Language sensitivity in league channels (and all chatrooms)

hawkeye1542 · Joined: 03 Sep 2004 Posts: 197

This forum post stems from a recent discussion in the main league channel regarding the use of “offensive language” and “swearing” such as “gay”, “fag”, “nigger”, etc. The use of such words in a hateful fashion is, as I would hope any decent human being would agree, deplorable and detrimental. That is not to say that the words themselves are, however, hateful in and of themselves. The attitude behind these words determines the hatefulness of their use. As a society (and magic-league is a microcosm of society at large with regards to social interaction) we must realize that immediately disparaging and attacking someone for using these words can, in fact, be more detrimental than simply letting it pass.

Take the words “gay” and “fag” for example. Society has evolved to the point that these words, when used in a casual context, almost never pertain specifically to homosexuality. If we allow ourselves to become offended by the word itself we actually promote the attitude of hate that we are trying to defeat. When your opponent says something like “wow that mana screw was gay”, it’s silly to imagine that he or she said this with a hate for homosexuality in mind. The word itself has evolved to the point of losing it’s inherent hatefulness as many words have before it. How many people say “I got gyped” when they feel they should’ve gotten something and did not? I would imagine that most people don’t even know the hateful origin of this word/phrase. The term “gyped” used 60 years ago, in the aftermath of the Holocaust, would probably have evoked the same response that we see from the word “gay” today. “Gyped”, as you can tell from the spelling, was originally a derogative term used in regards to gypsies in Europe and today nobody thinks twice about its use in our vocabulary.

To those who argue that we should not use such words because some people might be offended by them I present two arguments. Primarily I would ask you to ponder this question: Does the common use of such words inherently promote the bigoted and hateful attitude that originally spawned the words? My answer for you is NO! In fact, if we reach the point that we can use the word without jumping immediately to its hateful nature, we are actually destroying the odious power of the word. If we can use such words without immediately connoting them with hate, then we are making steps to defeating that hate. My secondary point is more of a comment than an argument. If we wish to live in a society of mixed cultures, ideologies, and lifestyles then we have to accept that there are going to be bigoted people and bigoted attitudes that spawn hateful language. It’s a harsh reality that such attitudes are going to exist. How we deal with these attitudes helps determine the damaging nature of these attitudes. By making an issue out of every small detail we are not actually fighting the hate, we are just bringing it to the forefront time and time again instead of letting the bigots be washed away by the strength of unity among the majority.

Please note that I have specifically focused on words pertaining to homosexuality because it is the most prevalent at the moment, but this argument is the same in regards to all hateful speech.

WildCard · Joined: 06 Sep 2004 Posts: 735 Location: Japan

Well. All good points. If you would like to look up George Carlin quotes then he believes the same. It dosen't look like this post is about complaing about anything happening in the channels. I will mention that we do not have an age limit, so we try to keep the language from getting to the point that if a parent of some of these people look over there shoulder they don't get kicked off the computer. Good post by the way.

ZenthForbias · Joined: 01 Feb 2005 Posts: 56

The term "gyped" comes from the Gypsies, Not gay. Please do reasearch.

Gerrardfo · Joined: 04 Sep 2004 Posts: 325

Very nice job. But it isn't easy to calm a sea during a storm, no?

Laplie · League Staff Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 547

The original "Seven Dirty Words You Can Never Say on Television" (from george carlin) are Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker and Tits

You can read the fulltext in all its glory:

http://www.erenkrantz.com/Humor/SevenDirtyWords.shtml

I find it very funny.

.........

Back on topic, it depends who you talk to if they get offended by a word like "gyped". The 2-3 gypsies I know have taken offense, so I stopped saying it. "Jewed" is another word, almost exactly the same as "Gyped" but because there are more jewish people in the US, it is less acceptable (just ask Michael Jackson when he released "They Don't Care About Us").

Obviously, words are subjective. For the most part, we don't ban for language unless its spammy or excessive. (There are exceptions, some days some people ban for language more than others)

EDIT: Had to mess around with the word filter to get this post Smile

ZenthForbias · Joined: 01 Feb 2005 Posts: 56

I can understand bans if people are using these words over and over again, but once every now and then I don't think would cause a problem. Some people I know take offense to the term "emo" seeing as how its being used as a derogatory term. Should be ban that as well? Or what about "fat" or other words along those lines? People today take stuff so seriously it just amazes me.

Laplie · League Staff Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 547

ZenthForbias · Joined: 01 Feb 2005 Posts: 56

Meh, I don't read much.

Sandler · Joined: 01 Sep 2004 Posts: 178

lol george carlin is so sweet."you can say TeeT but u cant say tit"

kfcman1084 · Joined: 14 Jan 2006 Posts: 434

but tit is such a pleasant sounding word like a snack
Cheeze Tits, Corn Tits, Pizza Tits, Sesame Tits, Onion Tits betcha cant eat just one. Go George Carlin

Draconis · Joined: 03 Sep 2004 Posts: 27

While I agree that if you were to say that somthing is gay your not necessaarily trying to offend anyone. Other words you mentioned in your paragraph such as "nigger" i feel are highly offensive. There that I can see a use of that word that is offensive. Of course i may be bias as i am black but i still believe its very offensive for people to use that word in any context

Kaesh · Joined: 10 Nov 2004 Posts: 228

That was completely and utterly unnecessary. Calm down. - Vacancy

ZenthForbias · Joined: 01 Feb 2005 Posts: 56

xmtgjunkiex · Joined: 09 Apr 2005 Posts: 135

why is it ok for one black person to call another black person a nigger but if a white person does it it is rascist ?

*confused*

NightFlare · Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 234