Heroes of Might and Magic Community
visiting hero! Register | Today's Posts | Games | Search! | FAQ/Rules | AvatarList | MemberList | Profile


Age of Heroes Headlines:  
5 Oct 2016: Heroes VII development comes to an end.. - read more
6 Aug 2016: Troubled Heroes VII Expansion Release - read more
26 Apr 2016: Heroes VII XPack - Trial by Fire - Coming out in June! - read more
17 Apr 2016: Global Alternative Creatures MOD for H7 after 1.8 Patch! - read more
7 Mar 2016: Romero launches a Piano Sonata Album Kickstarter! - read more
19 Feb 2016: Heroes 5.5 RC6, Heroes VII patch 1.7 are out! - read more
13 Jan 2016: Horn of the Abyss 1.4 Available for Download! - read more
17 Dec 2015: Heroes 5.5 update, 1.6 out for H7 - read more
23 Nov 2015: H7 1.4 & 1.5 patches Released - read more
31 Oct 2015: First H7 patches are out, End of DoC development - read more
5 Oct 2016: Heroes VII development comes to an end.. - read more
[X] Remove Ads
LOGIN:     Username:     Password:         [ Register ]
HOMM1: info forum | HOMM2: info forum | HOMM3: info mods forum | HOMM4: info CTG forum | HOMM5: info mods forum | MMH6: wiki forum | MMH7: wiki forum
Heroes Community > Other Side of the Monitor > Thread: Political correctness/sensitivity is getting out of hand...
Thread: Political correctness/sensitivity is getting out of hand... This thread is 3 pages long: 1 2 3 · NEXT»
Smithey
Smithey


Promising
Supreme Hero
Yes im red, choke on it !!!
posted September 10, 2013 12:00 AM

Political correctness/sensitivity is getting out of hand...

Not gonna go into some boring philosophical mind-rape monologue but will instead throw some examples into the air...

I had to sign a contract at my workplace coz Im dating a girl from the office coz god forbid I tell someone her new dress looks nice as it can be considered sexual harassment...

I am literally scared of kids, if a kid asks me for direction Im pretty sure I will tell him "sod off little dude, Im not going to jail coz of you"...

Dude got fired coz when asked about the difference between black and white athletes he explained that blacks have fast-twitch muscles.. which is a racist thing to say for some reason ?

Im walking into a building and I notice a girl (few steps away) so I hold the door for her (so it wouldnt slam in her face), she calls me a sexist pig...

15 yo girl gets labeled as a sex offender for life coz she took nude photos of herself with her phone (as in child porn)...

There are no longer dumb kids in schools, instead there are 101 syndroms/conditions and everybody is unique...

I feel like we went overboard with the sensitivity/political correctness, it's crippling our lives and turning us into paranoid freaks....

thoughts ?

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Lexxan
Lexxan


Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Unimpressed by your logic
posted September 10, 2013 12:05 AM
Edited by Lexxan at 00:05, 10 Sep 2013.

how many of those things actually happened?

if "all of them" is the answer, i'd just emigrate to a place where the average inhabitant isn't such an uptight sourcrunt.
____________
Coincidence? I think not!!!!

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | PP | Quote Reply | Link
Vindicator
Vindicator


Supreme Hero
Right Back Extraordinaire
posted September 10, 2013 12:31 AM

Related

For some reason, this type of thing never happens to me; I hear people tell horror stories about how "lack" of political correctness caused some stupid consequence, but I've never encountered that. Maybe I'm just lucky, maybe the people around me just have common sense, but I've never encountered such a situation.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
mvassilev
mvassilev


Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
posted September 10, 2013 12:32 AM
Edited by mvassilev at 21:55, 10 Feb 2014.

This is about one-third exaggerated, one-third "You're the one with the problem, not society", and one-third so implausible I doubt it happened.
____________
Eccentric Opinion

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
JollyJoker
JollyJoker


Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
posted September 10, 2013 08:07 AM

I happen to agree with George Carlin here. Of course, political correctness has been taken too far; look at the language.

