spindashing
Banned
When a straight male is born on Gay Island, he is instantly ostracized.
"Look at that hetero."
"Look at that hetero."
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Kobe Bryant slinging homophobic slur during nationally televised NBA game
- Thread starter Aruarian Reflection
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Shin Dynamo X
Banned
I came by to do a vitality check and you guys are still arguing over this? LET IT GO.
It was fun for a minute, but now you all are totally off on another topic. I have never seen the word "nigger" used so often and so wrecklessly in my life. I'm starting to think that some of you are enjoying this. I have yet to see the word gook, spick, chink, camel jockey, raghead, or whatever...sigh. At least mix it up for pete's sake!
Regardless, this thread needs to be closed. Nothing more to see here people...there will be no compromise here.
It was fun for a minute, but now you all are totally off on another topic. I have never seen the word "nigger" used so often and so wrecklessly in my life. I'm starting to think that some of you are enjoying this. I have yet to see the word gook, spick, chink, camel jockey, raghead, or whatever...sigh. At least mix it up for pete's sake!
Regardless, this thread needs to be closed. Nothing more to see here people...there will be no compromise here.
Mercury Fred
Banned
Hey, I didn't know that you'd been made a mod already! Congrats!!Shin Dynamo X said:
ZephyrFate
Banned
More like, "Who's having sex with him first?"spindashing said:
Yeah.
Dude Abides
Banned
Mercury Fred said:
Ironically, there's a new sticky warning people, among other things, not to threadwhine.
spindashing
Banned
ZephyrFate said:More like, "Who's having sex with him first?"
Yeah.
Gamer98 said:
Or a thousand dicks get tossed into that person's hole(s).
spindashing
Banned
In all seriousness, I love it when an intolerable argument transforms into a more lighthearted joke session. It's very rare, but when it happens, it's gold.
Mercury Fred
Banned
Yeah, gays are awesome when they can be the punchline to a joke. I just wish I didn't have to hear about the supposed discrimination against them. Keep that shit to yourselves.Gamer98 said:
spindashing
Banned
I don't know about that, I'd love to hear about Black People Continent but I think that's already done.
"No Whites Allowed" fountains...
"No Whites Allowed" fountains...
PhoenixDark said:
Well I already explained that "nigger" is unlike any other word in the English language and isn't really isn't treated like other types of offensive language. There's even a variant of it ("nigga") which makes it semi-acceptable within a certain group of people. How many other words get that kind of treatment?
Also, why are people responding to Gamer98?
PhoenixDark
Banned
spindashing said:
Entire mountains made of KFC friend chicken skin. Pools of ranch dressing. And asian DNA to create an army of Blasians
spindashing
Banned
A tear fell down my eye just now...PhoenixDark said:
Beautiful.
spindashing said:
Exactly I read most of this thread nobody was having a serious conversation and I derailed it. People are acting like this have never happened before on GAF. I grew up looking up to my oldest brother who I found out was gay and I still fucking love him to death no matter what. I would never say that shit to a gay person just to hurt them, but I do use the word regularly with my friends and shit and I understand why it would hurt somebody but I do it anyways cause I'm a fucking person and most of us are fuck ups but we try to do better.
Jeff Albertson
Member
spindashing said:
Yep, gamer is obviously just fed up with the continuing thread loop and mixed it up a bit.
Controversial but it's all tongue in cheek I imagine.
Phoenix, when I said it was asinine, I didn't mean that I disagreed that language changed. I meant that simply pointing out that language changes is not an argument for it being a change that someone should be for or against. With his constant whining that we should just get over it, MIMIC seems to think that we should at least be neutral on the subject of fag / faggot being used as a slur because.... language changes.
I wonder how "nigger became anathema in polite society. I mean, once upon a time it was perfectly acceptable for white people to throw it around, so clearly something changed. Any ideas on what happened, MIMIC?
And then, could you explain why gay people shouldn't do the same thing with regards to slurs directed towards them?
MIMIC said:
I wonder how "nigger became anathema in polite society. I mean, once upon a time it was perfectly acceptable for white people to throw it around, so clearly something changed. Any ideas on what happened, MIMIC?
And then, could you explain why gay people shouldn't do the same thing with regards to slurs directed towards them?
I've actually heard arguments that the reappropriation thing, such as gay people did with "queer," is a 'better' approach than the "trying to ban it from polite discourse" approach, so I suppose there's that.
ZephyrFate
Banned
There's gays everywhere and apparently proximity isn't really fixing the usage of the word 'faggot' yet.Gamer98 said:
With the prevalence of the slur being thrown around the NBA, do we know if players would accept an openly gay player? John Amaechi did not come out until after he left the league.
Here's what one player had to say about it 5 years ago--what do people think? Have times changed?
Here's what one player had to say about it 5 years ago--what do people think? Have times changed?
http://www.gaypasg.org/GayPASG/PressClippings/2005/Nov/Male%20Athletes%20Aren't%20Ready%20for%20Gay%20Teammates.htm
How About No
Member
Mumei said:
I think that's what should happen. "Fag" needs to become a term of endearment in the gay community like nigga ("Hey wassup mah faggie"), and it will lose any malice it once carried.
I would hope :/
ZephyrFate said:
It will, give it time. I was chilling with my gay friend at work today I said it. He got aggravated then I spoke about the south park episode about the word and we both agreed I really did not mean for it to be used against gays or anything I just say it to a person who i think is fucking dumb. He understood then we stared making fun of the recent ads about not using the word gay to insult a person. You know that dumb add with Wanda Sykes.
PhoenixDark
Banned
numble said:
There have been lots of rumors about Richard Jefferson being gay, ironically. Same with Richard Hamilton
Regulus Tera
Romanes Eunt Domus
spindashing said:
How is anyone born on Gay Island in the first place?
