Posted by Not the Guy From Clerks at 140.171.185.253 on August 24, 2000 at 14:43:34:
In Reply to: "I'm not your mate, fag" posted by TrentReno on August 24, 2000 at 13:36:17:
"It's the suppression of the word that gives it the power, the violence, the viciousness." -Lenny Bruce
Think about "God damn you." If I say that these days, does it mean that I'm calling down holy damnation on you and hope you go to hell? No, it means that I'm pretty annoyed with you and that's how I choose to express it. There was a time when, if damned, someone would go pray to God that such unjust damnation would not occur.
What does this mean? It means that if you say "faggot faggot faggot faggot faggot nigger nigger nigger nigger nigger" until "faggot" and "nigger" don't mean anything anymore, then you won't be able to make some 6-year-old black kid or high school queer cry because someone called him that in school. You don't want to say it to someone if you know it'll offend them, but I think it's the idea that we MUST STOP these EVIL WORDS that gives people the idea that they're so terrible in the first place.
Finest kind,
Russ
: I wasn't raised in New Kersey like Banky (long Island instead), but I too am just used to using slang like "fag" and queer in everyday language. My friends and I toss those terms around like nothing (just another slander term, like "loser" or "ass"). I don't actually mean that my friend is homosexual when I call them a fag, but it's all in good fun. When I went upstate to college (a much more sensitive area), I forced myself to censor myself. This was pretty damn hard. Thankfully the homosexual friends I had understood that if i slipped, I meant nothing deragotory to them. When I came back home with my old friends, every other word became "fag" again. I'm trying to watch myself though as I start to realize how these words won't be taken lightly by anyone who doesn't know me. I suppose in a sense it might be like if we were calling each other "niggers" or something like that. Well actually, we do call each other by racial slurs also and nobody cares...that's why I love Long Island. I guess my point is this: I think throwing terms around like that is not a good thing and should be phased out (hey I'm working on it), but in the meantime, don't judge the people that use them. I don't think just because Banky calls his TV a "faggot," that that means he's a homophobe (or a closet homo, for that matter).
: -Ralphy
: PS - If somebody flames this post...does that make them a "flamer"?