I think you’re letting your personal interpretation of the term influence your assessment of the overall perjorative-ness of it. Overall I don’t have a big problem with how this has gone down, and see that regionally it could be interpreted differently.
In another thread, someone took offense to the use of the word ‘dude’ as disrespectful. I use the term all the time, so to me, that’s not persuasive. But we can’t control how other people interpret what we say, but when they tell us the way we are speaking causes offense, we can control how we interact. If someone says that ‘dude’ is offensive I’m probably going to ignore it since I don’t agree. If someone says ‘cracker’ is offensive, I’m inclined to believe them and not use the term [I wouldn’t use it anyways].
The historical definition seems rather archaic to me - even in the wiki article linked it acknowledges the negative connotations. There are other articles on the negative aspects as well. I have never once heard the term to be used in the way BG states. 100% of the time it’s been used as a pejorative. YMMV.
And had cracker been directed at another poster or if the poster taking offense had been included in the group being so named, that might well have changed my consideration of its use.
However, when a resident of Florida uses a word to identify a specific group of Floridians in a way that they have embraced for 200 years, or so, I feel no compulsion to rule against its use because another poster from a totally different part of the country chooses to take offense, based on a separate meaning used in different contexts.
Silly Billy Milli-ken decided that he did not think the word Michigander was sufficiently “respectful” (or something) of the citizens of Michigan, so he encouraged his Republican dominated legislature to officially change the identification of citizens of that state to the effete Michiganian. If someone from another part of the country reported the use of Michigander as an insulting term (as Lincoln used it on the floor of the House of Representatives), I would shrug off that report–even if former Governor Milliken was a poster, here, and considered it insulting.
Words such as nigger and kike have a long history of insult that render them wholly unacceptable on the SDMB in any descriptive context. Words such as cracker, with its mixed history and acceptance, not so much.
Jap You can’t be that clueless. Due to its history, it has taken on extremely negative conotations. Don’t like it? Too bad.
And FWIW, I would definitely say that “greasy wop” is an ethnic slur. “Cracker” is not. Calling someone a “dumb polack”, or a “stupid dago” or those “crazy micks”. Slurs against white people tend to be more against specific ethnicities.
That wasn’t the question or the rules standards. Tom asked when they were permitted. And they’ve always been. In terms of consistency, they probably shouldn’t be–white trash, cracker and honky are clearly anti-white insults and a “no race-word” rule should cover them, but in terms of me actually caring, I pretty much don’t, very much.
I mean, it’s fun to quibble here and all but that’s about it.
While we’re at it, there’s affirmative action for black people. There’s affirmative action for women. How come there’s no affirmative action for white guys? It’s injustice I tells ya!
I was going to but this thread about pejoratives against white people was already here so I just added it here.
Like I said I did report it and since Miller let it slide and no mod still posting in this thread has addressed it I’m just going to assume that calling other posters “wops” is cool on this board.
None. Look, even tho I disagree with the staff here and their definition of hate language (“it’s never hate language if it’s directed at white people”) I certainly admit to the diligence and zeal (perhaps too much zeal at times, even ) in quashing personal attacks.
But let’s look at this line “some people in this thread are arguing if he was a honky, he wouldn’t be in this mess” and make it “some people in this thread are arguing if he was a nigger, he wouldn’t be in this mess”- does anyone think the Mods wouldn’t be down on the second post? (italics mine).
Oddly the search function wont work for “white trash” it freezes up.
