[News] 2012 News (NO POLITICS)

[Bagheera]

Quick question: So you all think "Retard" ok given the context, do you guys support the usage of "Faggot" when not referring to a gay man, and "Nigger" when not referring to a black man?

Just curious, because that's the logical conclusion.

I was thinking about just that earlier, and I think I'd be hard-pressed to find fault with the practice. I actually think "nigger" would be the more interesting case, since the reaction in that case would be more confusion than outrage (or rather, confusion then outrage). People would be like "wait, you just called a white guy a . . . ?" And then they're struggle for awhile to determine just what the fuck you're on about before they decide they should be offended and start criticizing you.

I think the "faggot" case would be a lot murkier, since onlookers would obviously recognize it as a slur and assume you're claiming that, because of trait X, your target is a homosexual. It might be different if the term was applied to a woman, though.

But anyway, it's a thorny issue. I mean, no one has trouble with anyone tossing around words like "idiot", "moron", "imbecile", "cretin", and the like, so why should "retard" be any different? But OTOH "retard" does have a history associated with it that those words don't (at least in recent memory), so there's that to consider as well. Context is key, and consistency is not necessarily a virtue.

[Rj123541]

But the actual meaning of "Faggot" is not an insult to homosexuals, As well as a lot of interpreted terms today.

[Bagheera]

But the actual meaning of "Faggot" is not an insult to homosexuals, As well as a lot of interpreted terms today.

True, but that's beside the point. The way it's used is what counts. That's why this is such a thorny issue! If people would just use words correctly and stop appropriating them to insult people everything would be fine.

[Xard]

True, but that's beside the point. The way it's used is what counts. That's why this is such a thorny issue! If people would just use words correctly and stop appropriating them to insult people everything would be fine.

but I don't use it as a insult :(

[Rj123541]

True, but that's beside the point. The way it's used is what counts. That's why this is such a thorny issue! If people would just use words correctly and stop appropriating them to insult people everything would be fine.

Exactly, so we all need, well most people need dictionaries this Christmas.

[Dr. Nick]

UC Berkeley law students busted for beheading an exotic bird.

Interestingly, the document also states that [one of the arrested students] worked last summer for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Well, I guess part of being a lawyer is that you don't have to love what you represent. Though typically you don't tear its head off and play catch with its corpse.

[arkiel]

Quick question: So you all think "Retard" ok given the context, do you guys support the usage of "Faggot" when not referring to a gay man, and "Nigger" when not referring to a black man?

Just curious, because that's the logical conclusion.

Nah, the logical conclusion is that most people self-censor 'faggot' and the n-word because those terms have no place in general society, because of the deep social wounds associated with both. The 'anti-retard' group has yet to convince as many people that the word 'retard' can create a group identity that properly incarnates and promotes the hatred, discrimination, and violence embodied by 'faggot' and the n-word.

I am unconvinced that 'retard' has ever been used as rallying cry to victimize the people literal retardation refers to. I'd also figure ironic use of 'retard' (as a general, throw-away insult by people who are not doctors, and aren't living in the early-mid 1900s [I guess?]) would promote the notion that the group identity 'retard' implicates is nothing more than an irrational fiction, that shouldn't determine the thoughts or behavior of anyone.

That's just me, though.

[riffraff11235]

Quick question: So you all think "Retard" ok given the context, do you guys support the usage of "Faggot" when not referring to a gay man, and "Nigger" when not referring to a black man?

I tend to shy away from using those words simply because of the way people tend to react to them, but I don't throw a fit when someone uses them around me. Seriously, whatever happened to "sticks and stones"? People are way too easily offended nowadays....

[CJD]

Seriously, whatever happened to "sticks and stones"?

Just another lie adults tell kids to make them feel better, nothing more nothing less.

Edit: One that Alaska will (dis)like.

I think I first heard about this story here, maybe I'm wrong though.

[Mr. Tines]

So, Windows 8 reached general availability today, and the EU have already decided it's going to be a flop. Remember all the fuss a few years ago that led to EU-specific editions of Windows with a browser choice option? Well, the EU have decided that there's no need for such measures with the new touch-based OS.

[NemZ]

Whatever. I'm still doing just fine with Windows XP.

