Poll: Are scholarships designated for African-Americans racist?

[Blind Sight]

So your in favor of a world where the qualified White Male dominates the colleges and all the qualified Blacks, Hispanics and Women just go fuck themselves?

Um, I think you completely missed his point, he's saying that 'race' (I hate using that word) should not be a determining factor when it comes to scholarships. I.e, the person that filled the criteria the best, regardless of their ethnicity, should receive it. It's not about telling people to go 'fuck themselves' it's about ensuring that the opportunity is there for everyone to have access to it. It's about scholarships being related to hard work and/or income, not the colour of your skin.

 

[clipse15]

So your in favor of a world where the qualified White Male dominates the colleges and all the qualified Blacks, Hispanics and Women just go fuck themselves?

Um, I think you completely missed his point, he's saying that 'race' (I hate using that word) should not be a determining factor when it comes to scholarships. I.e, the person that filled the criteria the best, regardless of their ethnicity, should receive it. It's not about telling people to go 'fuck themselves' it's about ensuring that the opportunity is there for everyone to have access to it. It's about scholarships being related to hard work and/or income, not the colour of your skin.

But these race and gender based scholarships are giving a range of people access to an education that they might not have otherwise recived. These are not the only scholarships availble. These people saw that there were gaps that with those afformentioned groups were falling through and decieded that it was wrong that ACADEMICALLY QUALIFIED people should get a chance yet somehow we are here and arguing whether or not this is good or bad.

 

[Kittenmauler]

The organizations that give out scholarships can give them to whoever they choose. It is not racist, scholarships are self-serving. If a white man wants to fund a scholarship and restrict it in some way so that it only goes to fellow white males, he CAN. But that doesn't really happen, instead most scholarships are funded by special interest groups or from individuals with a particular interest in some group.

 

[Plurralbles]

eh, it's their money, they should be allowed to use it in any way they like.

I still wish there was a NCAAWP though.

I think it's a little insulting to non-white people and women though, "You can't compete onthe same level as the white male so here's a special class just for you"

 

[Axeli]

So your in favor of a world where the qualified White Male dominates the colleges and all the qualified Blacks, Hispanics and Women just go fuck themselves?

Um, I think you completely missed his point, he's saying that 'race' (I hate using that word) should not be a determining factor when it comes to scholarships. I.e, the person that filled the criteria the best, regardless of their ethnicity, should receive it. It's not about telling people to go 'fuck themselves' it's about ensuring that the opportunity is there for everyone to have access to it. It's about scholarships being related to hard work and/or income, not the colour of your skin.

But these race and gender based scholarships are giving a range of people access to an education that they might not have otherwise recived. These are not the only scholarships availble. These people saw that there were gaps that with those afformentioned groups were falling through and decieded that it was wrong that ACADEMICALLY QUALIFIED people should get a chance yet somehow we are here and arguing whether or not this is good or bad.

And yet again you fail to understand my point: There are also academically qualified people with the same inability to get further education whom you would deny of any chance because of their gender or skin-color.

Just because some white males are doing far better than most does not give you the right to judge them all. That's the most basic form of racist stereotyping.

 

[EightGaugeHippo]

Not Racist, just ignorant.

 

[Hyper-space]

I think affirmative action should not cover only african-americans, but generally people living in poor neighbourhoods.

Actually I am the ultimate majority: the Young, Poor, White Male. We don't run the world(and never will unless we are from rich families), we are just as poor as any other poor minority, and we are held to higher standards than we can be expected to achieve. Oh yeah, and everybody hates us. Asians think we are stupid and lazy, women think us oafish and abusive, blacks think we are racist and unfairly advantaged and gays think we are latently-homophobic and can't dance. Fuck you, WE are an oppressed minority.

This. To generalize is never the right thing, what affirmative action should focus on is economic status, instead of race.

 

[Lawyer105]

Affirmative Action is racism, and that's why I'll never, ever accept a Hispanic student scholarship. I don't give a damn if I have to actually work to survive while I'm in school, my principles are worth a little less sleep and earning what I have.

Good on you! Well played!

Get out of such absolutist thinking and you'll understand why. Try thinking about it for a few minutes. Think about the relative likely social capital inherent in each class. Think about what could happen in the long term without affirmative action.

Besides, it's not like you often get people just swanning in because they're black. They also have to be worthy.

