Peacebates

Blackbelt < Gun

I'm also a rather practiced marksman. Markswoman. Whatever. I hold a hunting license in North Carolina, and visit the shooting range every so often with my father. Pick your weapon, I can probably kill you with it. =]

Ueuhguheguh, I'm leiter, I can use guns, I can kick your ass, I'm intelligent, I'm a girl, blah BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH

Twig won

Oh.
Oh I know.

Leiter, I am -not- an English major. I hold absolutely -zero- stock in what a person says. I only value a person's actions as true to their character. If a person shouts the word "faggot" all day, but then defends a homosexual from a buncha miscreants, he's not that harsh, is he? But if he goes around saying faggot all day, and then -is- on of those miscreants... That is different entirely.

I consistently call my dog a big, stupid, black faggot. Because he is, and he doesn't care what I say. When I say it, I have all the love I've ever had for him in my voice, and it sets his tail waggin' and his face droolin'. Ugh.

This epitomizes my point that it's not what you say, it's how you say it. People are too sensitive. They -make- excuses to turn these words into insults. "Homo" is an abbreviation for "homosexual", which is a simple statement of the person's sexuality, and not necessarily an insult unless they take it as such (or is stated in an obviously insulting way, in which case "poop licker" would be just as insulting).

Now, I know I'm a horrible person for all this, but a perfect example of this is black "extremists", for lack of a better term. Think guys who formed the Black Panthers. It's like the KKK, but backwards. These kind of people are the ones who would turn the term "African American" into an insult (seeing as the new term is "Afro-American". We can't denote them by country of origin, so it's by common hairstlye. Which is more racist when you think like that?). There are black people who hate whites more than whites hate blacks. There are blacks who will scream bloody murder at you if you -look- at them the wrong way. These people -want- to think you're against something as stupid as the color of their skin so that they can place themselves upon a pedestal. They cry out "racist" against whites who think little of them, which is hypocritical, because if a -black- man criticized them, then the situation is completely different. Who's racist again? Now, I live in a mostly white community. I have no problem with black people. But because of the way -some- of them act, I'm on edge when I'm near one because I don't want to offend. I shouldn't have to think about what I say because the wrong word might set someone off like a bottle rocket. So, I don't know who it was, but there was one kid who first took the terms "homo" and "faggot" as insulting, when they could have easily shrugged them off, has single-handedly set their own cause backwards by overreacting to something as foolish as words.

P.S. I am not denying white/Catholic/hetero supremacy, and the fact that discrimination exists. But the actual percent of the population who supports these ideas is low. The common mindset is much more accepting and lax versus that of our ancestors.

P.P.S. My opinion on this is very strong. You will not likely change my mind, and I will never place a person's words over his actions. However, I will listen to what you have to say, and I will consider it. However, I ask that you think carefully over what I say before you respond, or else -I- will seriously rethink our friendship. I am not trying to intimidate you into agreeing, as I am fine with you disagreeing with me. In fact, I almost expect it. However, I don't want you to say something foolish because you won't consider things from all perspectives. No matter how smart you are, Leiter - which I know you are - You are as capable of stupidity as anyone. I speak from experience, once being a repeated request for gifted programs and foreign exchange programs, and now struggling to graduate from high school. But that's a story for another time, and not for all eyes to see.

P.P.P.S. Twig, I agree.

Not even sure what to say, you took this to a whole 'nother ballpark. Let's not get into race. I just.. what?
That post was ridickulus.

You're missing my point entirely.

The point is NOT whether you think a certain word is offensive or not. My point is that people today don't think about how what they're saying affects other people. You can rationalize what you say from here 'til Kingdom come, but the fact remains that the words we're talking about are highly offensive to certain people, usually based on historical or cultural usage.

Look at the example you gave; homo is a shortening of the word homosexual, yes. However, in common usage today, it is used as a derogatory term. Common usage makes it an offensive word. Nigger used to be just a statement of a black person's race, but common usage by white slaveowners turned it into a derogatory term. Even if you don't mean to insult or demean the person you're addressing, if you use a term that, in common usage, is offensive, that person has every right to be offended.

