# Will some viewpoints be eventually banned, regardless of how polite/civil? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [May 20, 2020, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-some-viewpoints-be-eventually-banned-regardless-of-how-polite-civil/854210 "2020-05-20T21:33:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 99
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2020, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-some-viewpoints-be-eventually-banned-regardless-of-how-polite-civil/854210/99 "2020-05-22T18:18:23Z")
> [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](#): > > Which would be a really weird use of the word. Perhaps he’s just misremembering? Claiming that words do not mean what they plainly _do_ mean would be consistent with his other assertions that words do not carry the semantic content and cultural significance that everyone else understands them to have. He has claimed that using a racial slur against someone has done something bad is not a racist thing to do, apparently because it is directed at one specific individual rather than _explicitly_ at all people in that group. > [@Fighting misogyny - but "cunt" and "bitch" are still okay words](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-misogyny-but-cunt-and-bitch-are-still-okay-words/853769/106): > > So, yes or no, if a black man punches your wife, calling him a nigger is not hate speech? > [@Fighting misogyny - but "cunt" and "bitch" are still okay words](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-misogyny-but-cunt-and-bitch-are-still-okay-words/853769/114): > > It’s a complicated question but I’m going to say no, calling a black man who punches your wife a nigger is not hate speech just because you called a black man a nigger. It could be hate speech if you show hatred towards a class of people, but I am of the opinion that the word “nigger” alone does not do so. Not even when used as an insult or ethnic slur. > > I’m probably on my own with that opinion, but hey, I read replies with an open mind. His last sentence makes explicit, I think, that he simply does not grasp that the meaning of language is not a matter of subjective opinion but an empirical objective question of cultural consensus. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-some-viewpoints-be-eventually-banned-regardless-of-how-polite-civil/854210)._