Carlin 1

Carlin 2

Carlin 3

Carlin 4

Carlin 5

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Corribus
Corribus

Hero of Order
The Abyss Staring Back at You
posted October 11, 2013 06:32 PM

*Bump*

Sometimes you just gotta shake your head and sigh.

White House recalls fitness postage stamps:

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/10/white-house-calls-postage-stamps-encouring-fitness-unsafe/
____________
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're goin', and hook up with them later. -Mitch Hedberg

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Storm-Giant
Storm-Giant


Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
On the Other Side!
posted October 11, 2013 07:05 PM

Cmon everybody, let's sit down on a chair, bind some ropes around us so we are safe!

Stupid Government is stupid, be in USA, Spain or China
____________

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Stevie
Stevie


Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
posted October 11, 2013 07:43 PM
Edited by Stevie at 19:44, 11 Oct 2013.

You have to be "minimally exceptional" to believe this politically correct nonsense.

I have to disagree with Carlin on the subject of rape and religion. The euphemisms part though was both acurate and funny.

Smithey said:
Im walking into a building and I notice a girl (few steps away) so I hold the door for her (so it wouldnt slam in her face), she calls me a sexist pig...


I'm relieved that something like this didn't happen to me. She would need plastic surgery after an encounter with me.. that if she survives..

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Tsar-Ivor
Tsar-Ivor


Promising
Legendary Hero
Scourge of God
posted October 11, 2013 07:58 PM
Edited by Tsar-Ivor at 19:59, 11 Oct 2013.

Can't wait till I can openly brawl with women.
____________
"No laughs were had. There is only shame and sadness." Jenny

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | PP | Quote Reply | Link
markkur
markkur


Honorable
Legendary Hero
Once upon a time
posted October 11, 2013 08:07 PM

Corribus said:
Sometimes you just gotta shake your head and sigh.


If it wasn't for the fact that it happened here, I would have thought that made-up. Yeah..."sigh" and something a little stronger.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Tsar-Ivor
Tsar-Ivor


Promising
Legendary Hero
Scourge of God
posted February 10, 2014 09:55 PM
Edited by Tsar-Ivor at 21:58, 10 Feb 2014.

Is the term "Dutch Courage" politically correct? I was reading some quotes from judges and it seemed like quite a prejudicial phrase, that Dutch people only have courage when drunk, (I can attest to that, but still) or am I getting the wrong idea?
____________
"No laughs were had. There is only shame and sadness." Jenny

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | PP | Quote Reply | Link
fred79
fred79


Disgraceful
Undefeatable Hero
posted February 10, 2014 10:06 PM

Tsar-Ivor said:
Is the term "Dutch Courage" politically correct? I was reading some quotes from judges and it seemed like quite a prejudicial phrase, that Dutch people only have courage when drunk, (I can attest to that, but still) or am I getting the wrong idea?


that is a stupid term. there are millions of pussies from all over the world who have no courage at all unless they are drunk. then, it's just "Stupidly Courageous".

but yeah, that would be a racist term. it's like saying, "Asian Smarts", or "Mexican Laziness", or "White Anal-retentiveness".

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
artu
artu


Promising
Undefeatable Hero
My BS sensor is tingling again
posted December 29, 2014 05:02 PM

Let me link this article by adding, I especially agree with the "this movement stems from deconstructionism, a postmodernist framework that purports that language creates reality" part.

Today we had a thread titled "Boy... they sure did RAPE this franchise" corrected into " Boy... they sure did MISTREAT this franchise" which sounds kind of funny if you ask me, here's how it went:

Nocturnal said:
And, on a side note, I recommend you to read your thread's title putting yourself in a raped woman's place. It's horrendous that people use this word, which stands for a nightmarish experience that ruin people's psychology, this easily.

artu said:
about reacting to the use of the word rape as a figure of speech, I dont know if to call that oversensitive to the point of naive or politically correct to the point of absurd but in both cases it is abysmal. Words like kill, rape, destroy etc.. will always have metaphorical usage in any language. Needless to say, to get killed is even worse than getting raped but if you take out phrases and metaphors containing the word kill from any language, you might as well cross off half of its richness. It's mindless stuff like this that makes people repelled from the mentality and turns them away from reconsidering their stance in situations where they can indeed be more sensitive.

