Ah yes, it's that time of week again! Time to rant, that is. And by rant, I don't necessarily mean it has to be ranting in the 'modern' sense of the word. LAWLS VICEY. *ahem* So there was this big argument in my last blog. I can't decide whether I want to up the ante and be even more offensive this time, or back off a bit and give things a chance to cool off for awhile. Haha. I think I'll write something a little tamer so I don't have to keep up with the comments as much, because I'm going to be busy this weekend.
—Camping—
So, who here loves the great outdoors? The smell of campfires and marshmallows, the soft chirping of crickets, the crunch of leaves when you walk.. I don't much care for any of it, myself. In fact, I hate camping. If it involves a tent and excess exposure to fresh air, count me out. Count me out twice. Every time I go camping, it rains. This is simply a fact of the matter. I can't go camping and have it not rain. As soon as my family packs the tent and gets to driving, the rainclouds form and follow us all the way to the campground.
Granted, by the last time I went (I.E. my mother forced me to go, because I was still young enough for her to pull that shit), we had it down to a science. Throw up the tent, the screen house over the picnic table, and then a giant rain tarp over the entire site. Of course, that was never enough. The tarp would sag and pools of water would form. Then they'd drip all over.. and that's if you don't accidentally walk into one and have the whole bug and bacteria filled mess dump all over you. This is not to mention the stream of dirty pine-needle-mud-soup that would flow across the ground and turn it to mush, and then when you tried to get to sleep at night it was wet and squishy all over. You know that rain that falls so hard the sound it makes is deafening? Try your best to visualize that as you read the rest of this blog.
But yeah, it was always a mess. Pouring torrential rain and wind the whole 2-4 days we'd do this. I still remember the last time I tried to go hiking in such conditions.. we ended up losing the path and trying to trudge back to a main road through pricker bushes (my mother's bright idea), which totally shredded me up, as all I was wearing was this flimsy plastic rain parka.. and then I got soaked because that was ripped. You just would always spend the whole damn time damp. I argue that camping doesn't even count as a 'vacation', because vacations are more relaxing than real life, and camping is less so.
Don't even get me started on the one time I went camping and it didn't rain. Turns out that all along the plague of rain was holding off a plague of bees! I got stung 7 times the first day (4 different bees, and 3 by this one really nasty wasp that got into my shirt somehow), 3 times the second day, and escaped only on the third day because I hid in the public restroom and it smelled so bad they were dying at the door. I hate camping.
——
So anyway, this is more of an opinion of something based on past experience than a position on a point of argument. Given that I think this is less likely to cause squabbles, instead I'll ask: What do you guys think of camping? What's your best or worst camping experience?
59 Comments
I hate camping mainly ‘cuz I can never get to sleep. If I went camping in an RV then things would be okay.
Regarding RVs, yes, that’s something different altogether, and much better. Then you have a proper roof over your head. Hell, you’re pretty much indoors the whole time, that way.
@Gujju (below): I don’t mind fishing.. it just gets draggy for me because I never catch anything. My bro caught a turtle once. What a mess that was..
Never been. My family was never into that sort of thing.
We did however go fishing up in the country side many times when i was younger. I did like that.
Urgh. The last time I went camping was many years back. And yes, it RAINED. And we didn’t even have a proper tent, just a makeshift one rigged out of bamboo and tarp. And we had to share one of those, cause the other one collapsed under the rain and wind. All 20 of us, squashed in a lousy makeshift tent.
Urgh.
I’ve never gone camping, but I’m ok at fishing. Caught a crab once with a fishing pole.
Urgh.
That sounds really rough, SilSil. x _ x
Just in case anybody is curious, the tent I was staying in with five other people is this:
Looks really small from that picture.
It is. x _ x
i’ve never been camping either. but the couple times that i went with my school were okay. cuz there was a roof above my head. 🙂
Lol
Camping aint that bad…even if it does rain xD
And yeah bees and wasps suck hardcore…
We frigin tried to put a tent on a hornet nest once…
Lordy my hand was swollen up
Ouch, that sounds like it went horribly.
Note to self: Don’t hang tents from the homes of stinging insects.
