Tell me about your mother....
Do you mean to tell me that Jerry Seinfeld's "Soup Nazi" was a slap to his own people?
Words, to be sure, are tools, and just like any tools, they can be misused. But here's a twist: there is as adage, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me." If we live by that adage and put construct our own soncrete mind-fortress, we can choose not to allow these things to hurt us. I'm not saying that to misuse words is the right thing to do, but to make the choice NOT to allow it to hurt us is still viable.
Good lord, pardon the typos up there, ok? I thought I did a thorough check, but apparently I did not.
Nat, 'sticks and stones' may apply to matters of a personal nature.
The deliberate misuse of words to further an agenda is despicable.
Adolph Hitler invoked God to support his agenda, on more than one occasion.
We know where that led.
I heart you guys.
According to the new PC usage, *everyone* has been molested or sexually harassed, which of course means that people who *really* have suffered such are smushed in with the women who were whistled at once while passing a construction site.
Nat I agree with you to a degree. We can sometimes choose our response to words that are used, but rape is such a traumatic and life-changing event that the effect of the words to describe it... even though they never do the crime justice in the devestation it causes, sometimes provoke reactions that can not be helped. Much the same I'm sure (and please pardon the comparison, it is simply meant to demonstrate not to offend) as it would be hurtful to call a homo-sexual a fag. I'm sure given mor time I could think of better examples but my brain is simply not entirely engaged right now. If it's wrong to use names like that, then it is wrong to be insensitive to people who have been victims of rape.
I agree, but I also think that the entire "PC" thing is terribly out of hand when it comes to most things. (No, not the Holocaust or rape or slavery or other such horrors. There should never BE dumming down of words related to such things.)
How long does it take to move on? I mean this seriously and am not being flippant. I'm sure that Attilla the Hun's contemporaries did not joke about him and his deeds, but we are rather casual about it these days. Do you think that in a few hundred years they'll be making Hitler references in jokes? (if humanity lasts that long, and at this point in history, I'm doubting our own survival.)
One of the problems is that when we overuse these words like Rape and Holocaust we desensitize people to their true meaning. I have heard (and even been guilty of doing it myself) of saying they got "raped" by a car dealer or mechanic. This doesn't mean I was in anyway sexually molested, just "taken advantage of". As we continue to abuse these terms they lose relevance and the shock value drops.
Bubblehead, no truer words have been spoken.
I plan on discussing that in another post, tomorrow.
I feel it is somewhat important to consider the ever-changing nature of the language when evaluating the "absolute" value of terms used in the post and the comments.
Perfect examples are the use of the words "nigger" and "fag" by the affected cultures in reference to themselves and others. I do not use the first, not being African American, but I do use the latter, being gay. Is it ok for Polish people to tell Polish Jokes?
The slide down the slippery slope of absolutism is no less fast than that of relativism. Common sense is of the essence. Humans are notorious for making rules for the simple purpose of breaking them later, and language is never excluded from that silly rule.
While we must excercise a modicum of decorum when selecting our own words in expressing our ideas, it seems a bit self-congratulatory to undermine the intent of others by criticizing not the message but the medium. Next, we'll be asking them to name names... "dear sir, are you now or have y
It can actually be viewed in other ways rather than just a human-centric viewpoint. If someone views the earth as a living and spiritual being, than I do believe 'rape' can be justifiably used. For instance, as many Native Americans believed that the great spirit is alive in all living things, from animals to trees, and that wanton destruction is in fact a rape of the land and is no different that the rape of a human.
Additionally, if you see the anti-environment activities as not only killing flora and fauna, but humans also, than I also see the term as justifiably. Is the pain and suffering of a 10 year old dieing from leukemia comparable to rape of a woman? Some would believe it is more horrible.
So, it all comes down to how you view the situation. I don't agree with it all, but I cannot condemn that view.
Dingo, I hear you.
Now, listen to the women that have been through the ordeal. Further, the discussion was not about religious views, or anecdotal exceptions.
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
I know, I'm beyond therapy, but words matter to me too.
Correctly spelled ("reknowned").
With correct apostrophe use ("it's most horrific meaning").
Oh, and "word etymology" is a pleonasm.
Do I pay on my way out?
Hold on a goddamn second!
The quote you attribute to Dale Spender is incorrect. You copied it from here - a Canadian M.Sc. student.
Have you actually read ANY of Spender's writings??
'Fess up, boys!
Good Morning, Ria-
The spender quote was provided by someone else, in an earlier comment.
Mea Culpa re the typos and everything else. As to keyboard symbols, give us a break. We can barely get by as it its.
As to our use of 'pleonasms,' we will concede to your expertise as a wordsmith and plead guilty.
And we thought we needed to get out more.
I am not trying to diminish the horror of the trama anyone has ever had being raped. Don't get me wrong. I was just trying to point out other ways of looking at it. When I was in law school, I worked for the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic. Most of our cases came from a streatch of land between new Orleans and Baton Rouge where the childhood lukemia rate was close to 400% the national average. The main case I was involved with was where a company was violating their air pollution permit by 2000% and the state did nothing. That has always stuck with me.
Dingo, we agree.
Someone should have sued the state. What you relate is outrageous.
Well said. And, April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. I was searching Google for the etymology of "rape," that's how I got here. And I will check out the Spender book.
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