And yet, there may well be people who are SIGNIFICANTLY more worthy, and SIGNIFICANTLY worse off who will still not qualify for this scholarship simply because they're NOT black/beige/puce/green/red or whatever. At the end of the day, the awarding of the scholarship is NOT being made on merit, it's being made on race, with merit only deciding which member of that race gets it.

If scholarships were simply awarded on the basis of merit AND financial hardship (which would make sense - people that can pay their own way don't really need a scholarship) then there would still be significantly more scholarships awarded to black individuals in American than to white individuals. And it would be because they were more deserving - not because of race.

As long as their is ANY discrimination (positive or negative), racism exists and there's no denying that.

I think YOU need to re-evaluate your position.

I'm not even going to bother to address your argument seriously, at it's clear you're unwilling to do the same to mine.

Get out of simplistic thinking. It's racist, but that doesn't mean its all bad.

I suppose you think multi-culturalism is a good thing as well. Take a good, long look at Sweden then, and then tell me if you really think it's such a good idea.

If it's racist, it is by definition a bad thing. If you want to eliminate poverty - I'm behind you all the way. But the only thing that matters is that they are poverty-stricken. That the majority are black matters not one bit... you help ALL those who are poverty-stricken in order of their need. Helping a poverty-stricken black BEFORE a poverty-stricken white IS racist, IS bad, IS simplistic, is bloody stupid and is exactly what you're proposing.

By making this sort of judgement, you are inherently assuming that - for two otherwise identical people - the black one has more value/need simply because in society as a whole more whites are better off?? That's right up there with the worlds dumbest retards.

I think some of you are missing the point. because you say "yes it is racist, but it is ok because blah blah blah.." It's not ok. either racism is ok, or it is not. Not one white person living in America today has anything to do with black slavery or oppression from the 1700-1800's. If people pay for the sins of their forefathers, should not I as a Jew receive some sort of compensation for the fact that they destroyed every branch of my family save one less than a hundred years ago? The answer is no. most of the people involved in the Nazi party are dead, and the few that escaped a reckoning have to live with their ghosts and demons. Earn what you have, do not have it handed to you because of race.

Cookie for you.

Why is it that so few other people seem to be able to separate things like poverty reduction (regardless of race) from supporting (many of whom happen to be poor).

Why does nobody else see the curse of multi-culturalism (a.k.a. "I must be ashamed of everything that makes me British and support all these other intolerant groups who hate my values and my society but who all want the quality of life these values and society support") for what it is?

At least there's a few like you out there.

I don't think many people in this thread can empathize with ethnic minorities. A little more than 30 years ago in America, Latinos had very little recognition, Native Americans didn't own their reservations, and Black people? Although they had the CRM, 30% of them were underneath the poverty line. Yeah things have gotten better, but are they even? God no.

I think it's only fair, it's racist if you look at it that way, don't get nitpicky about the little things.

No. It ISN'T fair. Yes, there are a lot of poor, underprivileged, disadvantaged blacks/mexicans/indians whatever. There are plenty of American WHITES that are just as badly off. Granted, the percentages are not the same, but why should that make a difference??

Why should two otherwise identical people have the decision between them made on race? Why should a white person who's worse off and better qualified come second simply because the other dude has a darker skin??

THAT'S what's not fair.

Poverty-stricken is an absolute value (assuming you can reasonably define and measure criteria for poor). Persons X and Y are both below the poverty-line, but you can measure whether Person X is worse off than Person Y. To determine that Person X (white) should not get a scholarship and it should go to Person Y (black) is to make the inherent assumption that for a black person to be poverty-stricken is a greater evil than for a white person.

And that is not only bloody stupid, it's racist and evil, and I won't apologise for calling you on it.

Poor is poor. You help the most needy and most deserving. Skin colour is irrelevant.

This means that for each scholarship for the poor, there will be more white applications than black applications. This means it is more likely that a white will get the scholarship. This will do little to lift the status of whites as a whole. The same scholarship in the hands of a black would make a bigger dent on that overall poverty percentage, and so will do more good to blacks as a whole...

Why should we care about white or blacks or indians (or whatever) as a whole? Why can't we just care about PEOPLE?

Why is having a poor black worse than having a poor white? Poverty, in and of itself, is bad. Throwing in a racial aspect simply draws attention away from the core problem (poverty) and immediately converts it into a racial problem (whites vs everyone else).

