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Cactus on 13 August 2009
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fastyxx said:
Cactus said:
Words Of Wisdom said:
I couldn't care less if people call something "gay" or use the word "raped" after beating someone in a video game. They're just words.

/thread

I like to think of myself as a really liberal person, but the one thing that that bothers about my liberal brethren is the overblown sensitivity to everything. Trying to quell the casual use of these words, in my opinion, is an impossible feat, especially with idiotic campaigns such as this one.

Gay, retard, rape and other similar words are used because they've become 'mainstream' insults. Am I saying that this is a good thing? No. The users, for the most part, are desensitized to the meaning, and just use them as generic insults. If a person is homosexual and proud, why should the fact that some immature brat uses the word as an generic insult while playing an online game bother them?

Insults are hollow, meaningless words until somebody decides to "become offended" by them. Only those who use these words with malicious intent and hatred should be preached to, but with the way the world is headed socially, these groups will minimize naturally, which makes campaigns like this meaningless.

I may have come off as a little hostile, but I hope people can see the points that I'm trying to make.

You miss the point.  Yes, raping someone in a game is not offensive to you, because you have not been raped.  Or someone very close to you.  But when you use that expression around someone who HAS has that horrific experience, it is very offensive and possibly damaging.  So unless you know for sure that everyone that will hear you has NOT had that experience, then it's best to be aware of other people's feelings and avoid it.

Same thing goes for "That's so gay."  Yes.  Your friends, even if they are gay, know you and trust you enough to understand that you mean no harm and understand your intentions.  When you joking call a female friend a bitch, she knows you are playing with her and is not offended.  You say it to a stranger and it's offensive.  True of dozens and dozens of words, and people seem to grasp that concept - except in these couple cases, where suddenly it doesn't matter.

But it does.  Go read the news story comments for examples.

Believe me, I didn't miss the point. If I were gay, why should I be offended by what some idiot over the internet, says about my sexual orientation?

I might not have been raped, and I might not be gay or mentally retarded, but that doesn't mean that I don't understand that some people feel the effect of these words to a much greater extent than others, but really, if that's the argument, then it can easily be made for many, many more words than people think.

Maybe I get all D's on my report card and I take serious offence to a guy calling me an idiot over the internet. Maybe I was born a genius , and I get depressed because some girl in my class called me a nerd. Sure you could argue that "rape" is worse than "idiot", but in reality, they're all just words, and the way some people use them, and the way some people perceive them can vary immensly.