More Food For Thought: Slurs

[gibsonsg91921]

When slurs are deemed politically incorrect and taboo, they aren't eliminated but rather put on a pedestal for bigots to save for the real insult. Consider this - the use of "slurs" so much, referring to anything other than people, so they become nonsensical and childish terms. For example, replace

"My shoe is untied"

with

"My @#$% is untied"

I don't know if any of you have read Freakonomics, but a similar tactic was used by Stetson Kennedy to debilitate the Ku Klux Klan. He would get Klan secrets from an informant and tell them to the Superman radio show, having Superman use the secrets to fight the KKK in broadcasts. Soon children, instead of playing cops and robbers, were playing Superman and KKK, and the KKK's passwords became household and childish names.

Think about it!

Disclaimer: This is not to say slurs aren't politically incorrect, it's a push to weaken the fiery connotations of them.

[Lord Winter]

There is a certain point where socicty just needs to move past these words, if everyone just didn't think of the words in such terrriable terms they would graudlly fade away to the more common uses. I support combating racist language but I have problems when we start messing with the lanaguage to make it immpossiable for people to say something. Its to much of a slippery sloop , maybe it starts with a preaty innocent cause but then what what if its just reused in slightly different ways then eventually the whole arguement evolves into a 1984 newspeak type idea. Not that this is exactly likely but still, like gahndi said: "What is freedom if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes". This extends to this as well If anything the language could just evolve around the word blocks until you get one word that finilly manages to pass through the censors.


Better would be to just eliminate the condtions that cause people to say it, combat messages of hatred with the TRUTH, and the truth that is tollerance and the realenazation that these blocks that we put up against how our mind veiws whoever is useless. From there the language will follow suit. Tollerance can only be taught not forced.

Do like the general idea of the thread though interesting debate topic.

[ajaxfetish]

The changes really need to happen in people's attitudes, not in the words themselves.

Take for example the history of people with mental disabilities. This condition is generally derided by society, however unjust, and the names used to describe it eventually become insults and then taboo. 'Idiot,' 'moron,' and 'imbecile' were originally medical terms meant to describe the mentally disabled. Now they are simply general insults and seeing them in academic contexts in old texts is unsettling. 'Retarded' has followed the same path, and more recent terms such as 'handicapped' and 'disabled' are on their way to becoming insults (The current PC crowd is pushing for the painfully awkward and meaningless 'differently abled'). Shunning words and coming up with alternatives has done nothing to eliminate the root problem. People still look down upon mental disability. If anything is to change permanently, it must start with those attitudes.

Ajax

[Geoffrey S]

As with your feminist topic, sounds like you're taking political correctness too seriously. I'm not going to bother wasting my time attempting to avoid insulting every single possible group. Slur doesn't affect the message, all it does is clue someone in about the way a person thinks.

[gibsonsg91921]

No, I'm not taking political correctness too seriously, it's just something we discussed in my English class and I wondered what other people thought.

[Tribesman]

My current favourite slur has a food theme ...soup

[gibsonsg91921]

Noobsauce

[KukriKhan]

Very well, serious discussion having ceased, we'll bid farewell to this topic for now.

Thanks for the thoughts gibsonsg91921, and thanks to all for the contributions.