Sorry, but your argument is worthless.

Ok, if we define racism as discriminating between 2 people by race, the affirmative action is by definition racist. However this means that racism is not always a bad thing, not that affirmative action is therefore bad. Surely everyone can agree that colleges entrances should be almost exactly proportional to the population of the country. If, for example, there 1 in 5 black in america then 1 in 5 college entrants should be black (a made up statistic but you get my point).

No. No, we don't agree on that. Frankly, I think far too MANY people go to college (NOTE: IMHO, this statement applies only to those studying non-technical fields... we always need more doctors, engineers, teachers etc.). The end result is an economy that's based less on anything with actual value and more on shuffling bits of paper around pretending that we create value that way.

I can't speak for every economy on the planet, but here in the UK, we need much more industry, manufacturing and various support services (e.g. plumbers, electricians) than we need another college educated muppet trying to get into banking, or investment management or whatever.

The end result of so many college attendees is a bunch of white-collar, entitled prat-donkeys, all refusing to do anything they consider "beneath them" clogging up the works, while our economy slowly folds up (thanks ZP) like a flan in a cupboard.

So, no. College entrance should be based purely on merit. How about we implement a meritocracy and say that college should be restricted to only the upper xx% in order of merit. Everyone else can then go do something more productive. How's that?

 

[clipse15]

So your in favor of a world where the qualified White Male dominates the colleges and all the qualified Blacks, Hispanics and Women just go fuck themselves?

Um, I think you completely missed his point, he's saying that 'race' (I hate using that word) should not be a determining factor when it comes to scholarships. I.e, the person that filled the criteria the best, regardless of their ethnicity, should receive it. It's not about telling people to go 'fuck themselves' it's about ensuring that the opportunity is there for everyone to have access to it. It's about scholarships being related to hard work and/or income, not the colour of your skin.

But these race and gender based scholarships are giving a range of people access to an education that they might not have otherwise recived. These are not the only scholarships availble. These people saw that there were gaps that with those afformentioned groups were falling through and decieded that it was wrong that ACADEMICALLY QUALIFIED people should get a chance yet somehow we are here and arguing whether or not this is good or bad.

And yet again you fail to understand my point: There are also academically qualified people with the same inability to get further education whom you would deny of any chance because of their gender or skin-color.

Just because some white males are doing far better than most does not give you the right to judge them all. That's the most basic form of racist stereotyping.

I did not miss your point. Like I said these are not the only scholarships availible so how does denying them access to a few scholarships affect there ability to obtain the plethora of others? If these race and gender based scholarships didn't exist then are example of the White Male would still be denied post secondary education however now with him are the minorities that were also denied. These scholarships are often provided by special interest groups who have chosen to spend there money as they please to help people they feel need help. They have no moral responsibility to provide scholarships to everyone. There are also city based scholarships are these discriminatory to those leaving outside the city limits? and are Catholic based scholarships also discriminatory?

 

[Blind Sight]

So your in favor of a world where the qualified White Male dominates the colleges and all the qualified Blacks, Hispanics and Women just go fuck themselves?

Um, I think you completely missed his point, he's saying that 'race' (I hate using that word) should not be a determining factor when it comes to scholarships. I.e, the person that filled the criteria the best, regardless of their ethnicity, should receive it. It's not about telling people to go 'fuck themselves' it's about ensuring that the opportunity is there for everyone to have access to it. It's about scholarships being related to hard work and/or income, not the colour of your skin.

But these race and gender based scholarships are giving a range of people access to an education that they might not have otherwise recived. These are not the only scholarships availble. These people saw that there were gaps that with those afformentioned groups were falling through and decieded that it was wrong that ACADEMICALLY QUALIFIED people should get a chance yet somehow we are here and arguing whether or not this is good or bad.

Well here's an example of a friend of mine: he's African Canadian, and received a scholarship based strictly off of his ethnic background. He is not, however, poor. His parents are dentists in Toronto. Alternatively, I myself come from a fairly poor family, my dad works in construction and my mom was fired before just before I got into university. I have been turned down for almost all of the income-related scholarships I have applied for, but he received a large amount of money he didn't need (his words, not mine) based purely on the colour of his skin. Scholarships should focus only only two qualities: financial need, and academic ability. Too many people are receiving benefits simply because of their ethnic background. I have less of a problem with scholarships that focus on both financial need and their ethnicity, but focusing on class and income alone is probably a far better system to ensure that academically qualified people get a chance.

