# Flip chart is offensive

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flip-chart-is-offensive/794439>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [August 23, 2017, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flip-chart-is-offensive/794439 "2017-08-23T07:49:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flip-chart-is-offensive/794439/41 "2017-08-25T11:47:46Z")

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> [@Gyrate](#):
>
> See also: people “looting” vs “finding supplies” in the Katrina floods.

Two different people at two different newspapers didn’t independently arrive at the exact same wording for a caption. Shocking!

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**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flip-chart-is-offensive/794439/42 "2017-08-25T13:06:46Z")

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> [@Darren\_Garrison](#):
>
> Two different people at two different newspapers didn’t independently arrive at the exact same wording for a caption. Shocking!

Yes, those terms are synonymous. :rolleyes:

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**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flip-chart-is-offensive/794439/43 "2017-08-25T13:21:15Z")

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> [@Guinastasia](#):
>
> So “thug” is now soley a racist slur, and cannot be used in any other context? Like, I’m watching a game and I see a player sucker punch someone, and say, “Milan Lucic is a fucking thug”. That’s no longer appropriate?

No one said that. You can also use “gay” to mean happy if you’d like and be 100% contextually accurate and not be slurring anyone or anything.

It does, however, help to know the additional contexts or meanings of a word you use rather than throwing a hissy fit and pulling out your hundred year old dictionary in a huff because you didn’t know, or refuse to accept, that others interpret it differently here in the year 2017.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2017, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flip-chart-is-offensive/794439/44 "2017-08-25T13:23:34Z")

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> [@Gyrate](#):
>
> Yes, those terms are synonymous. :rolleyes:

My point is that if the “looter” captioner had been given a photo of white people stealing store inventory they may have still written “looters” and if the “finding supplies” captioner had been given a photo of black people stealing store inventory then they may have still written “finding supplies.” Concluding that one person was fair and one person was racist because one of them chose a different phrasing than the other is massively jumping to conclusions.:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

(Good article links in [the Snopes entry](http://www.snopes.com/katrina/photos/looters.asp).)

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