Uhm, clueless much?

[maygra]

Look, I can be as stupidly offensive as the next person. However, you don't need to have been brought up or live in the deep south to get what [[Witchqueen]] is explaining in incredibly patient and very clear terms. And you don't have to be a Person of Color to understand how deeply, deeply offensive and coded this word is, regardless of its etymology. How it was and has been used, in this case, is everything.

Also, see liviapenn's round up [[here]].



I haven't had much to say about the current fandom discussion/debate on race and racism. Mostly because I don't have much to contribute, and because living where I live, and having grown up here, I know without a doubt that that there are racist undertones to some of the ways I think and even some of the ways I act and react. Most of them I'm aware of and actively try to overcome, with lesser or greater success. Reacting to people on the basis of their skin color or race or religious persuasion in this part of the country is like breathing for most people. For others, it's like a sideline sport. You can ignore it, but you can't be unaware of it.

I don't know that I'll ever be rid of all of it. But I do know enough to understand that being a white woman in Georgia doesn't actually nominate me to be the know all and end all of what is or isn't offensive to People of Color.

When another white woman told me she was offended that I used the word "pissed" in what was, admittedly, a pretty angry diatribe, my concern that I'd offended her because I was cussing was markedly less than it would be if a person of color told me a word I'd used was offensive because it was racially coded. I'm pretty clear that if I'm really angry at someone, it's about something they've said or done, not the color of their skin.

I've got nothing more, because to say more would risk me either offending more or being offended more.

It's an effing fic prompt. Change the damn word.

Comments

[sheron]

I find it very amusing when people change dictionary definitions to suit them. For example, I recently had the following conversation with someone on a blog regarding a famous person who we are both fans of:

Person A: He doesn't have a girlfriend.
Me: He said he does in his blog. And I'd like to believe he said the truth.
Person A: Sometimes people say things that aren't true to protect themselves.
Me: So you think he would lie about it? Why?
Person A: I don't think he is a lying, but he was probably afraid.
Me: Afraid of what? And what do you mean by he lied but he isn't a liar?
Person A: Sometimes an honest person can lie.
Me: liar, n. person who lies.
Person A: He is not a liar but he didn't speak the truth about it.

etc, etc, in circles we go. That's the general gist anyway.

What I think is happening with that community is that they've decided on a definition of the word and from now on that's how they're using it and that's what it means, the end! Whenever an argument arises, it's almost impossible to pin down the exact definition of any word because someone somewhere will have grown up on a remote island and uses it differently. And of course to go with the most common meaning used by your target audience is sheep-like behavior and must be abhorred!

Or something.

[maygra.livejournal.com]

What I think happened is Zvi said: "This word is racist. Please change it."

And what they said was, "How dare you call us racist? We're not racist! And because we're not racists, we can use this word and it won't be racist either!"

Way to miss the point, kids.

[sheron]

I think there's more of a general sense on the internet that it's "good to be stubbornly defending your opinions" that's playing into it, too.

[quicksylver-btg.livejournal.com]

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.

[wrenlet.livejournal.com]

I once tried to explain to someone why "cultural appropriation" is not a neutral term to me and... yeah. Circular arguments that left all parties unsatisfied.

But this is... come ON. Break the word down into its roots, prefixes, etc. and it is clearly negative, even absent its long negative usage in US-ian history.

[sheron]

"But it's not to meeeeeee!"

*facepalm*