 

[Krantos]

They're not just for African-Americans. There are ones for women, orientals, hispanics, etc.

The rational behind them is the myth that white males are all rich and over-privileged. Thus, if you happen to be a poor white male (such as myself) you'd better get a job really early, rack up some credit (I used a cd-secured loan, which enabled me to get a cell phone in my name, etc. etc.), and then get a whole mess of student loans. My wife on the other hand, benefiting from having two x chromosomes and being just a little worse off financially, got through her undergrad with barely any debt. It was the Vet-school that caught up with her there (because there are no full-ride scholarships for vet-school. They assume everyone is rich).

My basic complaint with this and affirmative action is they are based on racial stereotypes. They assume that minorities and females will have a harder time paying for college, or getting into college, because they assume they're poor. Rather than just assume the Social Economic Status of people, why not make these things based on SES instead?

 

[clipse15]

So your in favor of a world where the qualified White Male dominates the colleges and all the qualified Blacks, Hispanics and Women just go fuck themselves?

Um, I think you completely missed his point, he's saying that 'race' (I hate using that word) should not be a determining factor when it comes to scholarships. I.e, the person that filled the criteria the best, regardless of their ethnicity, should receive it. It's not about telling people to go 'fuck themselves' it's about ensuring that the opportunity is there for everyone to have access to it. It's about scholarships being related to hard work and/or income, not the colour of your skin.

But these race and gender based scholarships are giving a range of people access to an education that they might not have otherwise recived. These are not the only scholarships availble. These people saw that there were gaps that with those afformentioned groups were falling through and decieded that it was wrong that ACADEMICALLY QUALIFIED people should get a chance yet somehow we are here and arguing whether or not this is good or bad.

Well here's an example of a friend of mine: he's African Canadian, and received a scholarship based strictly off of his ethnic background. He is not, however, poor. His parents are dentists in Toronto. Alternatively, I myself come from a fairly poor family, my dad works in construction and my mom was fired before just before I got into university. I have been turned down for almost all of the income-related scholarships I have applied for, but he received a large amount of money he didn't need (his words, not mine) based purely on the colour of his skin. Scholarships should focus only only two qualities: financial need, and academic ability. Too many people are receiving benefits simply because of their ethnic background. I have less of a problem with scholarships that focus on both financial need and their ethnicity, but focusing on class and income alone is probably a far better system to ensure that academically qualified people get a chance.

If you are in Toronto or the surronding area then I don't believe this story. Especially in the Toronto Area there are thousands of scholarships and even more grants availible for doing basically nothing. And if you are in Ontario then OSAP itself gives you tons of grant money automatically if you are from a low income family.

 

[Dags90]

The organizations that give out scholarships can give them to whoever they choose. It is not racist, scholarships are self-serving. If a white man wants to fund a scholarship and restrict it in some way so that it only goes to fellow white males, he CAN. But that doesn't really happen, instead most scholarships are funded by special interest groups or from individuals with a particular interest in some group.

This, and before admissions quotas and such come up: it's all lip service. Quotas, special scholarships, etc. do nothing to fix the more serious issue of underfunded, failing, inner city schools. For anyone who wants to get rid of quotas and such, I'd gladly and eagerly trade that for an end to regional budgeting of school districts. It's totally unfair that many schools are funded off of property tax from within their districts. Affluent, primarily white suburbs get well funded and capable public schools while others with lower property values are left behind.

It's a total lip service to say we're going to help you go to college, but we're going to drag our heels in fixing the root cause. This of course, applies to places in the U.S. where public schools are funded by district property taxes.

 

[Sevre]

I don't think many people in this thread can empathize with ethnic minorities. A little more than 30 years ago in America, Latinos had very little recognition, Native Americans didn't own their reservations, and Black people? Although they had the CRM, 30% of them were underneath the poverty line. Yeah things have gotten better, but are they even? God no.

I think it's only fair, it's racist if you look at it that way, don't get nitpicky about the little things.

No. It ISN'T fair. Yes, there are a lot of poor, underprivileged, disadvantaged blacks/mexicans/indians whatever. There are plenty of American WHITES that are just as badly off. Granted, the percentages are not the same, but why should that make a difference??