Salamandre said:
heh, rape became mistreat. With all respect, sorry guys/mods, this is ridiculous. Please read artu's post on previous page, it says all you need to know about.

Avirosb said:
Again, saying things like "[Insert game here] killed my family" is a moronic thing to do, not because it's oh so offensive but because one comes off as a crass tryhard with zero originality.

Kind of like Ubi

artu said:
Zero originality isnt something the mods edit and "X game killed my family" is quite a dysfunctional metaphor.

Avirosb said:
Well so is "[developer] you-know-what'd this franchise".

artu said:
Nope. It's quite ordinary but it's functional. Actually, it's ordinary enough to be considered a dead metaphor.

Avirosb said:
Wait, so does metaphors have to make sense or not?
Because I'm pretty sure something as intangible as a franchise would not be able to either consent or dissent.

artu said:
It's the action that is being associated with another action and they are functionally analogous, when you talk about a killer movie, you are not talking about a subject that can commit murder, do you? Symbolism doesnt work that way. I'm sure you are aware of this on an intuitive level, when someone says "the company raped the merchandise" it is quite clear to anyone that rape means, they screwed it up harshly and on a level that caused great disapproval.

Salamandre said:
On the practical side, we have a CoC. Then we have censored words. Rape is not censored and in this context it was not offensive.

If mods start to add their own rules, we will have soon unintelligible posts, like: I snowed her, but the snow didn't want to snowball my snowberry. Hopefully her snowbird snowbrushed my snowy snowbush, and finally we could snowier some snowflakes, out of any snowploughs.

Just sayin'.

Galaad said:
I don't think is that. Out of the 3 first pages of the threads, two people did complain about the naming, and the thread's title still remains intelligible.

artu said:
That doesnt mean anything when the complaints are based on an absurd premise. If I talk about the punch line of a joke and someone complains that the word punch is offensive to victims of a beating, the mods shouldnt act upon it.

Galaad said:
Well I agree some people can be over-sensitive, but should mods ignore them ? Plus the word MISTREAT keeping caps lock ships good enough the message, imo.

artu said:
Galaad said:
Well I agree some people can be over-sensitive, but should mods ignore them?

Yes.

Avirosb said:
artu said:
It's the action that is being associated with another action and they are functionally analogous, when you talk about a killer movie, you are not talking about a subject that can commit murder, do you? Symbolism doesnt work that way. I'm sure you are aware of this on an intuitive level, when someone says "the company raped the merchandise" it is quite clear to anyone that rape means, they screwed it up harshly and on a level that caused great disapproval.
We don't have an equivalent of that in my language, which I'm kinda glad for.

Overuse of certain words for the sake of being edgy only serve to desensitize, and in turn trivialize serious matters.

artu said:
Avirosb said:
Overuse of certain words for the sake of being edgy only serve to desensitize, and in turn trivialize serious matters.

That is creating a problem out of nothing. Once again:
artu said:
And about reacting to the use of the word rape as a figure of speech, I dont know if to call that oversensitive to the point of naive or politically correct to the point of absurd but in both cases it is abysmal. Words like kill, rape, destroy etc.. will always have metaphorical usage in any language. Needless to say, to get killed is even worse than getting raped but if you take out phrases and metaphors containing the word kill from any language, you might as well cross off half of its richness. It's mindless stuff like this that makes people repelled from the mentality and turns them away from reconsidering their stance in situations where they can indeed be more sensitive.


There is not a single person on this earth who would be more sensitive to the action of rape, had the word not been used as a figure of speech.

Avirosb said:
artu said:
That is creating a problem out of nothing.
Happens all the time but gradually.

artu said:
There is not a single person on this earth who would be more sensitive to the action of rape, had the word not been used as a figure of speech.
That's what I'm saying, thanks to figure of speech most people are now okay with it.

Also, killing is pretty much universal and pretty much a requirement.
We kill animals for food, we don't like intruding insect or vermin,
we kill to inadvertently prevent overconsumption and overpopulation, etc.