And by the way, the term 'Afro-American' is not referring to the hairstyle. 'Afro-' is a shortening of 'African-', just like 'Anglo-' in Anglo-Saxon is a shortening of 'Anglican'. Afro-American is also not a new term, having been in usage since the 1890's, whereas the Black Panthers didn't come into existence until the 1960's.

As for the point that discrimination and those who support it are few in this country, I will only point to California's Prop. 8 and Florida's Amendment 2, and leave you to interpret that as you will.

"P.S. I am not denying white/Catholic/hetero supremacy"

Is that not the most bigot thing someone can say >_>

Not denying that those things exist, Twig. Not that he supports them.

Not to mention neither me nor Falcon or really white or at all Catholic. We are hetero - well, I suppose I can't speak for Falcon on that one.

Hahaha, BURN.
And I misread, hah.

Leiter, you miss my point. I shall boil it down as simply as I may.

There is only discriminatory words because someone, somewhere took those words as offensive in the extreme when they did not need to. People overreact ridiculously to something as simple as words.
"Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me..."

There are only discriminatory words because someone, somewhere hated somebody different from them enough to create them. I still stand by my point, but no, that isn't why such words have such connotations.

Then this is where we disagree.

You're saying that the words are offensive because at some point someone took offense to them; I'm saying that the words are offensive because the common usage of the word in today's culture is offensive. The two may overlap, or not, but my main point still remains that the words should be carefully used, if used at all, to try to minimize the offense given.

Sarcasm:
Leiter im shocked, and im shocked by the rest of you as well.

I was simply saying twig is a man filled with faggishly happy feelings, so he is, in turn, a faggot.

How you could think i would ever insult anyone is just beyond me, I have love you all deeply and this hurts....deeply....yeah....

But its a word, just like love, and i get just as mad when someone says the word love as when they say "Coldplay is a great band." But does that mean that i'm right? Of course I am.....but that doesn't help my point here so no.

Don't be scared of words! They don't bite, well except for on onamonopeia. That one is a basterd word.
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Seriousness:
When it comes to this subject, words causing offense to people, its simple. The solution lies within yourself, simply refuse to let it effect you and it no longer can. Since I live in Memphis, I actually deal with this subject every day almost. You were right when you said the word "nigger" is the same as "faggot", but where as you see them as offensive things to be pushed down and never spoken, i see them as words, sounds reverberating from your vocal cords in a manor other humans can comprehend and interpret. So, by definition an insult is something YOU take offense to, not something a person tries to use to offend you. If you don't let it offend you, then it doesn't. It simply become a bunch of sounds coming out of a mouth.

Now im sure thats what virtually everyone said save Leiter, but thats because it is the truth, and the most simple solution. The most educated solution is whoever realizes that not becoming offended is the easiest way to stop an argument can more mature way of just not saying it. But that will never happen, and neither will the other solution.

So you might ask, Peace, master of all things pointless and unsolved, how do we fix this problem! I will tell you, with two extremely overused words which i hope have the ability to appropriately summarize my opinion on this much debated topic:
Fuck It
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NEXT PLEASE

Agree to disagree, then, Leiter. I think we both know it's foolish to argue over something like this, and even if our views are opposing, I doubt either of us has reason to believe the other a worse person for their opinions, in virtue of the way we act. I will gladly refrain from the use of malicious words, but if my tongue should slip, please do remember, they're just words, and nothing more.

Sticks and stones may break a bone, but words can break a heart.

DAMMIT, I SAID LET IT GO.

Actually, Peace ended this one with a well rounded "Fuck it"

i know right...but i new someone would ruin it by trying to add on just a little bit more.

FALCON!!!!!!!(imagine that just like me screaming KAHN!!!!!)

Desu.

I don't know what that means, but it's Japanese.

So, uh. I don't know what I was trying to prove.

Desu is some anime shit that "cutsy" characters will often say as like.. a sentence finished. The popularity of desu came from the character Sousiseki from the show Rozen Maiden (great show btw) who said Desu after like, every, fucking, sentance. And then the chan dickheads went and turned it into one of their little memes ruining everything about it like they do to everything else. Prime example being people not knowing where the whole desu thing came from, but saying it anyways because they like to conform.

Twig...what the fuck?

Damn. It's usually me who rattles off random information.