I’m not fond of camping. I woke up once with a huge spider on my sleeping bag, and I’ve slept in the truck during each camping trip ever since.
But we have a fire pit in our back yard now, so whenever we feel the urge to roast marshmallows or just sit by a fire we go out back.
Aw! I love camping!!!
But yes I absolutely HATE HATE HATE the bugs.
I cannot stress over how much I hate SPIDERS.
They freak the crap out of me!
Spiders don’t bug me too much, but if I woke up and there was one on me I’d probably freak out a tiny bit and reflexively swat it away.
@Vicelin:
Where did your penguin go? D=
Lucky you. 🙁
Munky: …I still has a penguin D:
@spygirl57: Oh, I know. I haven’t got any phobias, at least not that I know of, and that’s not something I take for granted.
I think I am borderline OCD, though. *lol*
@Vicelin: Yaaay penguin! *hug*
Lucky!
Actually, I think the arachnophobia is the only phobia i have. 😀 (did ii spell arachnophobia right?)
I’ve had too many encounters with Brown Recluses and Black Widows on camping trips to sleep that soundly on them xD
I managed to shoot a Widow on an archery target at summer camp by accident too!
I managed to shoot a Widow on an archery target at summer camp by accident too!
They’re probably all after you because of that ‘accident’. :O
When I saw the title I thought you meant camping in a VG. ><
Oh, haha, no. Camping in video games is always just a plot device. You always always always get attacked by monsters. Unless it’s just using a ‘tent’ item outside of the regular storyline to heal despite lacking an inn, ala FF7.
Speaking of phobias, my friend has fear of balloons. For April Fool’s, they lured her to them and pulled out a balloon, no more than one meter away from her. She cried for the next 2 hours.
She then confronted the reason they did that. The person who did that lied and said that they got the balloon for someone’s gymnastic routine. In fact, that was a cover-up so they could scare her + have a reason to get the balloon from a teacher, as it was for a science experiment. But the girl who pulled out the balloon kept lying, although my friend who has phobia knew all along. The asshole girl started saying stupid reasons without much thought put into them. For example, since she’s afraid of balloons, my friend was able to get the graduation party to be balloon free (since she’s like Music Council President, Environmental President, etc.) and all the teachers love her. The asshole girl who pulled out the balloon was saying “The graduation party won’t be grad-like without balloons” and stuff like that. Also, during that same conversation on MSN when she mentioned the graduation and balloons, the asshole girl also FREAKING SWORE AT MY FRIEND. Also, in that same conversation, she was apologizing for what she did.
How hypocritical. That asshole girl is a fag. She’s freaking 4 feet 10 inches tall or something, but her ego is helluvalot larger. I was joking around one time and put my foot in the band practice room door. What does she do? Step/kick my shin. Several times.
LEIK WTF!
…
Rant in a rant.
She then confronted the reason they did that. The person who did that lied and said that they got the balloon for someone’s gymnastic routine. In fact, that was a cover-up so they could scare her + have a reason to get the balloon from a teacher, as it was for a science experiment. But the girl who pulled out the balloon kept lying, although my friend who has phobia knew all along. The asshole girl started saying stupid reasons without much thought put into them. For example, since she’s afraid of balloons, my friend was able to get the graduation party to be balloon free (since she’s like Music Council President, Environmental President, etc.) and all the teachers love her. The asshole girl who pulled out the balloon was saying “The graduation party won’t be grad-like without balloons” and stuff like that. Also, during that same conversation on MSN when she mentioned the graduation and balloons, the asshole girl also FREAKING SWORE AT MY FRIEND. Also, in that same conversation, she was apologizing for what she did.
How hypocritical. That asshole girl is a fag. She’s freaking 4 feet 10 inches tall or something, but her ego is helluvalot larger. I was joking around one time and put my foot in the band practice room door. What does she do? Step/kick my shin. Several times.
LEIK WTF!
…
Rant in a rant.
I had fun reading that.
I’m not entirely sure what was even going on in that post. *squints*
And don’t use ‘fag’ as an insult. -__- We’ve been over this, haven’t we?
