# Why is calling Trump Supporters MAGAts allowed? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 31, 2024, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-calling-trump-supporters-magats-allowed/1005060 "2024-07-31T14:23:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 20
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2024, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-calling-trump-supporters-magats-allowed/1005060/381 "2024-08-28T23:26:19Z")
**Moderator Note** We seem to be getting pretty far off-topic for ATMB here. Let’s focus back on what should or should not be allowed here on the SDMB. Feel free to spin off other issues into new threads in the proper forum, if you’d like. ---
**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 29, 2024, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-calling-trump-supporters-magats-allowed/1005060/382 "2024-08-29T09:53:21Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > There’s no way this is a good faith comment. It was. It was also a factually accurate statement. That’s the second time in this thread you’ve insinuated that I was being dishonest. As for my position on the actual topic at hand, I refer to my previous statements.: - Yes, it’s a childish slur. - No, it doesn’t reach the level of being materially offensive or ‘punching down’. - No, it shouldn’t be banned. - Yes, people can continue to object to its use. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2024, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-calling-trump-supporters-magats-allowed/1005060/383 "2024-08-29T17:39:55Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > - Yes, it’s a childish slur. > - No, it doesn’t reach the level of being materially offensive or ‘punching down’. > - No, it shouldn’t be banned. > - Yes, people can continue to object to its use. I agree with all of this. I also don’t really like the term, but meh. I may have used it once or twice but generally I just call them “MAGA folks” or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2024, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-calling-trump-supporters-magats-allowed/1005060/384 "2024-08-29T18:49:34Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Yes, it’s a childish slur. Agreed. > [@Gyrate](#): > > No, it doesn’t reach the level of being materially offensive or ‘punching down’. I don’t know what you mean by this statement. In the interest of not misrepresenting your position, I will ask for clarification. What is “materially” offensive? I think it pretty clearly IS offensive, and is meant to be offensive. What does it mean for it to be “materially” offensive? Also, is “punching down” a separate thing than “materially offensive” (and MAGAts is neither), or do you mean that something is only materially offensive if it is “punching down”? > [@Gyrate](#): > > No, it shouldn’t be banned. That, I agree with. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2024, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-calling-trump-supporters-magats-allowed/1005060/385 "2024-08-29T23:04:28Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Also, is “punching down” a separate thing than “materially offensive” (and MAGAts is neither), or do you mean that something is only materially offensive if it is “punching down”? The two are quite separate things. “The children of rich people should be raped and murdered” is _both_ “punching up” and “materially offensive”. While “poor people are easy to exploit, so let’s do it” is punching down, but only offensive to the extent the sheer fact that it’s punching down is offensive. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-calling-trump-supporters-magats-allowed/1005060/386 "2024-08-30T01:06:16Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > The two are quite separate things. “The children of rich people should be raped and murdered” is _both_ “punching up” and “materially offensive”. > > While “poor people are easy to exploit, so let’s do it” is punching down, but only offensive to the extent the sheer fact that it’s punching down is offensive. Yeah, but dont excuse bigotry by claiming it is only “punching up”. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-calling-trump-supporters-magats-allowed/1005060/387 "2024-08-30T01:37:13Z")
Nobody brought that up. MAGA _deserve_ to be feared, hated and despised, because they are the enemies of everyone else (and even themselves to a large extent). It’s not bigotry to fear and hate people who _genuinely_ mean you harm, it’s just realism and self preservation. No amount of seeking some self-destructive “high road” will keep them from killing us all if they can. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-calling-trump-supporters-magats-allowed/1005060/388 "2024-08-30T01:39:49Z")
It isn’t so much excusing bigotry as it is setting priorities, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2024, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-calling-trump-supporters-magats-allowed/1005060/389 "2024-08-30T07:54:04Z")
It’s both/either. Certainly there are cases where competing claims for our attention need to be prioritised (which is why the ‘Ummm… actually, _ALL_ lives matter’ thing is distracting and misguided, and terrible), but ‘punching up’ is a pretty common excuse for bigotry that serves no purpose in directing attention to anything in particular; some of it appears to arise out of a sort of revenge motive where ‘it’s OK for me to say this about _people like you_, because _people like you_ did something bad to _people like me_ in the past’ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-calling-trump-supporters-magats-allowed/1005060.md?page=19)