Rape has none of those advantages, only the offender benefits from the deed.

artu said:
Read the sentence again, that's not what I said, and to claim people are less sensitive to the action because the word is used in a figurative way is just as meaningless as banning it.

Nocturnal said:
It's absurd that people can try to justify things that are wrong in an obvious way. To get killed and be raped is not in the same category. Everyone dies. Everyone can get killed by someone. But rape? Most (%91) of the people that are raped are women and nearly all (%99) of the rapists are male. And only men use the word rape in sentences in this way like the title of this thread. Men do it to women, ruin their lives and then use it in casual sentences like it is this light word. This is, of course, again because of sexism. No naivety or absurd oversensitivity here, it is a simple act of sexism. The use of this word in this way when nearly all women experience some kind of sexual assault in action or words in their lives, when it is found that, nearly 20% of all women surffer rape or attempted rape sometime in their life and when it is also estimated that only 1 in 7 rapes are being reported, this kind of justification can only be called cold-blooded. Your logic of comparing "kill" and "rape" would only be right if only women died and men were immortal. Then the use of the word "kill" in this casual way would also be sexism. Your, as a male, calling this irritation this word causes on responsible citizens "oversensitive" can only be translated as "yeah, men rape, get over it"

Salamandre said:
Nocturnal, your problem is that you run for authority first, and think second, if ever. I am sure the poster would have quickly agree to change its title if you simply asked, saying it hurts you.

But no, you choose to ignore the multiple definitions of "rape" -check dictionaries if in doubt, you can learn at any age- then focus only on the definition which hurts you. The word isn't even used as metaphor or speech form, it is correctly used.

Avirosb said:
artu said:
Read the sentence again, that's not what I said, and to claim people are less sensitive to the action because the word is used in a figurative way is just as meaningless as banning it.
Or contesting it.

Avirosb said:
Salamandre said:
The word isn't even used as metaphor or speech form, it is correctly used.
Meh, the franchise liked it.

Salamandre said:
ok avirosb, because you just like to argue for nothing, lets end it. Please check then tell us: the use of rape word here is fitting:

1st or 2nd definition? (you can choose another dictionary if you want)

Then we are done.

Nocturnal said:
Salamandre said:
Nocturnal, your problem is that you run for authority first, and think second, if ever. I am sure the poster would have quickly agree to change its title if you simply asked, saying it hurts you.

But no, you choose to ignore the multiple definitions of "rape" -check dictionaries if in doubt, you can learn at any age- then focus only on the definition which hurts you. The word isn't even used as metaphor or speech form, it is correctly used.


It is not me, dear Sal. I was not raped and I'm a male. For 3 years now, you haven't been able to understand that I don't only respond to things that hurt me but to every discriminating action, all of which you have embraced lovingly for all these years.

As an objection to the only-male objections here:

Here is an article from a writer that was raped. Trailer: It starts with saying "Using the word "rape" to describe anything other than the act of sexual violence is not only wrong, it is irresponsible."

A raped writer's article: "Stop Saying 'Rape' Out of Context"

And here is an article from a writer that is not talking about her own experience but the children in India.

The article "By trivialising the word 'rape', we endanger all women"

If you still can't see why this is wrong, I'm sorry, that's your personal problem you have to solve.

GenyaArikado said:
Im glad they changed the title. While rape may have grown to have other meanings, using such a strong word to talk about something so...relative feels idiotic.

Avirosb said:
Bringing up the word in any other than its intended context during everyday conversation would definitely be considered a faux pas where I'm from.

Salamandre said:
And where I am from "rape" is translated by "viol". Or "viol" is also a powerful literary word which is over used in all artworks, it meaning is similar to english "violated".

So, before everyone spurts like a damsel, you should understand that this forum is not essentially english, people may use english words which seem to them appropriate, thus don't playing offensive and run for authority first, but talk directly and explain. As I said, I am sure the poster would have agree to change. You didn't even ask, you accused first.

