Poll: The use of '******' in Yahtzee videos

[warm slurm]

make people aware that fag is not a gay-bashing slur anymore.

But is is a gay-bashing slur, and it will be for a very, very long time.

 

[Blazingdragoon04]

Fag and ****** have lost their gay-bashing meaning that our previous generation used it for, clear and simple. The sooner people accept this and learn that the word has pretty much become interchangeable with such classics as "douchebag" and "asshole" and stop getting so worked up every time the word is used, the happier we as a civilization will be.

Is that why gay men are still being bashed by attackers using the word ******?

You are using the logic that the exception is what proves the rule. For every 1 time a group of people decide that it is fine and dandy to attack a gay man while calling him ****** and fag, there are probably 100,000 times where the word is said online, cursed at a person who cuts another off in traffic, or any other use of the word where the intent is not to mock the status of sexuality in a person but rather a word that has become interchangable with asshole.

You are fear mongering, and like I said the exception is not what proves the rule. I am not saying that gays have it easy, but you need to understand that these events are not the norm. It is honestly people like you, who go about using the exception to prove a rule that the world is a terrible place that I don't like conversing with because you use your logic to get people riled up over statistics and facts that are not true for the majority of the world or country, and ultimately using fear is a terrible way to go about solving a problem. There are people out there that need to be stopped and who use fag and ****** in this terrible way. Your perpetuation of the word in this way by trying to convince everyone that it is still a harmful slur does us no good, and I ask you to take a step back and really think about what the people in this forum have been trying to say. Not once did I see a post that said that they use the word to openly mock gays, please understand that the word is not what you think it is and stop fear mongering.

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

I'm gay, and it doesn't offend me. Yahtzee's style is to be offensive to everybody, so what's the point in singling out one term? If he wasn't so creatively vulgar, he wouldn't be nearly as funny.

A hero walks among us.

 

[Geekosaurus]

He's clearly not using the word to be derogative towards homosexuals so it's ok.

 

[Mcface]

No, not really. I only don't like the word if it's used in a hateful sense towards someone who's homosexual.

The word "******" or "fag" doesn't really come off as an insult towards gays anymore, rather just an insult towards someone in general like calling them a "dick" or something like that.

this.
its what a lot of people think of first because they know its one of the more offensive words.

 

[Blazingdragoon04]

make people aware that fag is not a gay-bashing slur anymore.

But is is a gay-bashing slur, and it will be for a very, very long time.

Certainly with that attitude it will be. If you and everyone else keep telling people that it is then it will continue to be that way for a long time.

I guess for the simplicity of my argument imagine the following situation. A boy plays an online game and hears the word fag, and asks his father what the word means. If the father tells him that it is a word that people use to make fun of homosexuals, the slur is perpetuated due to its use being preserved in the next generation. However, if the father tells the boy that the word is used to describe someone who is acting mean, then the word evolves into its new use, and the boy can be part of the next generation, the one I have been trying to describe, that will remove the anti-gay context of the word fag all together.

I wish to be part of that generation, the one that removes the anti-gay context from the slur. I know that this is a very complicated issue to wrap your heads around, and I don't mean that in a negative way, but we are the next generation people! We decide how the world works! Just as some generation before us decided to use the word to negatively describe gays we can choose to end that. We have a lot more power than we think we do, use it, don't deny it.

 

[Mcface]

fag·ot
?noun
1. a bundle of sticks, twigs, or branches bound together and used as fuel, a fascine, a torch, etc.
2. a bundle; bunch.
3. a bundle of pieces of iron or steel to be welded, hammered, or rolled together at high temperature.

There's more than one meaning to this word.
Just like 'gay' doesn't actually mean homosexual.
And 'fag' is a slang for exhaustion.
How people got around to use these as slang for 'homosexual', I'll never know.

Tangent - Maybe witchburning/religious connotations? I'm assuming that's how they came to use it, something to be burned, maybe that's how it took on that meaning.

Actually the gays sort of stole the word, if you will.
They took it and applied it to themselves. Even gay people will tell you this lol.
I'm sure calling them a ****** made sense when people first started using it.

 

[101flyboy]

7 people are hyper sensitive.

I'm going to also continue to use the word ****** as an insult.

This overly testy politically correct nonsense is beginning to try my patience.

Yes, next thing you know, you won't be able to drop the N-bomb freely.

Honestly now. I'm not offended by it, but this "pretend this is a new thing" kinda stuff is why I almost don't want to admit it. I feared this topic would be filled with people (i.e. SWM 13-25) claiming they don't know why it's supposed to be offensive when I read the title. Because these topics always are.

