try happily saying it in front of a 7-year old nephew or niece, or perhaps even at a birthday party. You can even point out to the people who get upset that they're stupid for "getting mad over a stupid word."