I managed to shoot a Widow on an archery target at summer camp by accident too!
They’re probably all after you because of that ‘accident’. :O
:[ help me?
I managed to shoot a Widow on an archery target at summer camp by accident too!
They’re probably all after you because of that ‘accident’. :O
:[ help me?
Don’t go camping? O_o;
She then confronted the reason they did that. The person who did that lied and said that they got the balloon for someone’s gymnastic routine. In fact, that was a cover-up so they could scare her + have a reason to get the balloon from a teacher, as it was for a science experiment. But the girl who pulled out the balloon kept lying, although my friend who has phobia knew all along. The asshole girl started saying stupid reasons without much thought put into them. For example, since she’s afraid of balloons, my friend was able to get the graduation party to be balloon free (since she’s like Music Council President, Environmental President, etc.) and all the teachers love her. The asshole girl who pulled out the balloon was saying “The graduation party won’t be grad-like without balloons” and stuff like that. Also, during that same conversation on MSN when she mentioned the graduation and balloons, the asshole girl also FREAKING SWORE AT MY FRIEND. Also, in that same conversation, she was apologizing for what she did.
How hypocritical. That asshole girl is a fag. She’s freaking 4 feet 10 inches tall or something, but her ego is helluvalot larger. I was joking around one time and put my foot in the band practice room door. What does she do? Step/kick my shin. Several times.
LEIK WTF!
…
Rant in a rant.
I had fun reading that.
Ha! Same here xD
I managed to shoot a Widow on an archery target at summer camp by accident too!
They’re probably all after you because of that ‘accident’. :O
:[ help me?
Don’t go camping? O_o;
But but it’s fun :[
Objection!
I would never go camping. We were in a cabin once, play blackjack when the sky was pitchblack. The only light source was from inside of the cabin. I looked outside. The glass windows were COVERED in beetles, ants, flies, mosquitoes, centipedes… everything.
I was scared as hell.
Eeeww…disgusting…
I would have ran out of there screaming and crying!
And don’t use ‘fag’ as an insult. -__- We’ve been over this, haven’t we?
People can use “fag” as an insult if they want to :
off topic, but i’m on my sister’s blackberry typing this. V, good job making the website compatible.
I’ve never camped in my life =O
black people don’t camp lawlz [jk]
It’s compatible based on the capability of your mobile browser. I used my PDA and not a lot works, primarily because I’m using IE. Opera might be different, idk.
For example, there’s a mobile version of Google, and there’s a regular version. THAT’s special.
On Topic: Now that you mention it, every time I go camping, it rains as well. :3
And don’t use ‘fag’ as an insult. -__- We’ve been over this, haven’t we?
People can use “fag” as an insult if they want to :
They can, but it’s insensitive, ignorant, and in general bad taste. In interest of making my blog a friendlier place to people of all sexual orientations, I politely ask that people not use homophobic insults here.
Does anybody even get where that came from? They used to burn homosexuals at the stake in England, and the little bundles of wood piled around their feet were called ‘fags’. Onlookers would cheer “The fags are burning, the fags are burning!” as the accused died horribly in the flames. Eventually the word became a popular label for the people burning, not just the wood.
So yeah, it’s a freaking hateful and malicious thing to say. Calling somebody ‘fag’ is roughly equivalent to saying “You’re a homosexual, and because of that I hope you burn to death.” Do the homework before you use slang all willy nilly, people. -__-
@Everybody else:
Indeed, I don’t particularly like bugs either. Especially not whole swarms of them.
Except it’s not a homophobic insult if the user isn’t homophobic, and it’s not directed maliciously at a person who is gay. In any other instance it holds the same meaning as asshole or moron or jackass.
I haven’t heard anyone use “fag” as an insult against a gay person, actually in that correct context, without it being satire or friendly sarcasm, since my grandfather died back in ’98. And I’ve heard it used regularly as a general insult equivalent to asshole or moron or jackass since…High School. Everyone used it without the homophobic, anti-gay context. AND IT’S PERFECTLY FINE.
I have gay friends who even call themselves fags. An they don’t care when I use “fag” as a nonsensical insult around them. Political correctness doesn’t work when the hurtful word is used jokingly within the group it is intended to offend.
