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<p>Yes, you have the right to be an ass, that doesn’t mean you should exercise that right.</p>
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<p>Yes, but everyone has the right to disagree with you.</p>
<p>panther, i don’t go around verbally attacking people nor do i use racial slurs. and i wouldn’t rely on stereotypes to insult others as insults should be more personal anyway. maybe it’s because of my circle of friends but calling something “gay” or calling someone a Jew has never been offensive nor caused a problem.
also, my analogy still applies because you could say “if you don’t have the guts to let your professor/guests know you speak slang/curse you’re being two faced.”
you don’t do or say certain things in order to leave a good first impression. i just watch how i behave so i leave a good first impression.
if i’m an ass or naive or whatever else it will still show.</p>
<p>Attack, your circle of friends probably doesn’t find the use of these terms to be offensive because none of them are gay or jewish and if they are they are probably only playing along to fit in better. I guarantee none of them think “wow hes so great for saying that this person is gay or that this person is ‘such a jew’”. It doesn’t matter what circle those terms are used in they are degrading and they foster discrimination. Of course you are free to say what you please regardless of how much of an ass it makes you look like.</p>
<p>Insults should be more personal? You just said you say “he’s such a jew” and call people “fags,” those are definitely not very personal, and the first at the least is based on a stereotype. The second is just hateful.</p>
<p>And your analogy DOESN’T apply because speaking slang or cursing at a dinner table doesn’t demean a group or person. That has been the issue here all along, and you continue to ignore it. Unless of course you think it sometimes is appropriate to devalue a group of people, in which yes, in your twisted view of things the analogy holds. </p>
<p>Tell me this - why are these words so important to you? If you feel at ANY instance that they come off as “very ignorant” just by using them in their usual context (recall I’m quoting your earlier post), what makes you so eager to defend them and continue to use them?</p>
<p>By the way, that beauty of a last line of yours makes me wonder if it’s even worth debating with you.</p>
<p>well actually, i went to an international high school and have friends that fit all of those categories. i can guarantee that they are not playing along to fit in better. although they aren’t thinking “wow hes so great for saying that this person is gay or that this person is ‘such a jew’” they don’t care because it isn’t meant to be offensive or insulting.
in theory those terms are degrading but in practice they can mean nothing. the usage of words change all the time and it’s people that put strength behind them. would you really complain every time someone called a cigarette a ■■■?</p>
<p>“Insults should be more personal? You just said you say “he’s such a jew” and call people “fags,” those are definitely not very personal, and the first at the least is based on a stereotype.”
what i meant by that is that i don’t use those words or statements to insult people and i don’t consider them insulting or demeaning.</p>
<p>“in theory those terms are degrading but in practice they can mean nothing. the usage of words change all the time and it’s people that put strength behind them. would you really complain every time someone called a cigarette a ■■■?”</p>
<p>If they mean nothing why use them? There’s obviously some connotation you associate with them that makes you use them when you do, i.e. as insults.</p>
<p>Yes, the usage of words change. And you are one of the people putting strength behind slurs like “■■■” and “homo” as well as developing the stereotype of being “a jew.” Congratulations. And if your last sentence is to suggest that the “■■■” you use is not related to the slur against homosexuals, then please explain why you listed “queer, homo, and gay” as other terms you use. Pretty big coincidence. Of course we wouldn’t get mad if you used it to mean a cigarette, but you clearly aren’t.</p>
<p>And you still haven’t answered my question as to why the words are important to you.</p>
<p>the reason it’s on the list is that they are all slurs against homosexuals but i never use them a such. the people who put strength behind slurs and stereotypes are the people who use them to insult others and the people who are offended by them. i would argue that using those words casually and in an unoffensive manner would lessen their strength.
to answer your question, the words aren’t important at all. they’re so meaningless and casual that it would be an active effort and inconvenience to try and never say them.</p>
<p>Sorry, but ■■■ and homo are used exclusively as slurs and you’ll never hear them in a casual conversation like “This my friend James, he’s a ■■■.” So you’re either denying using these words maliciously or as insults or are a very strange person. Actually, do you mind illustrating how you use these words so we can see what you say without your own biased interpretation of it?</p>
<p>“i would argue that using those words casually and in an unoffensive manner would lessen their strength.”</p>
<p>Yes, let’s see how this works with the n-word and other racial slurs. </p>
<p>“to answer your question, the words aren’t important at all. they’re so meaningless and casual that it would be an active effort and inconvenience to try and never say them.”</p>
<p>They’re not meaningless. They’re not casual. And the fact that it would be an active effort for you to not say them says more about you than it does the words.</p>
<p>homo and ■■■ can be used casually. for example, after saying a sexual innuendo, saying “no homo” would just mean that you did not mean for it to sound sexual.
i don’t know how to stress this enough but i really do not use them as insults. also, whenever i say those words it is never even remotely related to a homosexual nor am i thinking of homosexuals when i say them. those words just have different meanings for me.
“Yes, let’s see how this works with the n-word and other racial slurs.”
i would argue that some racial slurs aren’t as taboo or insulting anymore because of their common usage.</p>
<p>Listening to you guys makes me realize how much Jesus can set you on a loving life that is so much more valuable then quibbling over name calling. Come on, dudes, get a life!</p>
<p>if you’re telling us to get a life because we’re quibbling over name calling, then you should get a life for listening to people quibble over name calling.</p>
<p>I’m listening to know how to ask Jesus to bless your socks off!</p>
<p>Okay, enough with the Jesus thing. I know <em>you</em> believe that he’s in your heart, but I know other people who believe that too, and they have showed me more hate and violence than I care to recall.</p>
<p>^Yeah, really. No thread hijacking, please.</p>
<p>cdover–They gave you themselves, not Jesus. Sorry for their misrepresentation.</p>
<p>And I totally just missed that last conversation about what people may or may not find offensive. That’s not for you to decide, Attack, and you shouldn’t assume people are always going to get that you hold no offence. Call me uptight, but using f-- is never appropriate in any situation.</p>
<p>Many white people didn’t understand the severity of the n-word, the same way many straight people don’t understand the severity of that f-word. </p>
<p>p.s. As a side note, I find it very hard to believe that your [many</a> gay friends](<a href=“http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2008/12/17/so_many_anti_gay_bigots_so_ma"]many”>http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2008/12/17/so_many_anti_gay_bigots_so_ma) are perfectly fine with your derogatary use of who they are. If they are okay with it on the outside, I’m going to bet my bottom dollar they are hurting on the inside.</p>
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cdover–They gave you themselves, not Jesus. Sorry for their misrepresentation.
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<p>Then, how do you know you represent Him and not just yourself? If you “just know”, the people I mentioned “just know” as well.</p>
<p>Sorry to take your thread on a tangent. I knew this would go nowhere when I started and here we are. Attack, the last thing I’m going to say is use whatever words you want as long as you don’t believe you’re superior to the groups whose names you’re borrowing. And when your words spark truly undeniable homophobic or antisemitic comments from someone who is led to believe you’re of the same opinion, as they undoubtedly will, you better have the damn courage to speak up to them.</p>
<p>^Oh, no, don’t worry about it. I’ve gotten more replies on topic than I expected, so going off on a tangent is fine. Plus it totally made the thread more interesting, haha.</p>