[arkiel]

Microsoft's OS cycle needs to slow the fuck down. They aren't giving us Win 7 SP2 and giving us Win 8 instead? Same basic thing with incremental system improvements, no Start button, and a touch-based interface that's going to be entirely superfluous for the vast majority of users?

Dude, making your OS life-cycle more like Apple's isn't going to make you Apple :/

[EvangelionFan]

I'm still doing just fine with Windows XP.

I'm still doing fine too, except for the part where the OS is in a loop where it can't install a mandatory security update and has to download it again

[Monk Ed]

Whatever. I'm still doing just fine with Windows XP.

That's what I thought right before I experienced Windows 7 for the first time and wondered how I ever got along without it.

Not saying Windows 8 will be the same. Just sayin'.

[Reichu]

I mean, no one has trouble with anyone tossing around words like "idiot", "moron", "imbecile", "cretin", and the like, so why should "retard" be any different? But OTOH "retard" does have a history associated with it that those words don't (at least in recent memory), so there's that to consider as well. Context is key, and consistency is not necessarily a virtue.

I looked up the other words for any fun usage notes they might have.

idiot
Psychology . (no longer in technical use; considered offensive) a person of the lowest order in a former and discarded classification of mental retardation, having a mental age of less than three years old and an intelligence quotient under 25.

imbecile
Psychology . (no longer in technical use; considered offensive) a person of the second order in a former and discarded classification of mental retardation, above the level of idiocy, having a mental age of seven or eight years and an intelligence quotient of 25 to 50.

cretin
A person suffering from cretinism: a congenital disease due to absence or deficiency of normal thyroid secretion, characterized by physical deformity, dwarfism, and mental retardation, and often by goiter.

(Similarly, "dumb" is supposed to mean "lacking the ability to speak", but has been conflated with lack of intellectual ability.)

Most of these insults intrinsically target marginalized groups. Since we're always looking for better and harsher ways to insult each other -- such as via comparison to marginalized groups those with privilege would probably not voluntarily choose to belong to -- "retard" will eventually become old hat, a stock insult severed from its historical origins just like "idiot" and "imbecile". Concern over its usage will be replaced with something newer and more objectionable in the contemporary public's mind. The euphemism treadmill abets this process: as old labels are tainted by cultural baggage, new ones are constantly being created so the same thing can happen all over again.

[NemZ]

That's what I thought right before I experienced Windows 7 for the first time and wondered how I ever got along without it.

I think this comp still has few years on it before I need to build a new one, give or take another upgrade or two, judging by it's performance on fairly modern games. I'll switch to a new OS when I finally have to say the motherboard & CPU just aren't cutting it anymore.

[arkiel]

I looked up the other words for any fun usage notes they might have.

idiot
Psychology . (no longer in technical use; considered offensive) a person of the lowest order in a former and discarded classification of mental retardation, having a mental age of less than three years old and an intelligence quotient under 25.

imbecile
Psychology . (no longer in technical use; considered offensive) a person of the second order in a former and discarded classification of mental retardation, above the level of idiocy, having a mental age of seven or eight years and an intelligence quotient of 25 to 50.

cretin
A person suffering from cretinism: a congenital disease due to absence or deficiency of normal thyroid secretion, characterized by physical deformity, dwarfism, and mental retardation, and often by goiter.

(Similarly, "dumb" is supposed to mean "lacking the ability to speak", but has been conflated with lack of intellectual ability.)

Most of these insults intrinsically target marginalized groups.

People aren't (usually) targeting the group identity that can be inferred from these words, when they use them. Ironic use (modern use, in other words) of these words robs them of that original, intrinsic meaning, and these days you sorta have to go out of your way to use these words in their original meaning.

What I'm trying to get at is, using the words as insults diminishes the impact (and knowledge of) the original meaning, which is a good thing if you're actually trying to protect the people who would grouped under the collective identity those words used to imply.

I ever get one cornered by one of these people, I'm going to throw that original meaning of "idiot" at them, see how they juggle that

[CJD]

We're already half way there with "Fag."

[riffraff11235]

We're already half way there with "Fag."

As I like to say: Being gay is not a choice. Being a faggot, on the other hand....

[child of Lilith]

Whatever. I'm still doing just fine with Windows XP.

This. Living in the past is the best.