Has ****** even actually meant a bundle of sticks any time in the last 50 years? I'm pretty sure at this point it's just an excuse for every supposedly-clever person to show that they really don't get that words occasionally change meanings over the years.

That's not political correctness. That's racism. As far as I know, a ****** isn't a race. It also doesn't mean a homosexual. It (when used in the derogatory sense) means someone who is unfit to live as part of society. It's only recently began to mean homosexual and then even more recently it's stopped meaning that.

I have nothing against people with tact. Political correctness is a good way to destroy some prejudices. It's also a very good way to get you tangled up in so much bureaucracy that you can't use half the words in the English dictionary because someone feels they have a negative connotation.

And, this is essentially what I'm talking about. If the n-word is racism, than ****** is homophobia. "A ****** isn't a race" says it all. I mean, I only wish people would get real with the true attitude behind using this word and the lack of any sort of care with it. It's because gay people, especially gay men, are not considered fully equal, or even fully human. Let's stop pretending otherwise. Because if it were otherwise, than the n-word, ****, ***** etc., would be used openly and just be normal social vocabulary, and these words are not. It has not stopped meaning homosexual because people want it to stop meaning that. That's simply shooing the issue away because people don't want to and don't care about addressing it. The word has been used in connection to gay men for a LONG time, and it still most certainly is.

Heterosexuals can't just decide to take back the word or decide what it means, and say it carries no power with it. This isn't about us. This is about the gays. And the context ****** is used 90% of the time is directly linked to anti-gay stereotypes.

The only reason I abstain from using racial terms is because they tend to ruffle more feathers than they're worth. It's a very sensitive subject. I don't particularly agree with it. I'd very much love to use any word I like. But there is a huge difference between someone shouting '******' in an attempt to oppress an entire race. and someone using the word '******' as an unbiased insult.

I always use the word. but I don't insinuate that being homosexual is bad. i just like the word as an insult.

The reason racial slurs ruffle feathers, is because they have been accepted as wrong. The reason you aren't hearing comedians call women cunts, is because it has been accepted as wrong. It has NOT been accepted as wrong to use slurs with connections to homosexuals/homosexuality, and it has not been accepted as wrong to be anti-gay. That's the difference. It's a sensitive subject because people instinctively KNOW what the n-word means and why it's offensive. People know the same thing about ****** too. But, the difference is, people don't actually care enough or at all about gay people, so they use the word anyway. Or, they go out of their way to justify the usage of the word, or they simply dismiss and ignore everything that comes with the word. Because people don't want to address homophobia, because they don't want to address homosexuality, ****** continues as a slur most see as "funny" and "normal". It's an unbiased word in that it's levied against anyone, but that's sort of the problem. It is unbiased. It is something that is universally used to negative attack an individual. It's not JUST a word, otherwise, it wouldn't be used so widespread.

There isn't a difference between shouting a word with connection to a group of people because of their race, and shouting a word with a connection to a group of people because of their sexuality. There is NOT a difference. That is the biggest problem of all, and I'll repeat what I said before. LGBT people aren't fully respected as equal or human. You don't personally need to insinuate homosexuality is bad by using ******. The word itself does that damage.

Yes, homosexual and other non-heterosexual people do get the shaft from time to time, buy my god it is not as pessimistic as you are going on about here. The world isn't this terrible place where gays are not welcome anywhere and get shouted at about being gay every where they go, and as the recent U.N. action shows people and countries who are against homosexuality are in a dwindling minority.

The fact of the matter is, and one that almost entirely invalidates your entire argument, is that we as a culture actually DO have the opportunity to take back a word and give it new meaning. We can because we aren't tied to the past, we are the generation that is going to move on into the future, and we can change that future right now by doing things such as changing the meaning of words. Words have changed meaning in the past, and continue to now, especially slurs, and by saying that we can't change the meaning of the word and that it will always continue to be hurtful is actually causing MORE harm than the people actively making the slur "******" not have the same meaning it did 20 years ago.

Diction evolves, and times change. I know I will get a lot of slack for this, but honestly just watch the South Park episode they did ENTIRELY ABOUT THIS ISSUE!!! It was one of the most philosophically and sociologically correct episodes I've just about ever seen. Fag and ****** really don't mean what they used to and it seems the majority of the people here agree with that and are trying to make that knowledge common throughout the public. People who say no it's not are the ones doing the harm in this situation, so while you might think you are helping you are in fact hurting the very cause you are putting so much effort in to defend.

