It’s trolling, pure and simple. It’s ignorant and juvenile beneath the dignity of posters here. It’s obnoxious.
From a recent thread:
Oh, and don’t worry, I’ve been deliberately leaving democrat party uncapitalized and without the “ic.”
I don’t see how you can ban this unless you also (for example) insist the we always refer to the Cheeto as “President Trump”. Can you frame this as some kind of general principle that you’re advocating, rather than a specific case?
Agreed. But derogatory references to the Nazi/Facist/WhiteSupremacist/Republican party should still be allowed.
Wasn’t TeaBagger censored here? Or at least caused some controversy because it’s not nice to make fun of people who are so stupid they give themselves derogatory names.
Would someone please explain this to me like I’m an idiot (really the only proper way to explain anything to me) because I just don’t get it. Seriously, what is going on here? Did I miss something somewhere? All I see is a spelling and capitalization error.
It’s a slur.
Democrat Party is an epithet for the Democratic Party of the United States, used in a disparaging fashion by the party’s opponents. While the term has been used in a non-hostile way, it has grown in its negative use since the 1940s, in particular by members of the Republican Party—in party platforms, partisan speeches, and press releases—as well as by conservative commentators.
While I agree that people who refer to the party that way are deliberately trying to annoy others, if we were to adopt such a standard, we’d have to ban about 500 offensive words here.
You can’t ban “democrat party” and allow Trumpanzee, Rethuglicans, etc.
We’d probably be spending all our time (well, all the time of those of us paying attention to this sort of thing) arguing about exactly which terms, for multiple parties, should be banned.
Plus which, there are people who are genuinely unaware that the shorter version is a slur.
I think we should be able to point it out in a thread in which somebody’s using it; but I don’t think we should ban it.
I’d be open to an argument, outside the Pit, that they should all be mod noted and that persistent use by a specific poster could be treated as trolling. (Yes, I know that leaves us open to the problem that I started off with.)
Well, I sorta gathered that it must be offensive to somebody somewhere from the OP. Either that or it is some kind of inside joke. But i still don’t “get it.” How did it become a slur?
It’s a meme, it took on a life of its own. Calling it a slur is a bit hyperbolic. It’s like deliberately misspelling or mispronouncing someone’s name when you obviously know better, to annoy and show disrespect.
I agree with the OP, and I’m perfectly fine with also banning various slurs for the Republican party outside of the Pit. It adds nothing to discussion, and only distracts, annoys, and enables trolling.
As a conservative this thread amuses me. Yes, it would be obnoxious to use slurs when speaking about political parties. Let’s be sure to avoid that in the future.
It’s funny because it all comes from Republicans not wanting to admit they are truly anti democratic small D.
What part amuses you? The part where several liberals have commented that it would only be appropriate if it were a general principle that were applied without partisan bias?
I think it’s a bit more than that. It’s the difference between referring to someone as a “Jewish doctor” and referring to them as a “Jew doctor.” Obviously, it’s not as extreme as that, but it’s the same general linguistic principle. Deliberately truncating an adjective like that just makes it sound like an epithet.
BTW, for whatever it’s worth, I’m all for some sort of ban on terms like “Democrat Party”, “Rethuglicans”, “Drumpf”, and the like in GQ, GD, and P&E. They add nothing useful to discussion or debate. But, I also generally think civility is a valuable end in and of itself, not even when talking to or about those I disagree with, but especially then, and I know a lot of folks, all over the political spectrum, feel differently.
Here’s another Lefty/Progressive vote for doing nothing, or for banning slur-ful terms for all people, all movements, etc. Targeting the right’s insults but not the left’s is unAmerican; don’t do that.
In general, name calling is kindergarten crap. On a forum that prides itself on complete essays, not just complete sentences, using name-calling is beneath the dignity of both the posters and the audience. Some months ago I switched to referring the the current President as “Trump” or as “the President”. Not because I like or agree with the guy, but because calling him a silly name doesn’t advance my adult agenda.
As a practical matter this idea to ban is dumb. All work & small nil benefit.
Here’s my modest counterproposal:
I’d be all for tweaking Discourse in the controversial categories so the minimum post length is 100 words. And anything padded with nonsense words, repetition, etc, is disappeared as spam. Followed after just a couple of offenses by disappearing the poster as a spammer.
IMO If you (any you) don’t have at least 100 words’-worth to say, and aren’t willing to put in at least that much effort laying your ideas out, then your ideas aren’t worth listening to.
FWIW this post, excluding this paragraph, is exactly 200 words. My 100 word threshold is not a high barrier to entry.
I agree the general principle should be applied without partisan bias. And there are many liberals on this forum who are respectful and see the benefit of avoiding an echo chamber on the SDMB.
It was the OP I found funny. Very much a pot calling the kettle black situation in regards to the general state of the SDMB.
I won’t say I have never done that, but I’d like to think it is rare and I will increase my efforts. That doesn’t preclude calling Trump an asshole, but would preclude intentionally spelling his name or his party’s name wrong as an insult.
I am a lifelong Democrat. See, there is the nasty word. but it’s ok in that context, but not in the context of “democrat party”? Look, I know some Republicans use it, but more in the context of “demon-rat” .
So, since we can hardly separate the two versions, I think we should just get over it.
Now, if clearly used to troll, then report for trolling. If used outside a proper form, report.
No, it should not be a bannable offense or even warnable, except in context.
Agreed. There is no acceptable context for “democrat party”, so that’s what should be banned outside of the Pit.
This is fucking pathetic.