And I think everyone knows where the word came from. Except this isn’t homophobic-century-England, it’s the internet.
Seriously, lighten up. It’s just a word that no one takes seriously anymore, and it lost its original context quite a while ago. Stop looking for offensiveness when there is no offense intended.
…Ok, I’m done.
I have dark skinned friends who call themselves and their friends ‘niggers’. They would, however, be very much offended if I used ‘nigger’ as an insult around them, even nonsensically. Political correctness, however flawed, still applies even when the hurtful word is used jokingly within the group it is intended to offend.
Everyone knows where the word came from, (unlike ‘fag’, which I’ve heard many middle-school aged children state they thought was just another word for ‘idiot’). Except this isn’t the 18th-century-south, it’s the internet, because somehow irrelevantly stating the location of our conversation strengthens my argument.
Seriously, lighten up, because just since I said so, I can safely assume that every dark skinned and homosexual in the world agrees with me when I say that it’s okay to call them a ‘nigger’ or a ‘fag’, respectively.
…Okay, that was stupid. For anybody who didn’t catch on, any of the above where I apparently agreed with Vicelin, defender of homophobes, was some vile mixture of satire and sarcasm. Using ‘fag’ as an insult, no matter the context, sounds ignorant and foolish. Also Vicey, your penguin is missing again. (I prefer arguing with you while you have the penguin, because then I can imagine all your arguments being squeaked at me by an adorable little aquatic bird.)
Edit: Silver says she can still see the penguin. But the penguin is missing on my screen right now! Why is there no penguin? :'(
I stole the penguin!~
*gasp* YOU GIMME MY PENGUIN BACK RIGHT NOW!
Viceeeey, tell her to give me back my penguin! She’s hogging all the penguin! T_T
Yea, that’s cool and all, except nigger and fag are two totally different words that apply to two totally different social groups and are used in totally different ways in modern context. So the comparison is moot, since it’s common sense that nigger has yet to fall from the insulting racial slang tree into the river of where all insulting racial terms go to die in popular culture.
See? Those Middle schoolers got the memo. You must’ve missed it. And, yes, stating the location of our conversation is kind of important, not irrelivant. Words change meaning in different locations. I mean, obviously the internet is completely different from 18th century England, or do you have some powerful insight I seem to be missing? Anyway, in a smaller sense, words can take on new meanings depending on their context in a sentence alone. It’s a fairly easy concept to grasp.
I seriously meant it. Lighten up. There was no homophobic context when “fag” was used as a nonsensical insult, so stop interpreting it to be some insanely scary insulting offensive menacing diabolical explosive blow. BECAUSE IT ISN’T.
Except, for the last time, I’m not defending homophobes. Again, fag =/= homophobic in the context it was used in. Grow up and stop blowing up a simple word into insane proportions.
Uh, DUH? Of course it’s an insult no matter what the context! But the huge difference you seem to be missing is that it’s a GENERAL insult when used out of context, NOT an insult towards gay people. So what, you DON’T want the word to loose it’s anti-gay meaning? You DON’T want to move past all of the controversy surrounding the word and transform that word into something else? You WANT to be stuck in that mindset while the rest of us move on with the acceptance that words DO change meaning over time? Fine, go ahead and stay there. But don’t you dare tell anyone wether they can use that word or not. When you see it, just ignore it.
It’s still there. Kind of like the power of context. It’s there, you’re just not getting it.
Okay, so you’ve made an argument. Now here is the part where you back it up with actual facts, support clauses if you will. Oh wait, you don’t have any of those? None at all? Your argument holds no value then. Explain to me why those words are totally different. As I see it, they’re both blanket terms used to describe a minority demographic in a spiteful way. Furthermore, who are you to decide that every homosexual is okay with the word ‘fag’? Are you their be all to end all public mouthpiece? I have plenty of homosexual friends who’d take offense to that blatant assumption. In fact, I did a quick Google search and immediately found a study done in 2007 that projects about 81% of adults in America still feel ‘fag’ is offensive.