Avirosb said:
Salamandre said:
So, before everyone spurts like a damsel, you should understand that this forum is not essentially english, people may use english words which seem to them appropriate, thus don't playing offensive and run for authority first, but talk directly and explain. As I said, I am sure the poster would have agree to change. You didn't even ask, you accused first.
People who to them doesn't English well should take double action try not come off as offensive so much.

artu said:
nocturnal said:
It's absurd that people can try to justify things that are wrong in an obvious way. To get killed and be raped is not in the same category. Everyone dies. Everyone can get killed by someone. But rape? Most (%91) of the people that are raped are women and nearly all (%99) of the rapists are male. And only men use the word rape in sentences in this way like the title of this thread. Men do it to women, ruin their lives and then use it in casual sentences like it is this light word. This is, of course, again because of sexism. No naivety or absurd oversensitivity here, it is a simple act of sexism. The use of this word in this way when nearly all women experience some kind of sexual assault in action or words in their lives, when it is found that, nearly 20% of all women surffer rape or attempted rape sometime in their life and when it is also estimated that only 1 in 7 rapes are being reported, this kind of justification can only be called cold-blooded. Your logic of comparing "kill" and "rape" would only be right if only women died and men were immortal. Then the use of the word "kill" in this casual way would also be sexism. Your, as a male, calling this irritation this word causes on responsible citizens "oversensitive" can only be translated as "yeah, men rape, get over it"


That is quite illogical on many levels. The action itself and the word used as a figure of speech (although it has other meanings as well, for arguments sake, let's say the sexual one is or should be the only meaning) are irrelevant things, in terms of sensitivity. People don't normalize the act of sexual rape, when the word is used metaphorically, there is absolutely nothing suggesting such a causality. And the crime mainly being gender specific has nothing to do with the issue either, what then, if I say "the company sure works his employees like they are slaves,"  should black people be offended? This is not sensitivity, this is mixing apples and oranges on a very primary level. How about torture? Not everybody goes through torture, in fact, I'm quite positive, even less people are tortured, than raped, should I not say "the new Heroes game was so bad, it was a torture trying to play it!" How about animals, I love dogs but I can use the word in a pejorative way when talking about someone who's sucking up to his superiors. Is that insensitive?

There is nothing obvious(-ly wrong) about any of your presumed relationships between use of figurative speech and crime rates. Btw, if you additionally presume I am insensitive to women's issues just because I read the context when it comes to metaphors, you can check the threads and my posts about feminism itself on this very site. Nobody has to walk on egg-shells about figurative speech, just because you are trying to invent new ways to be able to act self-righteous.

Edit: And when it comes to the article, the real problem is not figurative speech but the patriarchal norms in India, I think it would be much wiser to focus on this part rather than some person writing "they played so bad my ears got practically raped" on his blog:

Indeed, the leader of one of India's political parties, Abu Azmi, recently said: "Women should not venture out with men who are not relatives. What is the need for roaming at night with men who are not relatives? This should be stopped. Such incidents [as the Delhi gang-rape] happen due to influence of western culture."

Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh angered many earlier this year, after a 22-year-old photographer was raped in Mumbai, by suggesting that a "promiscuous culture" that allows kissing in public made the city less safe for women.


dark-whisperer said:
This whole thing is driven to absurdity.
Like it or not that word IS used for other meanings then sexual in everyday language. Its imperative to look for meaning beyond words.
If you get offended just by seeing four letters in particular order without taking into account what person that has written that had in mind (and it very, very clear that it had absolutely no sexual context)is immature and its putting blame where there is not one.
Its case like feminists being offended by Dr Matt Taylor’s shirt. At the end it made them look petty, it diverted and diminish attention from real problems that women experience every day and it was detrimental to the true feminist movement.
When you have honorable intentions its very important to react only when its truly needed and then do it with full force otherwise you just dilute core cause.
Pick your fights and react when substance of word is intolerable not form of it.

Nocturnal said:
What a gang.

You both are ignoring everything other people say and until now many people objected to the use of the word starting from the first page. The title is changed. And still...

