OK, people its political correctness time once again...

[cruelpupet]

shutup you ghetto fag

[Merlin]

Originally posted by cruelpupet
shutup you ghetto fag

[Napoleon54]

Originally posted by chosenfool
(stuff in small print)[/size]

Well said, I agree completely. The purpose of political correctness should be to promote respect for others. PC simply for the purpose of being PC or pointing out faults in the speech of others is not only baseless, but counterproductive to the true goal.


Regarding your question, I'm personally not in a position to comment on the offensiveness of 'ghetto' or 'gay'.

[mojo]

anything done in extremes is bothersome. buuut what causes don't have peeps that overdo it? animal rights activists, feminists (how cute ), politician supporters...every group has their fanatics and whatnot. just think, the peeps that we consider to be "overly pc" are just cancelling out those that are insensitive to the matter. i guess it's just another way of showing diversity.


as far as ghetto or gay being offensive in that sense...well, to appreciate the situation, one should try to thin from that standpoint. you could say "my very being is being used to describe stuff that is commonly thought of as undesireable." you might take offense. then again, if you don't see it as a serious matter, you might let it slide.

do black people like the "n word"? it's used by them in reference to each other...and it doesnt seem slanderous. then again, if someone outside of their group uses it, it may appear to be racial.

i hear japanese people laugh at jokes about the way they speak english. if it's done in good humor, then it's not as offensive as if you're implying they are worth less than people that speak it "better."

then again, the term "gay" used in that way is more accepted in general, and so they probably would know that you don't mean offense by it. of course, someone that hates homosexuals being all high and mighty using it in that context would surely be offensive.

by the same token "ghetto" is used in humor. of course, the true meaning of ghetto can be questioned as to origin and such (look it up, folks...it means more than just the poverty stuff). but all things considered, if people don't act like they are "better" than the people that actually live there, then it could be taken in good humor.

as far as being "pc"...maybe we should consider the implications of stuff that we say. sure, some people should relax n stuff. but do we really want people to think that "gay" means something that is undesireable or that "ghetto" means that someone isn't as good as us? maybe we do. but how would we feel if we were part of that group?

[cruelpupet]

Originally posted by Napoleon54
Regarding your question, I'm personally not in a position to comment on the offensiveness of 'ghetto' or 'gay'.

really???


thats not what your Master jP said!!!

[oblongmelon]

First of all-I get sick and tired of hearing people say "that's gay or this is gay"..simply because there are so many OTHER choices of words to use. When I hear my kids saying that (and they are old enough to know better) I go crazy. It has nothing to do with being politically correct-because being politically correct has gotten far out of hand if you ask me..it has to do with people sounding ignorant as hell.

[sbp]

Words can have different meanings. Over time, words can be redefined and also gain additional meanings.
There are now 3 usages for gay:
1.) happy
2.) homosexual
3.) something uncool and bad

[johnnymk]

Federal Regulation INT49.230.8888 states the following regarding Internet language: To minimize hypersensitvity to hypertext, the term "ghey" may be substituted for the term "gay", and the term "getto" may be substituted for the term "ghetto". Although not compulsory, double quotes should surround the substituted term, i.e.: ""xxxxx"" to accentuate the non-offensive term. In lieu of the double quotes, the term "pshaw" may follow the substituted term.


Note: Sales tax and shipping are not included with the above. If the item is is not in stock, we may substitute an item of equal or greater value. Your credit card will not be billed until actual delivery is made.

[Cantacuzene]

I think calling something "gay" is more offensive to gays then calling something "ghetto" is to ghetto people. I consciously stopped usig 'gay' around my gay friend, but I still use ghetto to describe everything, mostly because I'm broke, and so is everyone around me.

I use the term 'gangster' a lot too, to descibe something clever, sneaky, devious, or really 'ghetto.' I hope I dont offend Italians.

[xsiled2]

whats ghetto is that you have a gay friend

[LPMiller]

this whole thread is really queer.