Why should two otherwise identical people have the decision between them made on race? Why should a white person who's worse off and better qualified come second simply because the other dude has a darker skin??

THAT'S what's not fair.

Poverty-stricken is an absolute value (assuming you can reasonably define and measure criteria for poor). Persons X and Y are both below the poverty-line, but you can measure whether Person X is worse off than Person Y. To determine that Person X (white) should not get a scholarship and it should go to Person Y (black) is to make the inherent assumption that for a black person to be poverty-stricken is a greater evil than for a white person.

And that is not only bloody stupid, it's racist and evil, and I won't apologise for calling you on it.

Poor is poor. You help the most needy and most deserving. Skin colour is irrelevant.

I see, so you believe in equal treatment in regards to poverty, that's fine. I believe that too, but this isn't about that. So don't throw your red herrings around.

We've already got benefits for the poor, I don't know about where you come from, but we give out scholarships to people who come from 'disadvantaged areas' here. If you don't then bring it up with your local University.

We've also got benefits for people with disabilities etc., why shouldn't we have one for ethnic minorities? Take at who runs the world, the white, straight male. It's been like that for generations, why shouldn't ethnic minorities get the chance to have the same benefits they did? And before you bring up "Oh but Barack Obama is the most powerful blah blah blah I couldn't care less.", that's a good case study of the fact that they are minorities.

It's not just about Black people, it's about minorities everywhere, whether you're Mexican, poor, or have lost two limbs we want to give you the same chance those at the top have. What's wrong with that? That's not racist at all, you can say "Oh but it's racist against the white man."! Well the white man has these opportunities, the poor don't. If the white man happens to be poor, I reiterate, the poor don't.

So stop whining.

 

[hooblabla6262]

It blows my mind that you could possibly consider these scholarships to be racist. Let me explain it to you this way:

Imagine a big race (the kind with a start and finish). Now imagine that all of your competitors are being weighed down by oppression and genocide.
As the race starts you fly to the lead. Everyone is so very far behind you that you can hardly even consider them a competition anymore.
Then when you finally reach the end, you realize that killing and enslaving and generally shitting on everyone else probably wasn't the nicest way to win a race. But since all the people you were racing are dead, you decide to help out their kids by giving them a leg up here and there (cause let's face it, people are still shitting on them and they've earned a break).
As a member of of the First Nations community (which most of you probably don't know about since we are a dying race that everyone seems to forget), I have experienced shit that most of you will never have to deal with, and that a few of you will deal with worse. But I worked hard for my scholarships, so that even if they were Native specific, I earned them.
Should I get a job over a white guy?
No. Nor anyone else for that matter. But the next time you look at the black or Hispanic or native kid getting a scholarship specific to them, think of all the white kids who got every other scholarship.

 

[Gudrests]

it's racist, but it's necessary. maybe in another 50 years we'll have advanced to a point where affirmative action and african-american scholarships and the NAACP aren't necessary, but right now they're the better of several evils.

by all rights what your saying right here is that African-Americans are not capable of doing what the majority is capable of doing so they need extra help money wise in order to do it? that dosent sound right to me. What makes a black student need more help than a white student? is it because he is white that he MUST have tons of money? or that it means he went to a private school?...does it mean that he is higher in a social order that apparently exists so scholarships have to be given to an african-american to help him climb that social latter? to me that sounds racist. "lets give to one group of people based on there skin color because they CLEARLY are not able to do what everyone else is capable of doing" to me that sounds quite dumb. In all honesty NOTHING should be White/Black/Chinese/whateveryouwanttobecalled only in this country. If you sign up for a job, unless you are physically or mentally disabled there is no reason you should not be able to do what everyone else can do.

Unless of course the race of people as a whole would like to admit that they are infact not as smart/strong/fast as everyone else, and that the average one of them cannot compete with the average of a majority. But i truthfully don't see that happening any time soon. I think we are all equal now. HELL the leader of the most powerfull country in the world is an African-American....that should be proof right there

 

[Blind Sight]

If you are in Toronto or the surronding area then I don't believe this story. Especially in the Toronto Area there are thousands of scholarships and even more grants availible for doing basically nothing. And if you are in Ontario then OSAP itself gives you tons of grant money automatically if you are from a low income family.

