Background
I am in a debate about using the word “gay” as lame or stupid. Some suggest they find the usage offensive. I offer that I associate with homosexuals who don’t. So, what I was seeking was some sort of resolution on the matter. If a large number of people really couldn’t remove the “homosexual” idea from “gay” when it is used as “lame” or “stupid” then I would certainly withdraw both my argument and, in fact, my usage.
It is a sensitive topic. I can recognize that. Perhaps that is why I am adamant about ferreting out the matter.
Then along comes Otto. Truthfully he was in there talking about the matter with another poster before he rounded on me, out of the blue, with the following comment:
One, you are being an ill-mannered lout.
Two, if I KNEW it was offensive to so many people I wouldn’t be pressing the issue since that is exactly the question I was asking: do a great many people find the word used that way offensive? Your second-rate neural connections must prohibit reading comprehension after a sufficient level of abstraction is achieved, because otherwise you would know that.
Three, merely stating “A great many people find it offensive” does not convince me. If it did I would be hangin out in MPSISMS or IMHO. Instead I like GD and GQ where people usually support an argument with facts, reason, or both. You have supplied neither. In fact, your post leads me to wonder if you have the ability to use reason or recognize facts at all.
Four, I am not asking permission to use the word in the manner I prescribe. If you could read at a second grade level you would see that I already use the word that way. I do not need permission to do this. What I was hoping for was a reason I shouldn’t use it. I outlined what I would accept as proof. In this case, it was some source stating that a recognized portion of the gay community was offended by this usage. Since I realized that such a comment might be non-existent and thus my argument not falsifiable, I then reasoned that one might equate the impression of “homosexual” and “stupid” in the use of gay if the majority of people were homophobic. I even mentioned that my statistics are weak and so I didn’t need a scientific journal. As long as it wasn’t the National Enquirer I would have been satisfied. I don’t think you even have the perspicacity to read the National Enquirer, though I suppose I may be able to grant you the ability to discern a rudimentary context from their varied pictures. I really didn’t expect supporting comment one way or the other from you, but I was at least hoping for you to get a grip on life and debate the matter.
Otto goes on to say
The origin of the word and the relative homophobia of the general population is irrelevant to whether gay people find the use of the word “gay” in this fashion to be offensive.
While this is perhaps true, it would certainly convince me why people in general would equate “homosexual” and “stupid” in the use of the word and I would be convinced that, though I don’t mean it to harm in any way the majority of people do mean it to offend. And so I would stop using it. Which is your desired goal, I suppose, apart from trying to cut me a new asshole with your baby teeth (and being completely unsuccessful at both).
I offered at least two paths to aid in my understanding of the offensiveness of the word in the general case. Since this isn’t GD but is the PIT I won’t present other facets of my argument here.
In closing
You shame yourself and are an embarrassment to the sensitivity you claim to profess. I find your presence in that thread more distasteful than me asking for a new perpective on a sensitive topic. I find your understanding of what I am asking for to quantitatively and qualitatively empty. Your attitude does not match the behavior a person attempting to provide understanding or reach a reasoned conclusion, nonetheless possess one to begin with. In short, you have demonstrated most successfully that you are an idiot and an asshole.