Source here: http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=784
No, no, no, you are not getting away with that. Your argument is essentially “Look, these people are ignorant too! It’s okay for me to be!”. Logic doesn’t work that way. The relative stupidity of hateful middle school age kids does not serve to strengthen why using a demographic slur is okay. If everybody at your school thinks ‘nigger” means ‘slacker’, is it then okay for them to go around shouting about “Goddamn lazy niggers!” when their teammates go missing in group work?
Stating the location is irrelevant because I already know what the location is, and the location does nothing to strengthen your argument. Sure, we’re on the internet, and lots of people are ignorant. That doesn’t make it okay. See the above argument.
I’m perfectly chill right now. I’m just disagreeing with you because I think you’re wrong, and you’re blowing my stance out of proportion to make me seem unreasonable. I’m certainly not flipping out or anything. As for “no homophobic context”, you’ve still yet to back that statement up at all, and it therefore holds no value. Please use facts or logical analogies to empathize your points, as CAPS LOCK just makes you sound dumb.
I must repeat, you have still given us no logical basis to believe “fag =/= homophobic”. I’m not blowing up. Also, if you don’t want to argue, stop responding to my arguments. What’s childish is trying to act all high and mighty, like you just want to stop our little debate, but then yourself continuing it.
Before the Nazis decided to commit genocide, the swastika was a Native American symbol representing life, sun, power, strength, and good luck. World War II ended in 1945, that’s 62 years ago now. I don’t see anybody trying to reclaim the swastika, no. Even ignoring the fact that homophobia hasn’t ended yet, I propose that we just discard the word entirely. Stop being so dramatic.
Actually, penguin is back now. :3
@David (below):
This doesn’t warrant a separate comment on my part, but seriously, don’t go saying anything bad about beef jerky! Mmmm, jerky.
Naw, the swastika was the symbol of beef jerky. That’s been proven before I think. 🙁
Ah I’d like go camping too. Being in the wilderness together with other people reveals themselves..
Being too safe is boring and doesn’t make use of life.
I’m as sick of this argument as you are, so I’m going to keep this brief and thereafter not bother responding to anything else here. We can agree to disagree, I was never trying to convince you of anything anyway.
Your argument against the article I cited sums up as “this isn’t the same context, and therefore it’s bad’. “It isn’t a large enough sample size, and therefore it’s bad.”
To your first objection, I’m arguing that the word itself is offensive, regardless of context. You’ve yet to refute my second argument in the last post (No, no, no, you are not getting away with that ……. when their teammates go missing in group work?), and therefore still lack a basis for stating that ‘fag’ is less offensive in any setting. Therefore, the 81% figure from my survey still stands. (And that number is for “How offensive do you find each term below if it were publicly used by people in the media or in politics (such as radio personalities, movie/TV stars or politicians) and was directed at a person or a group of people?” as a general question, so if 40% those people changed their answers for a specific circumstance, that makes them hypocrites, but the number isn’t any less valid.)
To your second objection, 2000+ people is an acceptable sample size for a nationwide survey, especially given; Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. So that’s not a valid complaint, and if you don’t believe me you should read a book on statistics. No poll has the funding to ask everybody their question.
You can’t cite personal experience unless you pose a valid logical argument that shows your own experiences are representative of the greater whole, the personal experiences of all people relevant to this situation. You have yet to do so, and therefore your own personal experiences hold no weight in a rational debate. (This is why it’s far better to just stick to logic to begin with.) The same goes for your three friends, who can not purport to speak for the majority of the homosexual community. Also, from their responses, it sounds like you were blowing my stance out of proportion to them, too.
Okay, this is about the third or fourth time you’ve done this. It’s not a rational argument, it’s an emotional appeal. How you or I feel about the word or its meaning has absolutely no bearing on its actual meaning, or the acceptability of using it out of context as a general insult. Incidentally, that is however what we’re debating. Therefore, the above is completely irrelevant.
Also, telling me that caps locks makes me look dumb makes you look dumb, too. I used it for one sentence because I was too lazy to bold it, cry me a river.