Gamer98 said:
*Sigh* it's not going to work like that man. It can't change like that. You can't turn a slur into a general insult - as long as people keep using faggot as a direct insult, it will hurt gay people as an indirect insult. The best way around this is just trying to get as few people as possible to use the damn word, there is just no point. Using it more and more as a general insult also isn't going to paint the best image of you. Look at all the other slurs attached to ethnicities, it's taboo to say them, the closest you have is 'nigga' and even then, that's exclusive use, black people only. It's better to make it taboo than to essentially tell people "Hey I know this word offends you on a deep, primal level, but I am trying something new - I'll just call dumb people faggots now, not gay people".
les papillons sexuels
Banned
Dead Man said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slurs
A number of the "slurrs" on there seem to be no longer relevent.
Like being called a polak, i really don't think any polish person would take insult.
Or a flip.
If you called a black person a gable, I bet they'd just look at you confused.
That's true, but they have not taken a new meaning, they have stoped being used. They are still a slur, just not a very well known one. What I mean is a word like kike, or faggot, or something that is still used, but no longer has the meaning of the original slur.les papillons sexuels said:
If you mean things like lame, those still retain their original meaning, and have developed to be insults because of that.jorma said:
Dead Man said:
I'm not sure i know what you are after anymore.
Does anyone actually think that i disapprove of lame people if i use that word? Should i write "gawd, this video is really l**e". Does anyone really relate the word in that context to being unable to walk?
I'm thinking this word in everyday language has completely changed it's meaning. You have to be pretty specific in your use of the word if you want people to realise that you are talking about people unable to walk.
People are trying to make the argument that faggot is no longer a slur against gay people, and is a generalised insult without any other meaning. I am trying to find a word that is the same. Lame very much retains it's original meaning, and is not a slur in the sense that faggot is. Lame was a word with a specific meaning that was negative (being unable to walk), so people generalised it. If you want to argue that for faggot, you must assume that being gay is negative, or show that a slur can lose it's original meaning entirely while still being used as a generalised insult.jorma said:
Gamer98 said:
Sure you did. Let's put it this way: if you do have a gay friend, why would you want to make your friend feels uncomfortable, awkward, and in general, unwanted by saying that word? If what you say is true and he was aggravated about it, that should tell you that he's not happy about it. So you actually prioritized your ability to say that one word as an insult as opposed to his happiness as a friend? Some friend you are. Or is this one of those times when people say "I have gay brother/sister/neighbor/friend" just to defend their bigoted POV?
Let's face it, at the end of the day saying "You're gay" implying that whoever you call out with that word as a weak, pathetic, loser. Even when you're not implying that being gay is such thing, you're still associating the word that gay people use to describe their sexuality with that of being weak, pathetic, loser.
Personally if I have a friend who's nonchalantly use that word, I'd tell them that I am not comfortable about it. Guess what? Surprisingly, most of my friends are actually decent human being who don't say "But it's just a word". In fact, they became embarrassed about it. That's when I know that they respect me as a friend. Because they prioritize me being comfortable around them and not choosing their ability to say juvenile word just because they feel like it.
Dead Man said:
The point is that the word lame does not just retain it's original meaning; the word evolved and got another meaning as well. In fact, this new meaning is so common that you have to be specific if you want people to realise that you are talking about people that has difficulties with walking. And if i call linkin parks latest album "lame", no one will ask me why i am accusing it of being unable to walk. And that is because the word changed it's meaning.
Gay is nearly there; faggot still has a while to go imo.
If people are making the argument that calling someone a faggot as in insult can be done independent of it's meaning as a slur for gay, they need to be able to demonstrate that it no longer has that meaning. Otherwise it is a case of a specific insult being generalised. If people thought there was no negative connotation to being gay, why would a word that mean that become a generalised insult?MIMIC said:
The onus is very much on the people making that claim to demonstrate either evidence of that claim, which is almost impossible, or at least fine an analogous situation.
Yeah, lame got another meaning AS WELL. It did not stop meaning being unable to walk, and the reason it is a generalised insult is because being unable to walk is a negative characteristic. I don't think a word like lame has been used as a slur against a particular group, wither. It was as descriptive word for a condition, that became a generalised insult. Before that, it was what you called people that could not walk. It was the polite word for it, too. So I don't think it shares very much similarity with what people are claiming for faggot, which has never been the polite word for gay, is still frequently used a pejorative for gay, and even if the person did not mean it as a label for someone being gay, still is used to associate a neutral condition (being gay) as an insult. It's as if people were trying to 'ginger' (an insult for red headedness, mainly in the UK and Australia) now also was a general insult, but it was not due to it's earlier use as insult for red headedness. It is far more likely that if a specific slur becomes broadened, it is not due to losing it's meaning, but that that meaning is considered a negative, and hence becomes an insult in itself.jorma said:
Edit: Look, I guess what I'm saying is that you cannot say faggot is not offensive, until it's not offensive. If many people find it offensive, it is. I can't just decide to call everyone who is ugly a kike, and expect people to know that I am making now insult against Jewish people. Even if my friends knew that was how I was using the word, Jewish people would be right to look at my motivations for picking the word kike very carefully.
Dead Man said:
Well, that's the point. Most words that have turned into generalized insults come from things that are perceived as negative, unnatural, irregular, wrong, etc.
Take the two words that I mentioned before: lame (unable to walk) and dumb (unable to speak). These were not insults back then, BUT they were negative/unwanted traits, in that they referenced an INability to do something.
So, things that weren't seen as "normal" became insults.
Homosexuality is obviously perceived as wrong, unnatural, irregular, etc. by some people.....and thus the general insult was born.
(this is just my guess, based on all of the insults that used to be regular, inoffensive words)
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