Why are people so afraid of words?
- Thread starter b3nn3tt
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The more people censor and fear certain words, the more stigma that those words will have in a social setting due to "taboo". The opposite is also true, such as the acceptance of words such as "fuck", or "shit", or "*****" in the media and books in our modern society. And while these words may hold meaning that be offensive to some people, being "offended" by these words is an entirely personal stance and such "offense" has no right to force other people not to use the words because they feel like they deserve not to be offended in their day-to-day life. Of course, however, there are just some words that you plainly don't use to address certain individuals in society (like calling a black person a ******).
Not to say that social manners take a trip out the window here, but words only have as much meaning (negative or positive) as you ascribe to them. Otherwise, they are just a string of sounds.
Not to say that social manners take a trip out the window here, but words only have as much meaning (negative or positive) as you ascribe to them. Otherwise, they are just a string of sounds.
On the one hand, yes, words shouldn't be hurtful, they are only as powerful as you let them be an all. Which is fine in theory.
But, c'mon, everyone gets hurt or offended by words to some extent every so often. Sure, they only have the power we given them, but we've given them an awful lot of power. Racist/sexist slurs are there for the purpose of hurting people, in the pervasive belief that they are less than.
Sure, in an enlightened society free of prejudice, such words would presumably lose their power. But the thread is likely to come to an end before we reach that point.
But, c'mon, everyone gets hurt or offended by words to some extent every so often. Sure, they only have the power we given them, but we've given them an awful lot of power. Racist/sexist slurs are there for the purpose of hurting people, in the pervasive belief that they are less than.
Sure, in an enlightened society free of prejudice, such words would presumably lose their power. But the thread is likely to come to an end before we reach that point.
because people have been bullied by PC nazis for over a decade, of course they would be afraid of the lynching that seems to follow so much as the thought of those words.b3nn3tt said:
For my post in that thread, fear of the ban hammer. 4 out of 5 times, I mean no offense when I call someone any kind of insult. The more friendly I am with someone the more likely I am to insult them. My best friends suffer abuse that probably breaks the rules of the Geneva Convention...b3nn3tt said:
You couldn't just swap the words around. "OI, PIANO!" certainly doesn't have the same effective as "OI, DICK!" Piano just lacks the necessary punch. The reason Dick, fuck and **** are all so effective as swear words is the pure impact of the words. They kind of explode out of your mouth in a way that other words just don't.katboii said:
apparently i wasn't as clear as i had imagined, i meant that considering the level of swearing found in the content the escapist produce, and the amount of swearing in the forums is rather highLukeje said:
the idea of a no swearing policy deeply amused me
it was indeed intended to be somewhat hyperbolous
With me it's just that it's been drilled into my head since I was a kid to not say those words. Swear words I can get past, and have no issue swearing in text form. But there's a mental block keeping me from typing out racial slurs, no matter the context, that I just can't get past.