saint dreya
(?)Community Member
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- Posted: Thu, 23 Sep 2010 05:59:39 +0000
The frame work of these next few posts and the arguments after will very much mimic the petition previously accepted to remove the word "Gypsy" from zOMG, found here.
The use of an ethnic slur as the name of an item places Gaia in a tenuous position when trolls use it as permission and justification to harass members of Gaia with said slur. This petition requests that the slur be removed to prevent this issue from occurring.
"Madame Gypsy" depicts a stereotypical Fortune Teller's garb; I find it entertaining in a visual manner. The flowing skirt and the blouse are well done and look like more flamboyant displays of previous items, mostly the Tavern Wench's Blouse and the Gathered Tavern Wench's Skirt.
However, the term that is used, G~, violates Gaia's own Terms of Service.
The Terms of Service, Part 4, Subsection 2
[Prohibited Conduct -- BY USING GAIA ONLINE YOU AGREE not TO: ]
send, post, or make available pornographic, threatening, embarrassing, hateful, racially or ethnically insulting, deceptive, tortious, defamatory, libelous, or otherwise inappropriate or offensive content to other Gaia Members.
Gypsy is a racial and ethnic slur used against the Roma.
Previously, most notably in Morality and Religion, mods have deleted posts due to this. Additionally, when the term was being used in the upcoming battle system, zOMG, there was a significant Petition generated by Tea Didikai, zOMG & Ethnic Slurs.
Many of the arguments broached there still hold true. Following, I will repost some of those positions, unedited.
Her statement stands still, even though it is now an item and not a character.
Again, my argument is not with the item. My concern is with the term. I believe the item will be no less attractive were another term to be placed in the ethnic slur's stead.
I do not believe the slur was intentional. Much of the Gaia staff (as I have pmed a number of Moderators) has been very adamant that it was most likely a word used out of ignorance and was no way meant to offend.
With that in mind, I have sought to take up the torch that others have passed on to educate on the meaning of the word and remove ignorance in its use.
With the current happenings in the news, I worry that the silent consent of the use of the word might only encourage this racism that these people are feeling. Our borders are no longer the line where our gaze ends. With that, the continued use of an ethnic slur, when that ethnicity is feeling discrimination as we speak it, I feel would only contribute to the same discrimination.
*26SEP10* Added name of item for coherency. Added more suggestions for item name.
*03OCT10* Added more quotes from thread. Added link to ED discussion. Added Poll.
*16NOV10* Changed all instances of "Romani" to "Roma". All Romani are Roma, all Roma are not Romani. Please excuse my case of ignorance.
*17NOV10* Added Notice section.
*05DEC10* Added "Madame Mystique" to poll based off of suggestion by Shady-chan. Poll was reset. Vote!
*12JAN11* Added "Circus Fortune" to poll based off of suggestion by Its Rikku. Poll was reset. Vote!
*21JAN11* Posted another thread, in main Site Feedback, calling for the change, linked back to here and Tea's previous thread - Slurs on Gaia
*11APR11* Edited Breakdown showing use of word as intentional slur.
We have acquired an occasional troll here and there. I have been requesting that posters please ignore them so as not to detract from the attempt at this petition. This petition is about this item and the racially/ehtnically charged word associated, not with playing who is the bigger victim.
Ethnic slurs in item names
The use of an ethnic slur as the name of an item places Gaia in a tenuous position when trolls use it as permission and justification to harass members of Gaia with said slur. This petition requests that the slur be removed to prevent this issue from occurring.
"Madame Gypsy" depicts a stereotypical Fortune Teller's garb; I find it entertaining in a visual manner. The flowing skirt and the blouse are well done and look like more flamboyant displays of previous items, mostly the Tavern Wench's Blouse and the Gathered Tavern Wench's Skirt.
However, the term that is used, G~, violates Gaia's own Terms of Service.
The Terms of Service, Part 4, Subsection 2
[Prohibited Conduct -- BY USING GAIA ONLINE YOU AGREE not TO: ]
send, post, or make available pornographic, threatening, embarrassing, hateful, racially or ethnically insulting, deceptive, tortious, defamatory, libelous, or otherwise inappropriate or offensive content to other Gaia Members.
Gypsy is a racial and ethnic slur used against the Roma.
Previously, most notably in Morality and Religion, mods have deleted posts due to this. Additionally, when the term was being used in the upcoming battle system, zOMG, there was a significant Petition generated by Tea Didikai, zOMG & Ethnic Slurs.