And c'mon, honestly, this is the easier solution. At least in America, and probably across the world where freedom reigns, people will continue to say the words that they want to, because dirty words are fun, and you will have no luck in continuously telling people what they can't do because they will not take you seriously. It's why the comedy industry here in America is a multi-billion dollar business, it's why little children will repeat the words that you tell them not to, and it's why I choose to tackle this issue by changing society and to make people aware that fag is not a gay-bashing slur anymore.

The word is an offensive word in itself. So, saying "well, the meaning of the word has changed, it's not offensive anymore", doesn't work. It's an inherently offensive word, and it is still a word, used offensively. Let's not pretend otherwise. It's also NOT a word that you or anyone else can just take, because no, it's not a word with DIRECT connections to anyone BUT gay men. So, it's up to them whether the word is genuinely offensive, and many gay men believe it is. And, many non-homosexuals such as myself think so as well, because of that. It's not up to you to determine the feelings others should have. You don't have that power. It's not your word, it's essentially theirs.

To believe anti-gay discrimination is not a major reality is just not a reflection of reality. What UN action are you talking about, the one where they voted to eliminated homosexuality from the list of unjustified executions? Or the fact like...........70 something countries still penalize homosexuality? In the US, gay people aren't equal. There isn't any reason to think otherwise. In the South, Midwest and Mountain west, homosexuality is extremely condemned. Gay bashings are on the rise in North and South America. Homosexuality is still very much seen as a negative, which is why the usage of ****** is so universal.

I watched that South Park episode. It's a TV show. It's not reality. The fact people are actually more willing to listen to Stan and Kyle on SP than actual HUMAN BEINGS is a borderline tragedy. That shows such a lack of any sort of....basic care. It's simple, really. Is the word still used negatively? Yes. Is the word still generally used to offend? Yes. So, why are we acting as if it's JUST a word, when the word we all know is MEANT to be negative? Obviously, there is a reason for that. People aren't walking up to each other saying "hey, you ******" and wanting to hug and kiss that person. Let's get real.

The times change argument doesn't work, either. Time hasn't made ****** an acceptable term to use in every day life against others. Nor has it made it acceptable to call women cunts or call Latin individuals wetbacks. Time hasn't done that. And, there is a reason for that.

But, you're right, you can't make anyone not use the word. Like Michael Richards, and how he had HELL to pay when he used ******. Well, freedom of speech works both ways. People will use the word, but there are consequences for actions. And that's what needs to be remembered, and what is being shown when the word is used publicly by those in the media eye. Use the word, and you take that action, well, other people will take action against that. That's how you change things.

 

[warm slurm]

Certainly with that attitude it will be. If you and everyone else keep telling people that it is then it will continue to be that way for a long time.

I guess for the simplicity of my argument imagine the following situation. A boy plays an online game and hears the word fag, and asks his father what the word means. If the father tells him that it is a word that people use to make fun of homosexuals, the slur is perpetuated due to its use being preserved in the next generation. However, if the father tells the boy that the word is used to describe someone who is acting mean, then the word evolves into its new use, and the boy can be part of the next generation, the one I have been trying to describe, that will remove the anti-gay context of the word fag all together.

I wish to be part of that generation, the one that removes the anti-gay context from the slur. I know that this is a very complicated issue to wrap your heads around, and I don't mean that in a negative way, but we are the next generation people! We decide how the world works! Just as some generation before us decided to use the word to negatively describe gays we can choose to end that. We have a lot more power than we think we do, use it, don't deny it.

It doesn't matter about attitude. The word fag should not be used as an insult at all - even if the meaning was "changed" (which it won't because there are too many ignorant homophobic assholes in the world) it would still carry the stigma of being an insult to homosexuals. It's sad, but true.

 

[Luhrsen]

I'm old and literate enough that I still automatically think of the 'firewood' definition first. Then get confused if it doesn't make sense. All of Yahtzee's uses have made sense if not always in a funny way.

 

[Whitenail]

Burning stick?

Doesn't bother me any more than 'fiery twig'.

Hate to be a...definition fascist but:

OP: I'm not gay and I haven't found anything offensive about his use of it, I'd only have a problem if he was using it specifically to have a hateful dig at gays.

 

[mr_rubino]

make people aware that fag is not a gay-bashing slur anymore.

But is is a gay-bashing slur, and it will be for a very, very long time.

Certainly with that attitude it will be. If you and everyone else keep telling people that it is then it will continue to be that way for a long time.

