Calling out people who use "gay" as a pejorative term on Xbox Live
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Unless it is used as a pejorative against someone who is actually homosexual it isn't homophobic or much of anything else. The words fag and gay have joined the teeming ranks of semi-meaningless swear words in the English langauge. While they are or can be quite offensive to some people, to most it is a minor irritation. If you are part of the minority then please feel free to point this out, and that particular flavour of trash talking will hopefully be reduced.
Having said all of that, I'm an Australian and frankly the way swearing and name calling gets used on xbox live is just plain weird from where i'm sitting, a large proportion of Australian's engage daily in making fun of each other and this is considered normal though there is a line at which it becomes bullying and generally this is recognised as when a comment is a little to close to home. So trash talking online seems completely natural to me, the bit I don't understand is that some people do it with an intent to actually upset someone, though mostly this has been teenagers and I have heard some genuine bigots/racists/homophobic individuals but they are the vast minority and generally they get muted at light speed.
Having said all of that, I'm an Australian and frankly the way swearing and name calling gets used on xbox live is just plain weird from where i'm sitting, a large proportion of Australian's engage daily in making fun of each other and this is considered normal though there is a line at which it becomes bullying and generally this is recognised as when a comment is a little to close to home. So trash talking online seems completely natural to me, the bit I don't understand is that some people do it with an intent to actually upset someone, though mostly this has been teenagers and I have heard some genuine bigots/racists/homophobic individuals but they are the vast minority and generally they get muted at light speed.
You call people out on it? Oh come on, stop spreading the 'Taboo language' crap. My black friend calls me a whiny cracker most days (see, but with affectionate overtone), people should just get over it and let people do what they do.
It's only insulting or dregatory if it is clearly aimed as such.
Someone saying: 'Tch don't be such a Gay-wad' is perfectly okay in my book, because literally translated it only means 'Tch don't be so annoying' ...doesn't it? Using the word 'Gay' doesn't really mean anything, it's just a tool to display the disatisfaction of the user.
INTENT. Is everything, and I like to read up on that during a conversation. If someone is actively yelling at me that I'm a homosexual and going to great lengths to explain and ignorantly accuse me as such using swearwords, and using the term 'gay' then yes, that person can get called out on it, and shut the fuck up. But it's not because of the actual word used. Merely the malicious intent.
Words are tools, a master of them knows exactly HOW they're used in every situation and how to read past them.
It's only insulting or dregatory if it is clearly aimed as such.
Someone saying: 'Tch don't be such a Gay-wad' is perfectly okay in my book, because literally translated it only means 'Tch don't be so annoying' ...doesn't it? Using the word 'Gay' doesn't really mean anything, it's just a tool to display the disatisfaction of the user.
INTENT. Is everything, and I like to read up on that during a conversation. If someone is actively yelling at me that I'm a homosexual and going to great lengths to explain and ignorantly accuse me as such using swearwords, and using the term 'gay' then yes, that person can get called out on it, and shut the fuck up. But it's not because of the actual word used. Merely the malicious intent.
Words are tools, a master of them knows exactly HOW they're used in every situation and how to read past them.
It all depends on how you say it--lecturing is going to piss some people off and make them use it more, but something like, "That's not cool, yo," where you just sound disappointed works better.
Something does have to be done about the rampant and casual racism, sexism, and homophobia, though, not just on Xbox live but in a lot of the online games as well. It's keeping a lot of people who would play from doing so, because they don't want to deal with it.
Something does have to be done about the rampant and casual racism, sexism, and homophobia, though, not just on Xbox live but in a lot of the online games as well. It's keeping a lot of people who would play from doing so, because they don't want to deal with it.
Just so you know, there's a difference between being homsexual and wanting to screw every dude you see.Fluffles said:
You can be gay and have no desire to have sex.
People who use "gay" as an insult need to be more open minded, and think up better insults...
I like ass-hat personally, it causes lots of confusion
You know, I think Hitler may have used a series of these meaningless waves of vibrations in the air to gain enough support to have 6,000,000 arbitrarily designated people marked for slaughter...Spot1990 said:
I was pretty offended when i saw a translation of some of his speeches. How is this any different?
Thats why I only play psn nowadays.
The final straw came when I got into this conversation.
idiot: *fires sniper and kills me* Ahahahaha, you just got owned ******!
me: how am I homosexual? Is it because i died? Does dying make someone homosexual?
idiot: What...
me: *melee kills idiot* Well i guess you're homosexual now.
idiot: What the fuck! You fucking fag im not gay, you are! Whatever I dont have time to play with a fag right now. *leaves game*
I was then kicked from 5 matches because he told his friends to do so.
The final straw came when I got into this conversation.
idiot: *fires sniper and kills me* Ahahahaha, you just got owned ******!
me: how am I homosexual? Is it because i died? Does dying make someone homosexual?
idiot: What...
me: *melee kills idiot* Well i guess you're homosexual now.
idiot: What the fuck! You fucking fag im not gay, you are! Whatever I dont have time to play with a fag right now. *leaves game*
I was then kicked from 5 matches because he told his friends to do so.