Many of the arguments broached there still hold true. Following, I will repost some of those positions, unedited.
Deoridhe, a Site Moderator
If "gypsy" is used by the battle system, that is legitimizing the term, thus individuals who use it to troll by insulting the Roma using that term will be able to claim that it isn't a slur because Gaia itself uses it. This is less of an issue when g~ is used to specifically target a person (flaming), but is more of an issue when used in passive trolling, when one posts outrageous things in order to upset others. Currently, under item four of the rules and guidelines on message postings*, other widely used racial slurs are discouraged for trolling on Gaia, such as "******" or "k**e" or "w*****k". None of those terms would ever be used for a character in a Gaian MMORPG because of the history of violence and abuse around those terms and their use to insult and discriminate against people. "Gypsy" has a similar history, but is considered more controversial because some people claim they use it complementarily, as if the sterialization, abuse, expulsion, and murder of the Roma and Travellers were somehow negated by people buying scarves and having their cards read. I personally think this is an untenable ethical and moral stand, and that the word "gypsy", like other racial slurs which have been used to render groups of people less-than-human, should not be used as if this history doesn't exist. A fictional "gypsy" character, rendered in bright colors, does exactly this and is equally offensive with other incidents of stereotypical images being used to make actual people and their suffering invisible.
Her statement stands still, even though it is now an item and not a character.
TeaDidikai
Look at the announcement and how they pair the Madam G~ with the fortune teller items.
It's like they took the graphics right out of the Pariah Syndrome's collages.
It's like they took the graphics right out of the Pariah Syndrome's collages.
Again, my argument is not with the item. My concern is with the term. I believe the item will be no less attractive were another term to be placed in the ethnic slur's stead.
I do not believe the slur was intentional. Much of the Gaia staff (as I have pmed a number of Moderators) has been very adamant that it was most likely a word used out of ignorance and was no way meant to offend.
With that in mind, I have sought to take up the torch that others have passed on to educate on the meaning of the word and remove ignorance in its use.
Nuri
Let's not play the "I'm a bigger victim game" here, alright? Most minority groups get shat upon. Life is not easy for them.
And you know what? Just as I don't let my students get away with calling people gay as an insult, they also don't call others retards, and they don't say gyp or gypsy in an insulting way. This is just politeness, and it's something that this petition reflects.
A section (and I think it is a fairly decent sized section) of a minority find a specific term offensive based on wrongs that have been (and still are) being committed, lingusitical usage (such as the word gyp), and various other things.
What I think is really being said here is that through history and modernity this word does have power, and that's not so easily stripped away and sanitized. And we should be cognizent of that.
And you know what? Just as I don't let my students get away with calling people gay as an insult, they also don't call others retards, and they don't say gyp or gypsy in an insulting way. This is just politeness, and it's something that this petition reflects.
A section (and I think it is a fairly decent sized section) of a minority find a specific term offensive based on wrongs that have been (and still are) being committed, lingusitical usage (such as the word gyp), and various other things.
What I think is really being said here is that through history and modernity this word does have power, and that's not so easily stripped away and sanitized. And we should be cognizent of that.
With the current happenings in the news, I worry that the silent consent of the use of the word might only encourage this racism that these people are feeling. Our borders are no longer the line where our gaze ends. With that, the continued use of an ethnic slur, when that ethnicity is feeling discrimination as we speak it, I feel would only contribute to the same discrimination.
Edits
*26SEP10* Added name of item for coherency. Added more suggestions for item name.
*03OCT10* Added more quotes from thread. Added link to ED discussion. Added Poll.
*16NOV10* Changed all instances of "Romani" to "Roma". All Romani are Roma, all Roma are not Romani. Please excuse my case of ignorance.
*17NOV10* Added Notice section.
*05DEC10* Added "Madame Mystique" to poll based off of suggestion by Shady-chan. Poll was reset. Vote!
*12JAN11* Added "Circus Fortune" to poll based off of suggestion by Its Rikku. Poll was reset. Vote!
*21JAN11* Posted another thread, in main Site Feedback, calling for the change, linked back to here and Tea's previous thread - Slurs on Gaia
*11APR11* Edited Breakdown showing use of word as intentional slur.
Notice
We have acquired an occasional troll here and there. I have been requesting that posters please ignore them so as not to detract from the attempt at this petition. This petition is about this item and the racially/ehtnically charged word associated, not with playing who is the bigger victim.