I guess for the simplicity of my argument imagine the following situation. A boy plays an online game and hears the word fag, and asks his father what the word means. If the father tells him that it is a word that people use to make fun of homosexuals, the slur is perpetuated due to its use being preserved in the next generation. However, if the father tells the boy that the word is used to describe someone who is acting mean, then the word evolves into its new use, and the boy can be part of the next generation, the one I have been trying to describe, that will remove the anti-gay context of the word fag all together.

I wish to be part of that generation, the one that removes the anti-gay context from the slur. I know that this is a very complicated issue to wrap your heads around, and I don't mean that in a negative way, but we are the next generation people! We decide how the world works! Just as some generation before us decided to use the word to negatively describe gays we can choose to end that. We have a lot more power than we think we do, use it, don't deny it.

Hahahaha. As I said, the son of the Great White Father continues to say he knows what's best for everyone, and he'll take it upon himself to use these words until all the bad mojo is bled out of them. What a modern paladin.

 

[101flyboy]

Fag and ****** have lost their gay-bashing meaning that our previous generation used it for, clear and simple. The sooner people accept this and learn that the word has pretty much become interchangeable with such classics as "douchebag" and "asshole" and stop getting so worked up every time the word is used, the happier we as a civilization will be.

Is that why gay men are still being bashed by attackers using the word ******?

You are using the logic that the exception is what proves the rule. For every 1 time a group of people decide that it is fine and dandy to attack a gay man while calling him ****** and fag, there are probably 100,000 times where the word is said online, cursed at a person who cuts another off in traffic, or any other use of the word where the intent is not to mock the status of sexuality in a person but rather a word that has become interchangable with asshole.

You are fear mongering, and like I said the exception is not what proves the rule. I am not saying that gays have it easy, but you need to understand that these events are not the norm. It is honestly people like you, who go about using the exception to prove a rule that the world is a terrible place that I don't like conversing with because you use your logic to get people riled up over statistics and facts that are not true for the majority of the world or country, and ultimately using fear is a terrible way to go about solving a problem. There are people out there that need to be stopped and who use fag and ****** in this terrible way. Your perpetuation of the word in this way by trying to convince everyone that it is still a harmful slur does us no good, and I ask you to take a step back and really think about what the people in this forum have been trying to say. Not once did I see a post that said that they use the word to openly mock gays, please understand that the word is not what you think it is and stop fear mongering.

How can you say these events are not the norm? I'm not trying to rile anyone up, but just realize the scope of the entire situation. Gay men are bashed every day in countries worldwide, with the word ****** being used against them, and not just in physical attacks, but by politicians even. In schools between kids, it is used pretty much every day, with connections to anti-gay stereotypes. The rule IS that ****** is an insult, a negative term, has a direct link to gay men, and is meant to offend, regardless if it's aimed at gay men specifically. ****** is ******, aimed at heterosexuals, the word is the same. There just isn't any way to say otherwise. It is 90% of the time used to intentionally cut someone down and make them feel small. There is a reason for that, it's not just because.

I'm not fear mongering. I understand that people don't even realize why the word is offensive. I realize people think that if they aren't directly referencing gay men, that it's OK to use. But people need to understand WHY it is offensive to many, instead of just dismissing those feelings. And then we all need to realize, that no, the word is a negative. WHY is the word used negative almost ALL of the time? That isn't being OTT, it's being realistic with what the word is truly about.

 

[theriddlen]

Yahtzee says "offensive" things not only about homos/gays/queers/faggots (choose whatever you want). He hates americans, fat people and some other things. It's his style, and i both approve and appreciate humorous sentences he creates by using these words.

 

[Doive]

[

 

[t3h br0th3r]

****** (popular definition in the US)- a man who is showing an annoying lack of manliness or overabundance of persnickety behavior

 

[101flyboy]

OK, some people need to know this:

During the inquisition of Europe, men who had sex with men were hunted for and burned at the stake. Their burnt ashes were used to keep the fires going that were used to burn witches. A lot of the witches were assumed as MSM. So, that's why ****** is used against gay men. They were used AS bundles of sticks for burning purposes, so that's how the word became what it is.

So, ****** is literally their word, gay men. The power behind it is real. This isn't a game. It isn't a joke. And for any non gay man to DISRESPECT gay men by using this word against THEM or anyone else and think they have the power to determine what the word truly is, is a disgrace.

 

[TheXRatedDodo]

I'm bisexual and I don't give a fuck.
IT'S JUST A WORD, GET OVER YOURSELVES.