[whitak24]

ok, i am not gay, nor am i a minority (at least, i am mostly white), and i don't live in a ghetto. so i am not in a position to comment on how people in those groups feel about these terms.
however, i think that the term gay is generally offensive. as sbp pointed out, it has three meanings: happy, homosexual, and sucky or dumb. now the "sucky or dumb" choice has come about recently, so at least i would assume that it is derived from one of the earlier meanings. and i think it's pretty obvious that when we say "that's so gay", we don't mean "that's so happy". so based on this, i think it is basically a way of saying "i look down on being gay, and in the same way, i look down on this thing i am insulting". consequently, i would say the term is offensive.
at the same time, i use it occasionally, although much less than i used to.
now the term "ghetto". it's defined as

ghet·to
n. pl. ghet·tos or ghet·toes
1. A section of a city occupied by a minority group who live there especially because of social, economic, or legal pressure.
2. An often walled quarter in a European city to which Jews were restricted beginning in the Middle Ages.
3. Something that resembles the restriction or isolation of a city ghetto: “trapped in ethnic or pink-collar managerial job ghettoes” (Diane Weathers).

now i guess i totally disgree with this definition in my mind. maybe in other people's minds, especially minorities, the term ghetto still brings up the image of a racially segregated area, but to me (and it seems to most of the people i talk to) a ghetto is a crappy urban area. it may be populated by a minority, but that doesn't really have anything to do with the designation. i mean, i call areas of east lansing a ghetto, just because the houses are run down and trashy.
anyway, those are my thoughts on the issue.....i guess i don't want to use terms that offend people, but i don't think people should get too freaky about that kind of stuff.

[mojo]

remember the part of the malcolm x movie where malcolm was going over the definitions of "white" and "black"? he looked up white in the dictionary, and all of the definitions had to do with "good" and "pure" stuff. then he looked up the word "black", and the definitions were "bad" and "evil" stuff. i dunno about you, but i don't think i'd like something like that none too much

[LPMiller]

Originally posted by mojo
remember the part of the malcolm x movie where malcolm was going over the definitions of "white" and "black"? he looked up white in the dictionary, and all of the definitions had to do with "good" and "pure" stuff. then he looked up the word "black", and the definitions were "bad" and "evil" stuff. i dunno about you, but i don't think i'd like something like that none too much

I imagine that leaves johnny cash conflicted.

Queer orignally meant strange or odd, so it isn't a stretch that gay means stupid.

Everything is context, really.

[mojo]

Originally posted by LPMiller


I imagine that leaves johnny cash conflicted.

Queer orignally meant strange or odd, so it isn't a stretch that gay means stupid.

Everything is context, really.

well, the whole queer/gay negativity thing is the point. their being is immersed in the stuff.

i think it used to be true that being left-handed was supposed to be bad as well. that's why things are "right" to indicate the positive. being left-handed, i never noticed the stuff. i grew up in a right-handed world and just adapted. so from that perspective, it's not "ok" so much as it's all i've ever known. however, if you freaks try to pull that lefty=bad thing now...

[Sir_Froggy]

Originally posted by chosenfool
im not sure how well people will take this mini-rant of mine

hehe it is a mini-rant cuz it's only size 1


exactly i first learned that 'queer' meant gay from my cousin about 2 years ago and before that i just thought it meant strange...who started that hole 'queer' thing?

but yes i guess 'queer' could work for gay if u look at it from one point of view. gay people are considered 'wierd' to some people so i guess maybe the person(s) that started the word could have just thought that and decided to use it.... somthing to ponder on if you haven't already

[whitak24]

Originally posted by mojo

i think it used to be true that being left-handed was supposed to be bad as well. that's why things are "right" to indicate the positive. being left-handed, i never noticed the stuff. i grew up in a right-handed world and just adapted. so from that perspective, it's not "ok" so much as it's all i've ever known. however, if you freaks try to pull that lefty=bad thing now...

yer a lefty mojo? w00t!
no wonder you're so damned smart
do we have any other lefties around here? (wait, this will get the thread off topic -- i'll start another thread)

[Napoleon54]

Originally posted by whitak24

yer a lefty mojo? w00t!
no wonder you're so damned smart
do we have any other lefties around here? (wait, this will get the thread off topic -- i'll start another thread)

freaks