PrismCity
Words have meaning because we give them meaning.
when i was growing up the word 'Retarded' was often used the way 'Gay' is used today. I became desensitized to the use of retarded so in many cases it does not bother me, such as when retarded is used to in place of the words like stupid, dumb or lame.
However when the meaning of the word changes my reaction to it also changes. If someone would use 'Retarded" to describe an individual with a mental handicap, this to me is completely offensive. My mother, on the other hand, finds any use of the word 'retarded' offensive and rightly so as my younger brother has Autism. We react differently to the same word because we apply different meanings to that word.
"Gay" is the same thing in my perspective. its a word, and we as individuals give meaning to that word. the meaning I give to it might not be the same as someone else.
as long as the person using the word is not using it in an offensive way then i dont have a problem with it. using Gay in place of stupid or lame isnt a big deal to me as long as it is meant in the spirit of joking around with your friends or to describe a fanny pack razz
Personally, I think the whole "Thats so Gay" campaign is a big waist off time. People wont stop using the word "gay" just because some people find it offensive. if anything its just going to make the people who ARE using the word in an offensive way use it even more because they know it pisses those people off...
Besides, I say we got about 10-15 years left before 'Gay' gets replaced by some other word in the same way Gay replaced Retarded. so why bother stressing over it when it will just go away on its own.
when i was growing up the word 'Retarded' was often used the way 'Gay' is used today. I became desensitized to the use of retarded so in many cases it does not bother me, such as when retarded is used to in place of the words like stupid, dumb or lame.
However when the meaning of the word changes my reaction to it also changes. If someone would use 'Retarded" to describe an individual with a mental handicap, this to me is completely offensive. My mother, on the other hand, finds any use of the word 'retarded' offensive and rightly so as my younger brother has Autism. We react differently to the same word because we apply different meanings to that word.
"Gay" is the same thing in my perspective. its a word, and we as individuals give meaning to that word. the meaning I give to it might not be the same as someone else.
as long as the person using the word is not using it in an offensive way then i dont have a problem with it. using Gay in place of stupid or lame isnt a big deal to me as long as it is meant in the spirit of joking around with your friends or to describe a fanny pack razz
Personally, I think the whole "Thats so Gay" campaign is a big waist off time. People wont stop using the word "gay" just because some people find it offensive. if anything its just going to make the people who ARE using the word in an offensive way use it even more because they know it pisses those people off...
Besides, I say we got about 10-15 years left before 'Gay' gets replaced by some other word in the same way Gay replaced Retarded. so why bother stressing over it when it will just go away on its own.
The thing is, they will.
If enough people call them on it, they stop using the word.Seriously, it's embarassing for them to be told that what they just said is rude and homophobic, especially if they didn't really mean to insult the gay community. And they stop doing it.
Retarded stopped being used as an insult by a whole lot of people hen people spoke up and said they weren't going to tolerate that bullshit.
No one is going to continue using gay as meaning "bad" if every time they do, their friend says "hey, that's insulting to people who are gay, use another word." or better "You do realize that you just called him happy?"
Exactlybecause most people use words like that without thinking. Once they stop to think about it, they stop using it. Of course some people are assholes and keep using it, but the thing is, if only assholes used gay as derogatory, it would be just like retarded- out of use in polite society.
