Arguably, the K word is just as bad if not perhaps worse than the N word. My evidence? 6 million dead.
We don’t, because it’s impossible. You are constructing a strawman.
There will never be a lexicon of banned words. There will never be a definitive ranking system. These things are not necessary to enforce a general standard of polite discourse in a community.
This is why even the Supreme Court recognizes the concept of community standards, because what is obscene or egregious in one community might be different in another. Because even within a particular community, what is obscene or egregious will evolve over time. Just as it’s done here on the Dope.
I responded to this in an earlier post by Riemannand both his post and my response got ignored. Can the mods chime in on this? To my knowledge, this is a special case. It’s important enough for the mod team to allow this exception so…why? What makes this so valuable that the normal rules don’t apply?
The words of the women on this board are, once again, drowned out by literal pages of writing from men defending their right to use this word. And the words of the women are routinely ignored or dismissed. Several women have said in this thread and others that they view this word as a slur and it’s use drives them from this board. Would any mods care to address that?
This board is skewing more white and more male year by year. There’s a reason for that. And that reason is deliberate choices by moderators as to which words are slurs and which aren’t or, to put it another way, deliberate choices on which groups are welcomed and which aren’t. Anti-gay and anti-Jew slurs are modded far more stringently on this board…we have a gay mod though so it’s not a surprise.
It’s disgraceful that the entire mod team that they aren’t listening to the targets of the slurs but are privileging those who wish to use them to the point of breaking the board rules to do so. If they had listened to homophobes then faggot would still be allowed but it isn’t. Special rules again.
I wish people didn’t make these kinds of comparisons. They serve no good end.
Irishman, whose post I replied to and to whom those questions were directed 9altho of course, all are free to reply) seems to think there is.
So what is your solution?
The boards solution seems to be - disallow these terms used against posters and non-public figures. Except in the Pit. I disagree with the “except in the Pit” part.
dup
I didnt make the comparison. Its an example of how this sort of language serves to dehumanize its targets and allows the users to brutalize them. The fact that the K word doesnt have the same sort of evil connotation as the N word is just stupefying to me.
Ha. We have our own K word in South Africa. And you can go to jail for using it.
Does that mean the autobiography using that word in its title cant be sold in SA?
My point in that comment is that different insults have different levels of offense. For instance, most people think “fuck” and “fucker” are stronger than “dick” and “shit”. However, I have seen at least two T-shirts with “fuck” on them, so that may be shifting.
I know I brought it up, but I don’t really feel the urge to defend the need to use the word “dick” on the board. I was just trying to explain that it’s possible to argue against the word “cunt” without requiring equal service in dismissing “dick”. Playing the “this word is harsher than that word” kinda falls into the trap you outline above, where different racial epithets get treated as different levels of offense, even though they shouldn’t. So if the feeling is that we should be avoiding gendered insults, then maybe “dick” should be off limits as well. I’m agnostic on that point, as “dick” doesn’t have centuries of oppression behind it.
And while we’re at it, nobody has even mentioned the use of the word “pussy” to denote a weak, cowardly male.
Sure, the speaker may have the intent of “You are a nasty, rude person,” but why is the word “cunt” the epithet to apply? Simply because it’s a sex organ, and sex organs are dirty? Or is it because of an expression of equivalence to femalehood? Many people, especially women, feel it is the second reason. Thus, this thread.
Which, to some, is the worst insult you can make. That word was flung around at almost anyone in the US Army, supposedly to make you try harder. It only made me laugh.
“Hey, troop, ya got a rag on? Pussy!”
I will defend my right to call trump a despicable cunt and bitch, or dick, or prick, or asshole, or fuckhead or whatever name I like. And republicans can do the same with Biden. Or any such politician, male or female. Politics makes strange bedfellows and rules. Feelings run strong.
Now, yes, other posters? Even in the Pit? We can & should drop those words, and even be a little careful with other, similar words. Same with any non -politicians.
Can we agree on that as a compromise?
DrDeth: I want to call people a cunt.
Other dopers: Please don’t use that word.
DrDeth: OK, we’ll compromise. I’ll call people a cunt, and you don’t complain about it.
:rolleyes:
No, I said I want to call Politicians that name, not *people. *
And I agreed it should not be used for anyone else.
However, dont speak for “other dopers”- speak for just one- TroutMan.
We are discussing what the rules should be for that word and similar words. Are you saying I dont get a voice? That you - apparently speaking for all Other dopers and the staff here- have made a decision? :dubious::rolleyes:
Other members here also think it shouldnt be censored.
That depends. Are “we” the ones that establish the rules for this message board?
Not at all, but “we” are discussing it, no?
“We” can find differing opinions on every single rule that this board has established(and that we agree to in exchange for permission to post here).
I am speaking for the dopers who said they didn’t want that word used. I mean, their posts are right on this page, I’m not guessing here.
You certainly get a voice. But don’t pretend it’s a compromise when a lot of people say the word itself is offensive, and your solution is to keep using it.
and a lot said otherwise.
In fact when Ed banned it, there was quite a bit of uproar, and there was much rejoicing when Miller rescinded that rule.
Look, I have said we should never use it for anyone but politicians. That is a compromise.
No-That is just a weakening, if not the total elimination, of an established rule that serves a very real purpose.