You know, this politicaly correct crap is really starting to piss me off. Calling Asians Gooks? Ass move. However...First Amendmant anyone? I think its ridiculous that WORDS are upsetting people. WORDS, gaddamnit. I'm not supporting John McCain. Fuck that. But can we please stop acting like hes dragging vietnamese on the stage and blowing their brains out with a forty five? I don't care WHAT terms a person uses...jumping on someone because of what they said is ass. Address the issue itself, not the terms used. Vulgar Argot is STILL a part of common language. Or does everyone have a BA in english, or any other language for that matter, and I just wasn't told?
"Well.. I got a right to say what I want and be an ass, too, you know!"
Yes, yes you do. Go ahead and be the biggest ass you can. Because at the end of the day, I'm sure we all count up how many crap piles we flung at people and measure our worth by the stink. This is why I hate presidential debates...it always regresses from addressing the issues to once honorable people flinging poojoo for the win.
I don't think you can blow off the power of language that easily, especially when it comes to someone who is trying to be the leader of our country being so blasé about the highly offensive terms he's using.
I don't think racial slurs are in the same category as 'curse' words or other vulgar slang, though. Slurs against peoples have an oppressive power attached to them that not all members of the oppressed group have the critical awareness to disregard, and I don't think those members should be blamed for that. I also don't believe it should always fall on the oppressed to disregard or dis-empower the oppressors, but that the oppressors should develop their own critical awareness and stop their own use of such slurs.
I don't think McCain is using the term 'gooks' because he's thinking "Fuck this Puritanical system that gives too much power to simple words," which is the way minority groups use reclaimed terms (it's the way I, as a queer, use the word 'dyke' to describe myself). I think he's using it because he's thinking "Fuck those goddamn gooks." And that's bullshit.
I totally agree. Words are important, nothing exists without them.
And I didn't mean to infer that McCain was being some kind of rebel against the system by saying that. I should have been clearer that I think the media acts puritanically in these cases. Possibly attempting to guess (or probably more accurately, create) the public opinion.
Words are magic, and like magic they work on will and suggestion. I'm not sure I agree that the onus should be on one group to be more aware of what they're doing than any other group. It's utopian thinking and utopia is a place that doesn't exist.
The only thing that seems to work, historically, is to shed as much light on the problem as possible. You copped to this yourself by bringing up terms (queer, dyke) that in certain circles and time-periods would have caused major problems and perhaps even deaths. The same thing is happening with the infamous "N" word.
Ah gotcha :) Thanks for the good thoughts, then. And I'm sorry if I made it sound like I thought oppressors should take all the responsibility when it comes to solving the problem of oppression; I should have clarified that I mean it takes two to tango, and so often only the oppressed are expected to struggle their way out from under on their own. If you're familiar with Friere's The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, he says some great things about both the oppressed and the oppressors needing to reach critical consciousness in order to accomplish freedom.
I'm an american, straight, middle class, caucasian, male christian between the ages of 18 and 35. If your going to judge, feel free to demonize me. I probably deserve it.
"You can't say that because its a bad word and it makes me cry" is a load of bat guano. If he had a couple of minutes specifically discussing the horrible things he'd like to do to the "gooks", than I'd be more receptive, but that is not the case here.
Did I not say the use of "gooks" to describe Asians(vietnamese or not) was an Ass move? I'm not excusing anything. I'm telling people to stop making it worse.
Well I can't say I'm a huge fan of the article either, but I don't think the article itself influenced my opinion much, and for that reason I don't view it as being that much of an issue here. But sorry for not being on the same page as you!
Actually, to be perfectly honest, it was the article that upset me more than anything else...my anger, then, was misdirected and off topic. I apologize. Also, I can't really fault you for being on a different page when we weren't reading the same book!
You know, this politicaly correct crap is really starting to piss me off. Calling Asians Gooks? Ass move. However...First Amendmant anyone? I think its ridiculous that WORDS are upsetting people. WORDS, gaddamnit. I'm not supporting John McCain. Fuck that. But can we please stop acting like hes dragging vietnamese on the stage and blowing their brains out with a forty five? I don't care WHAT terms a person uses...jumping on someone because of what they said is ass. Address the issue itself, not the terms used. Vulgar Argot is STILL a part of common language. Or does everyone have a BA in english, or any other language for that matter, and I just wasn't told?
"Well.. I got a right to say what I want and be an ass, too, you know!"
Yes, yes you do. Go ahead and be the biggest ass you can. Because at the end of the day, I'm sure we all count up how many crap piles we flung at people and measure our worth by the stink. This is why I hate presidential debates...it always regresses from addressing the issues to once honorable people flinging poojoo for the win.
NM.
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They are both the most benign an most powerful tools we have as a species. I don't think you can ever underestimate the power of words.
That said, we as Americans are awfully touchy about "curse" words and vulgar slang.
*shrug*
That's what you get when you live in a country "founded" by Puritans.
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I don't think McCain is using the term 'gooks' because he's thinking "Fuck this Puritanical system that gives too much power to simple words," which is the way minority groups use reclaimed terms (it's the way I, as a queer, use the word 'dyke' to describe myself). I think he's using it because he's thinking "Fuck those goddamn gooks." And that's bullshit.
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And I didn't mean to infer that McCain was being some kind of rebel against the system by saying that. I should have been clearer that I think the media acts puritanically in these cases. Possibly attempting to guess (or probably more accurately, create) the public opinion.
Words are magic, and like magic they work on will and suggestion. I'm not sure I agree that the onus should be on one group to be more aware of what they're doing than any other group. It's utopian thinking and utopia is a place that doesn't exist.
The only thing that seems to work, historically, is to shed as much light on the problem as possible. You copped to this yourself by bringing up terms (queer, dyke) that in certain circles and time-periods would have caused major problems and perhaps even deaths. The same thing is happening with the infamous "N" word.
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I'm a big advocate of word reclamation :)
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Spoken like a true privileged person.
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Thanks for judging me.
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The Vietnamese people did not torture him.
Would you excuse it if he was beaten and mugged by black men and said that he was assaulted by niggers?
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