Does gay as a derogatory term offend you?

[Womplord]

Of course not because I'm not gay. I even say things like gay and ****** offhandedly, but I watch my mouth around people who actually are gay. One time I accidentally said something like that around a friend of mine who is gay, felt pretty bad about it afterwards...
Anyway, there's not much point being sensitive about people who aren't even there.

 

[nexus]

So, people shouldn't be free to take offense in your free society?

Feel free to take as much as offense as you deem necessary. The line is drawn when you start dictating what is or isn't appropriate, and what people should or shouldn't say.

 

[nexus]

Stop acting offended

Feel free to take as much as offense as you deem necessary

So which is it? Are we permitted to be offended or not?

Read the rest of the quote you cut. Taking offense is one thing, but taking offense and then trying to alter society because of your personal offense is another. I would only take exception to actual harassment or the most grievous "word assault".

If we altered society for every person or group that was offended.. well.. fuck that society.

That's just not how society works.

 

[thatryanguy]

Doesn't offend me personally, but I tend to feel that anyone who uses it is immature and ignorant. Same with those who claim the term has evolved. It was used derogatively when people thought being gay was lame or pathetic. Now it means something that is lame or pathetic. That hasn't changed. It has made 0 steps of development from it's "original" meaning, but people are trying to say it's no longer related? They're just trying to save face IMO.

 

[The_Echo]

The way I see it, it's just a variant definition. Loads of words have multiple definitions, some of which may not even be related at all.

I mean, hell. Gay was at one point synonymous with happy or cheerful. How did it start to mean homosexual? I dunno, it just did.

The related term '******,' I think, could just be defined as 'an unpleasant or despicable person.' In the same vein as bastard, which is also an archaic/derogatory term for a person who was born to unmarried parents.

 

[nexus]

You don't get to have it both ways, though.

If you want a free society, then offense is something you're going to have to live with. People are going to get offended. People are going to speak out, *****, piss and moan, sign petitions, take to the streets. People are gonna hold signs and shout at each other over pointless nattering bullshit.

This happens. You don't get to use 'freedom' as an excuse to silence it. If a free society is only free when you want it to be, then it's not a free society at all.

I'm not even sure if you're serious or not.

Anyway as I already said, there is clearly a line in the sand here. The only people wishing to "silence" are those who take their offense to the next level. Political correctness has done more to harm society than the offending terms and status-quos ever have.

 

[Kargathia]

Of course it offends me! In the whole wide world of swears you go for the one that is so bland and unoriginal it should get a prize for it?!

Show some freakin' creativity, or don't even bother trying.

 

[Kinguendo]

Well I am not gay so no, it doesnt personally offend... HOWEVER I am not so selfish as to only care about my feelings. I understand that using "gay" in a derogatory manner is linking being gay with negativity so I dont use it, I used to when I was an ignorant child but I managed to cleanse it from my vocabulary. Now all I have to do is wipe "fag" from it, which is annoying as I didnt even know about that term until I started playing online. I, like every self-respecting Brit, thought it was just another word for cigarette. Turns out this entire time when we said "Going to smoke a fag." we were either about to commit an act of murder or a sexual act upon a homosexual persons genitalia, either would have been quite a surprise to the person who just wanted to feed their addiction to nicotine.

 

[nexus]

A free society... that you're not free to change through non-violent and non-coercive means. So you don't like a free society?

Do you think you're casting a spell, or what? Illusionist spells only work in video games.

I'll just leave something related for a reference, so I don't have to answer the same thing over and over:

Spoiler: Truth Juice

 

[Kinguendo]

Anyway as I already said, there is clearly a line in the sand here. The only people wishing to "silence" are those who take their offense to the next level. Political correctness has done more to harm society than the offending terms and status-quos ever have.

I guarantee it hasnt, the only thing it has done is made people blame things that have nothing to do with political correctness on political correctness which is quite annoying... but I am guessing you know more about that than I, what with "Political Correctness going mad" and all that nonsense.

And just a guess but you werent alive when political correctness came into play, right? Just an example of something the Conservative party would send children to your house to give you "If you want a ****** for a neighbour, vote Liberal or Labour."... children, to give out leaflets with this phrase on. Political Correctness stopped that. Now, your example of what harm political correctness has done... and I will warn you "Now we have to hide our hatred of people that arent us." ISNT harmful to society. Your move.

Edit:

I'll just leave something related for a reference, so I don't have to answer the same thing over and over:

Spoiler: Truth Juice

Oh good, that was a terrible decision on your part. You are aware Steve Hughes is an adamant anti-racist and anti-homophobic chap... right? I dont suppose you are or you wouldnt be using him as an example of your "anti-PC" stance, a claim anyone who knows the work of Steve Hughes can easily shoot down.

 

[geK0]

It's sort of fallen out of my vocabulary; the last time I've used the word out of context (ie. "that's so gay") must have been at least 5 years ago.

I'm not personally offended by it, it just seems a little immature.

 

[marche45]

Well considering there is plenty of swears that include both male and female anatomy and are therefore sexist slurs....shouldn't we all be getting offended all the time?

I don't mind it when someone says 'These screenshots are gay' because they don't mean it in a way that they think gay people are bad. The word has changed it's usage. Hell, gay used to mean ecstatically happy.

However if someone calls a homosexual person a '******' or otherwise I take offence to that of course.

This is pretty much how i feel about it

 

[lumenadducere]

OLD MAN MOMENT:

In my experience, it's something you really do grow out of after a certain point.

Hate to be that guy, but...yeah, I'll admit. Gay being synonymous with 'bad' or 'cowardly' or 'lame' has some very nasty undertones no matter how far you distance yourself from what the word really means. I don't think it's the worst thing ever, but none of my friends or family have ever used it that way, and...again, dem undertones.

But still, it's far from hate-speech. Almost no one who uses it is aware of what they might be implying; it's far from hateful, it's vaguely insensitive at best. I've never seen a gay peep really get bothered by it, but it's often a bit obnoxious to them. Most gay people are bullied for it at some point, and using the word in that way can bring up some bad memories. So...yeah. I guess that's a dreaded example of political correctness, but I just don't wanna sour people's mood for no reason. I have a lot of gay friends, ya know?

This isn't high on the list of most gay people's problems, really. XD They're not over sensitive. It's usually met with "Heheh, you're kind of a dick." And then they let it go. And many don't care at all. So why should I, a straight guy? It's just a word. You can't let these things rule you.

Gotta agree with this. It's not as blatantly offensive as other terms, but it still has the same implications - i.e. if you use "gay" to describe something bad, the implication is that being gay is a bad thing. It's just something that I think people shouldn't do.

And yes, many gay people don't take offense to it. But many do, and there are plenty of gay people all around the world that are insulted and harassed by it. I personally would rather not perpetuate the use of it while it's still being used in a hateful way to harm others. Sure, most casual use of it within the gaming community isn't like that, but the association is still there and it has a persistent and pervasive effect.

 

[217not237]

I'll say pretty much what everyone else said: I'm not offended by it, but it annoys me to see homosexuality as a bad thing so ingrained in society that using homosexuality as an insult occurs constantly without anyone actually thinking about what their saying, no matter what their opinion on the LGBT community is.