Actually I'm from a small town in Ontario, not a ton of scholarships to be had, the only scholarship I've received is the Jean Chrietian Academia Scholarship (which I actually had to work for by writing a fifteen page paper on political liberalism and its relation to youth experience). OSAP does exist, true, but it's a horribly broken system (and it hardly gives you a 'ton of money' even with a very low income) that gives out money based off of random income factors and alphabetically in September and January for god's sake. Also, I can no longer apply for it as my mom got a new job at Queen's University as a secretary and we've been able to use that to write off some of my tuition, which negates me from OSAP for some reason.

I still stand by my point: scholarships based on ethnic factors are wrong and serve to alienate, while scholarships based off of financial need and academic ability are far more professional and present a far better opportunity for the underprivileged to gain the funds needed.

 

[Jamboxdotcom]

Spoiler: spoiler'd for size

it's racist, but it's necessary. maybe in another 50 years we'll have advanced to a point where affirmative action and african-american scholarships and the NAACP aren't necessary, but right now they're the better of several evils.

by all rights what your saying right here is that African-Americans are not capable of doing what the majority is capable of doing so they need extra help money wise in order to do it? that dosent sound right to me. What makes a black student need more help than a white student? is it because he is white that he MUST have tons of money? or that it means he went to a private school?...does it mean that he is higher in a social order that apparently exists so scholarships have to be given to an african-american to help him climb that social latter? to me that sounds racist. "lets give to one group of people based on there skin color because they CLEARLY are not able to do what everyone else is capable of doing" to me that sounds quite dumb. In all honesty NOTHING should be White/Black/Chinese/whateveryouwanttobecalled only in this country. If you sign up for a job, unless you are physically or mentally disabled there is no reason you should not be able to do what everyone else can do.

Unless of course the race of people as a whole would like to admit that they are infact not as smart/strong/fast as everyone else, and that the average one of them cannot compete with the average of a majority. But i truthfully don't see that happening any time soon. I think we are all equal now. HELL the leader of the most powerfull country in the world is an African-American....that should be proof right there

it's not that they are less capable, it's that there is still a TON of racism (and let's face it, while racism goes both ways, it hurts blacks more than the rest of us, since they tend toward the economic minority) in this country. the fact is, even blacks who are scholastically equal to their white counterparts will often be at a disadvantage for scholarships because discrimination isn't gone (basically, all other things being equal, the whiter man usually wins). i too had high hopes for the election of our first black president, but if anything Obama's election has only proven just how far we still have to go.

 

[NapoleonWilson]

This is a complicated topic. If the Government has a scholarship that is given based on racial discrimination then it should be classified as racisim. The Government is supposedly a non-biased entity run for and by the people and activly participating in selective discrimination for or against groups of it's own people is inherently wrong. The scholarship would be funded by tax dollars which are confiscated from the countries citizens. To then say a specific group of needy individuals are excluded from that scholarship based on race shows that the Government is favoring one group over another. It is very similar to the argument about church and state. The Government is not supposed to support one religeon over another because there is a recognition of mulitculturalism in the United States. Likewise, the Government should not show preference to one racial group over another for the same reasoning. Therefore, the Governement cannot make race a determinate factor in decison making for allocation of resources for any Government aid program; Scholarships, food stamps, section 8 housing, healthcare, legal representation, etc.

Private entities are totally different. Theoretically where an individual chooses to spend their money is up to them. Their money is not being conficscated and being forced to pay into a program they would not otherwise fund. If I were rich and felt that a group of people needed a scholarship to combat what I percieved as a rising trend of intolerance and hatred against that group it is my money to spend. Like minded individuals who wish to contribute to a pool to create a scholarship represent the same thing. There is nothing inherently wrong with this. If an individual truly feels that black people need a boost it is not necessarily racist, it is a personal judgement. Can it be motivated by racisim? Yes, of course. This is still America and people are free to be, (for good or ill) racist. However, making an informed decision after looking at evidence, trends and personal experience is not racisim. We don't get angry at people when they say they like green over blue or oceans over forests; it is a personal decision. People have the right to say, "I feel people "X" have it more difficult than people "y" and so I choose to help People "x" more," and they have the right to do it free from being maligned as racist.

Racisim is a word that is far too often thrown around without the slightest provocation. Words can be powerful but when it is improperly adjudicated it strips the word of it's power and makes the real use far less meaningful.