Reply #116: "Words used with hateful intent DO hurt." [View All]

[Toasterlad]

That is my argument in a nutshell. It is the INTENT that is hateful, not the word. Yes, there are words that have historically been used for hateful purposes. That does not mean that those words cannot be used to express other ideas, and I very much resent it when an intellectually lazy and/or politically simple person latches on to a particular objectionable word and ignores the context in which the word was used.

There are brilliant plays, films, and other works that make liberal use of "slurs", and there are zealous assholes who object to those works purely on the grounds that the words are "bad". See the Huck Finn example used previously.

It seems that you and blue believe that I'm arguing that people should be allowed to say whatever they want and not be critized for it. That is not at all what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that the context of the words used is ALWAYS more important than the words themselves. When Fred Phelps says, "God hates fags", that is CLEARY hateful, as it was clearly INTENDED to be. That cannot be equated with two friends bantering back and forth, or an activist using strong language to make a forceful point. When the straight character Mark in the musical Rent sings "to faggots, lezzies, dykes, cross-dressers too", he is quite literally celebrating the diversity of life. It is a beautiful moment in tremendously affirmative song...and there are no doubt people who missed the joy completely because they can't get past the "slurs". That's fucking SAD.

CONTEXT.

And that REALLY IS my last word on this subject.