If the kids on XBL get wind of a particular insult that riles someone up as badly as you seem to have been by the use of the word "gay", you better believe they'll crank it up tenfold. "calling people out on it" is the best way to make the problem worse
People who use gay as a pejorative are gay...
[/sarcasm]
[/hypocrisy]
But really, you just prove to the other person your lack of intelligence. Why not call them something that would truly offend them, and make it something that proves you are better than them when it comes to intelligence. Example:
Kid1: You're gay, you suck at this game.
Kid2: Oh yeah? You enjoy fellating your own siblings, as well as your dog.
Kid1: I what?
Kid2: Exactly...
As you can see, kid 2 won that argument, and he used higher level vocabulary than the average noob would understand. That means Kid2 = Win.
[/Win]
[/sarcasm]
[/hypocrisy]
But really, you just prove to the other person your lack of intelligence. Why not call them something that would truly offend them, and make it something that proves you are better than them when it comes to intelligence. Example:
Kid1: You're gay, you suck at this game.
Kid2: Oh yeah? You enjoy fellating your own siblings, as well as your dog.
Kid1: I what?
Kid2: Exactly...
As you can see, kid 2 won that argument, and he used higher level vocabulary than the average noob would understand. That means Kid2 = Win.
[/Win]
and the worst part of that scenario is that he told his other friends, thus spreading the sickness of homophobia far more effectively than your attempts to clean up xbox live..Jester Lord said:
i personally would have submitted a bad review about him and filed a complaint, then i would have told my friends what happened, and encouraged them to file complaints too. that kind of crap really riles me up, but fortunately i have a good vocabulary, so if i ever get into an XBL argument, i usually end up winning.
this one time back in the old days of halo 2, me and another of my good XBL mates had a 2v2 in halo 2 against the most ethnocentric homophobic arseholes ever to disgrace the face of online gaming. after winning one match of slayer, and accepting their challenge for a second match -- and then winning again -- we proceeded to duel in the post-game lobby, putting up with about AN HOUR of insane trash-talking about calling us fags, nuking our country and of course, kangaroo sex jokes. i can't even remember if the problems were ever resolved, but the point is there'll always be idiots on xbox live, the trick is to realise that you're better than them, as a human being, and just move on. letting them get to you is just another victory for prejudicial and narrow-minded thinking.
He arbitrarily designated the Jewish community... Though yes Hitler was probably not the best example given that he was inbred* and on drugs*.Spot1990 said:
You would be very surprised at the number of outwardly homophobic people I know who I have to hide my sexuality from. I am quite surprised at this point that an army of 1,000,000,000 Catholics have not attempted to slaughter me given what pope Benedict thinks of me. How different is Hitler though, the general population of Germany disliked the Jews, seeing them as money grubing elitists who took all the good jobs while most of the German(Aryan) population were little more than farmers. All it took was the right person at the right time...
*Hitlers mother and father were cousins. I forget which drug he was actually on. A hallucinogen of some sort.
In Australia we had a recent example of a group of highschool students go on Facebook rants about "Jew parking" and gave links to extremely anti-Simetic websites. They claimed "it was just an in-joke that got out of hand"...Spot1990 said:
How is insulting a person online using the name of a sexuality/religion* acceptable?
How does it not simply spread hatred and social indifference(like the kind you are demonstrating)?
Fair enough, you are entitled to your apathy and you have the right to say "I'm not getting involved because it doesn't affect me." But this affects me.
*In the sense that they are both arbitrary labels.
Honestly, anyone offended by what random fucknut #421156 on the internet says needs their head examined.
1) In the current vernacular, gay is synonymous with stupid, lame and annoying. Get over it.
2) People on the internet will always be idiots. I think it was Penny Arcade that coined the equation: Normal Person + Anonymity + Audience = Total Fuckwad.
3) This is the internet. You will almost never meet anyone you interact with through this medium, and continued interaction with them is entirely your own choice. If it's such a problem, just mute them, or quit.
By the end of the day, calling someone gay does not signify homophobia. It signifies using a word in a relatively new way, due to cultural connotations and the like. Hell, I call things that annoy me all the time, and I'm practically the only non-homophobe in my whole family.
1) In the current vernacular, gay is synonymous with stupid, lame and annoying. Get over it.
2) People on the internet will always be idiots. I think it was Penny Arcade that coined the equation: Normal Person + Anonymity + Audience = Total Fuckwad.
3) This is the internet. You will almost never meet anyone you interact with through this medium, and continued interaction with them is entirely your own choice. If it's such a problem, just mute them, or quit.
By the end of the day, calling someone gay does not signify homophobia. It signifies using a word in a relatively new way, due to cultural connotations and the like. Hell, I call things that annoy me all the time, and I'm practically the only non-homophobe in my whole family.