ZP - Anti Homosexual Slurs Why the new trend on Zero Punctuation ? 03.04.2009
#61
Posted 16 March 2009 - 07:15 AM
Usage and of course context are everything. If I call a good friend of mine a faggot because, I don't know, he managed to kill me three times in a row while I was respawning, I'm sure I won't be tried for a hate crime. If I call a complete stranger a faggot because he cut me off in traffic, I may piss him off a little bit, but so what? If I call a stranger a faggot because it is clear that he is a homosexual, the effect will be specific and quite different from the other two scenarios. If I call any of these people a gear box I'm sure I'll raise some eyebrows but without common usage behind me I'll have a hard time getting my point across.
#63
Posted 17 March 2009 - 07:36 PM
Gee, is it because I'm gay?
#65
Posted 18 March 2009 - 04:00 AM
Every time they say faggot, they secretly chant an ode to satan in their minds and pray to one day wear white bedsheets with pointy hats. So yes, I think they are being cruel...
#69
Posted 19 March 2009 - 02:56 AM
That's not necessarily what I've been trying to suggest in this thread, but isn't it the exact opposite of your viewpoint, civilian? Is Yahtzee imagining another "fantasy world"? Or do I have it wrong and this a different issue - 'jokes' are discrete from individual words?
This post has been edited by AdamM: 19 March 2009 - 03:07 AM
#70
Posted 19 March 2009 - 05:00 AM
Electrician: Very little swearing
Carpenter: A bit of swearing
Boilermaker: Swear once a sentence
+1 cool points to adam for having Yahtzee agree with him.
Maybe Yahtzee does still lurk...
Chaotic Good
#71
Posted 19 March 2009 - 08:53 AM
That's not necessarily what I've been trying to suggest in this thread, but isn't it the exact opposite of your viewpoint, civilian? Is Yahtzee imagining another "fantasy world"? Or do I have it wrong and this a different issue - 'jokes' are discrete from individual words?
I wouldn't say it's the "exact opposite" of my viewpoint. no. But since we don't live in a "truly tolerant society," then I dare say that whatever nonsense he was trying to describe would be a fantasy of some sort, yes. A white man needs to be very careful when calling a black man a nigger. But that's not even the comment he was making; he knew to cut the word off and make the use of the word at the end a self-depracating joke. A joke at his own expense, see, as though he were putting the lie to his claims not to be racist. His various comments about racism were directed at the "PC cops" who would try to assume that if he didn't like rap music and/or rap culture, he might be racist. Which is absurd, and he defended that point quite well, especially when he pointed out that Eminem is responsible for 50 Cent.
Note though that even though he is English, He still knew not to say say nigger in a any serious context.
This post has been edited by civilian_number_two: 19 March 2009 - 07:14 PM
#74
Posted 20 March 2009 - 07:41 PM
I am trying to speak German! Go away!
#75
Posted 20 March 2009 - 09:21 PM
Note though that even though he is English, He still knew not to say say nigger in a any serious context.
He didn't cut the word off at the end to censor himself or the joke in any way. He did it to further the joke. I would argue that even if he did say the whole word--although it would be less funny--it would be justifiable because he was not being serious. This argument has never been, even if you try to make it such, that referring to Africans anywhere in the world as niggers in a serious way is all right, because the "serious" use would be racist. We don't use the barbarian seriously lest we insult our friends on the Barbary Coast, and we don't use the word lame seriously as we don't want to offend our one-legged friends. African-Americans, even, don't use the word nigger seriously, as can be demonstrated when the Martin Luther King, Jr character used the word in seriousness to great effect in one episode of The Boondocks. A black man can use it offensively just as a clueless Asian man can use it innocently.
I use the word 'bastard' to describe both friends of mine who take food during lunch and Jeffrey Dahmer. One has a much more serious connotation. I don't propose we go around calling each other bastards like Dahmer; but few would mind if we went around calling each other bastard cookie-thieves.
-John Carpenter's They Live
"God help us...in the future."
-Plan 9 from Outer Space
nooooo