As I’ve already stated, the connotation is attached to the word, not the situation. You’ve yet to refute this point. Also, I wasn’t objecting to your use of CAPS LOCK, I was objecting to your use of caps lock instead of logical arguments. Now you also look dumb for misinterpreting my plainly worded complaint. *lol*
I say ‘us’, because in any good debate, you aren’t arguing to convince your opponent of anything (they won’t budge), you’re arguing to win points with a neutral third party observer (or audience of such observers). So, even if said audience is hypothetical, I’m still arguing to please them, not you. By the way, I think SilverFx is still reading and just doesn’t have the time to type a whole lot and join in.
According to you, this entire conversation consists of me blowing a word out of proportion. When you asked me to stop “being childish”, and stop doing so, it sounded alot to me like you wanted to stop arguing. It was also a textbook definition ad hominem attack. Speaking of which, in order for me to commit ad hominem, you must make a logical argument to which I respond with a personal attack. What actually happened was you made a personal attack (calling me childish), and then I responded with a personal attack (calling you haughty). This is not ad hominem.
Symbols and words are comparatively similar enough to provide an argument from analogy, in this regard. Schools also still teach what ‘fag’ means, and what it stood for. You even yourself claimed that everybody knows where it comes from. You’re the only member of society I’ve ever witnessed challenging it.
This is probably the only thing we fully agree on. Also, I’m hungry. x _ x
Wow o__o;
… I enjoyed reading that. XD
*lol* Congrats, you’re the audience! Have some popcorn.
(Even though it’s pretty much over, I’m moving to the next blog.)
Gosh, I didn’t understand half the things you two said there.
…
Anyways, thank god that’s over, why would you two argue over that?
:/
…
Anyways, thank god that’s over, why would you two argue over that?
:/
Haha, the argument was there, so we had to have it.
And I’ve only said I’m done arguing this. Vicey will probably make one more post.
lulz you and Vice with your lil arguements xD *coughnotevenclosetosmallcough*
*lol* We’ve never had an argument before.. last time was with Tarheel and she just provided some commentary.
Also: Vicey, you never ‘like’ my blogs! I bet you just come here to yell at me. I’m going to cry! T_T
Although if I have to choose between a reader who only clicks ‘like’, and a reader who only comments, the latter is preferable. Some social interaction!
If people never felt the need to convince other people of anything, debating wouldn’t exist.
Also, I agreed that the word was offensive no matter what the context. Insults usually tend to be interpreted that way, right? : What matters more is the person it is directed at and the context in which it is used.
I refuted the first part of your second argument. I didn’t address the second part because I just didn’t feel like it. But if you really want me to, I will, just ask.
Responding to the rest of that paragraph would just be me playing a broken record; I’ve explained to you already my issues with that survey and how it doesn’t address the word “fag” in the same context that we are debating it over. It’s no surprise to me that the 81% thinks it is offensive in the anti-gay context. It’s no surprise to me that after learning a bit of the context, so many changed their minds (and don’t blame that on hypocrisy, people’s minds are bound to change when the situation is changed, that’s completely normal).
Just because it is an acceptable sample size doesn’t mean that it accurately represents the entire population. If you did that same survey multiple times, each time with a different group of people, you would get different results. The results would also vary greatly depending on the location of those people. Surveys are extremely sensitive and there are so many things that can affect the results, that’s why I never use them.
As for personal experiences, lets agree to disagree. Our personal experiences are what shape our views and morality, two things that we’re probably never going to agree on. I’ll stick to using the word fag as a synonym for idiot, and you stick to finding it as an offensive homophobic insult even though the context doesn’t intend it that way.
Also, I sent them the entire contents of this post:
They can, but it’s insensitive, ignorant, and in general bad taste. In interest of making my blog a friendlier place to people of all sexual orientations, I politely ask that people not use homophobic insults here.
Does anybody even get where that came from? They used to burn homosexuals at the stake in England, and the little bundles of wood piled around their feet were called ‘fags’. Onlookers would cheer “The fags are burning, the fags are burning!” as the accused died horribly in the flames. Eventually the word became a popular label for the people burning, not just the wood.
