You can't just change a word because you wish it meant something else. This reminds me of all the attempts to reacquire words like "bitch," "fag," and "queer" as positive terms for womanhood and homosexuality. But people aren't really redefining the terms so much as saying, "Look, we are so comfortable with ourselves that we can use this label that you think has a bad connotation." They aren't denying or changing the negative connotation so much as defying the connotation of the word by using it anyway. No matter what the situation or our intentions, we have to realize at as a community that some words are too charged to use with impunity or flippancy.
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carisma_sensei
no subject
Date: 2007-08-04 05:36 pm (UTC)