So yeah, it’s a freaking hateful and malicious thing to say. Calling somebody ‘fag’ is roughly equivalent to saying “You’re a homosexual, and because of that I hope you burn to death.” Do the homework before you use slang all willy nilly, people. -__-
Pretty much the whole thing. I’m a receptionist at a really slow store, so I typed it all up in a pix message and then went back to playing solitaire. Gotta love desk jobs. Anyway, the one who thought it was funny that you were overreacting was Darlene. And she really did think that you were overreacting ._.
Wether I think it’s “good” or not, the word is being used less in an anti-gay context and more as a synonym for other general insults. I actually discussed this with one of my friends today, too. When I said that I thought it was a good thing that the word was loosing the homophobic connotation, he replied, “the meaning changing is interesting, but I think that’s exactly what makes some people so mad that something that can still be used to describe them also means stupid”. But then I asked, “well, would you rather it mean ‘stupid’ or would you rather it remain a really offensive insult to gays?”, and then he chose the former. We agreed that it’s the lesser of two evils.
Uh, yea, the connotation is attached to the word, when you use it in that specific way. When you change the context, the connotation is meant to drop out. If you want to choose to see it there, fine. But don’t expect everyone else to see it the same way. Like the last debate I was in concerning the use of this word, everyone except one person understood that in the context I used it in, I wasn’t insulting the gay community, I was just using it as a synonym for ‘idiot’, and that there was no reason to see it as something offensive. Everyone got it but one person. The same has happened here. Someone says ‘fag’ in the same way, everyone else understood that it wasn’t meant as an offensive anti-gay insult because the connotation dropped due to context. You’re the only one who was upset by it, and for the exact same reasons as the last person I saw get upset by it: because ‘fag’ is an anti-gay insult no matter what context it is in. No matter what. No exceptions. Zero-tolerance.
For Christ’s sake. I used caps locks for three words. Three. Words. Three words that weren’t even that big a part of my argument. I could have dropped them from the paragraph entirely and it wouldn’t have made a difference. It’s not like I was stuck in caps lock for the more important points I was trying to make. What I’m trying to say is that it was a really dumb thing to hark on me for.
And no, you’re not debating to convince your opponent of anything. I see debating as two sides hashing away to try and find a middle ground, which has happened in most of the debates I’ve ever been in. The only time this usually doesn’t happen is when the debate is based around moral views…which is…a lot of the time, unfortunately.
Anyway, I told you to grow up, and you called me childish, and both probably hold some good advice for both of us, so lets call it even. But, yes, I do think that you are blowing a simple word out of proportion. Again, lets agree to disagree.
And, lol, wut? My school didn’t teach anyone what “faggot” means. The reason a lot of people do know the different definitions for it is thanks to the dictionary, the internet, and word of mouth. I don’t know of any schools that cover gay rights movements or anything remotely related in History classes, and no English class I ever took had “faggot” as a vocabulary word. It seemed to me that public schools would rather avoid those controversial topics, no thanks to parents who would probably flip out if they saw it in the curriculum. Colleges, on the other hand, are a bit more open with it.
If I’m really the only member of society you’ve ever witnessed challenging it…well, I don’t know what to tell you. Like I said several times, I’ve personally never heard it used towards gays as an anti-gay insult (without it being ED satire, of course). But you claim the opposite. Obviously our personal experiences with the word are affecting our ability to come to a consensus, so let’s, again, just agree to disagree.
Damn it, I could really go for some beef jerky right now.
I like beef jerky. 🙂
I happen to have some beef jerky in the kitchen right now… think I’ll go get some…
-shifty eyes-
Give me. GIVE ME SOME NOW D:<
*tackles Chameleon, steals all his jerky*
*gives half to Vicey*
Mmmm…
Yeah, I know we’re not going to agree on anything, Vicelin. I’m could proceed to pick apart your arguments in that last post and then we’d keep going back and fourth all day, every day, forever. And I have other things to attend to, other arguments to argue. Plus I’ve got a headache now. *lol* So I’m calling it time.
But it’s nothing personal. You seem like a nice person and all, and you’re good enough at arguing I suppose.
Anyway, I’ve got a new blog up, you guys should all go look at that instead. xP
Sounds good to me xD
*Munches on jerky*