Anyway, as the title has changed, this subject has nothing to do with this thread. Open a new one about it in OSM if you want. I sure won't step into OSM ever again.

artu said:
@Nocturnal

Okay, fine by me if we drop it but I havent ignored anything you said, I addressed them one by one, so dont accuse me of that when you are the one who hasnt replied to any of the questions. And mods changing the title is part of what we were objecting to, so I see no point in presenting it as proof of anything.

alcibiades said:
I changed the word in the title because I disliked it myself, and because kiryu expressed the same opinion, but there's no need to make a huge discussion out of it. I know the original word has come to mean many different things in online talk, but that does not change the fact that the original word describes an extremely unpleasant action and was quite unnecessary to convey the message of this thread, so I didn't see a point in having it plastered in capital letters all over the front page.


____________
Are you pretty? This is my occasion. - Ghost

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Corribus
Corribus

Hero of Order
The Abyss Staring Back at You
posted December 29, 2014 06:30 PM

I won't get involved in the moderation decision, since it's not my forum. But: there are several broadly accepted meanings of the word "rape" that don't have anything directly to do with sexual intercourse. In fact from what I could gather the origin of the word has nothing to do with sex, but rather taking or removing, which gradually evolved into taking by force. The sexual connotations likely came much later.
____________
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're goin', and hook up with them later. -Mitch Hedberg

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
artu
artu


Promising
Undefeatable Hero
My BS sensor is tingling again
posted December 29, 2014 07:46 PM

I think that's the etymological aspect rather than the semantic one. English isn't my mother tongue and I'm not 100 percent sure about this but if I sense things correctly, when someone uses the word rape as a figure of speech, it is the sexual crime they are basing their metaphor on. I mean, think of the word kill, the original meaning isnt "to end life" but when a boxer, in 2015, says something like "I'm gonna kill him in the ring tonight" he has no idea that the etymological root of the word is actually closer to what he's really going to do. If you say something like "mom put too much salt on the soup again, I'm gonna kill her!" the etymological story of the word is quite irrelevant. When people use the word "rape" in a similar symbolism, I doubt that many have the knowledge of its historical or secondary meanings. Although, I'm not a native speaker, from what I read, watch, listen, I am under the impression that the sexual meaning of the word is overwhelmingly dominant compared to its historical or secondary ones.
____________
Are you pretty? This is my occasion. - Ghost

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Salamandre
Salamandre


Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
posted December 29, 2014 08:28 PM

I don't know guys, it seems to me a minority of people enjoy or specifically seek for confrontations about really petty things, just to show how self-righteous they are. When I read that title, my mind didn't one second make the link with sexual aspect, because my mind read the word before then the word after, and once the phrase is entirely read, the meaning comes. For me, the translation was: look how they hurt my beloved game, where hurt is suggested by a strong word, to show the user hopeless.

But what disturbs me the most, in real life too, is how a minority of people succeed at triggering unfair censure over the majority, just because they are constant in their whining and do not give up until they fit their goal. And if you don't understand what I say, try to spend some time teaching and you will see.  

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Corribus
Corribus

Hero of Order
The Abyss Staring Back at You
posted December 29, 2014 08:32 PM

It's not a metaphor or a figure of speech to refer to "raping the land".

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rape?s=t

No doubt, it's an emotionally charged word, but it's still a legitimate use of the word to describe a non-sexual and non-personal violation or abuse as a "rape".

Crying foul over using the word "rape" reminds me of people who have demanded that other people be censured or fired from their jobs for using the word "niggardly". It's ignorance and overboard political correctness wrapped up into a neat little package.
____________
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're goin', and hook up with them later. -Mitch Hedberg

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
artu
artu


Promising
Undefeatable Hero
My BS sensor is tingling again
posted December 29, 2014 10:29 PM

I agree, there is no foul, even for that only: Other meanings of the word do exist, those meanings were what I was referring to when I mentioned the secondary ones. An example for a case like that would be, there was this Anthony Hopkins movie where he played a professor, he had students that never attended class, (so he never saw them and didn't know what they looked like), he called them spooks, as in ghosts, associating the word with their absence, turns out the students were black, the word spook had another, very offensive meaning when used for blacks and he unjustly got fired. Now, since spook also meant ghost and he obviously meant that, there was actually no foul. But if he had used the word deliberately to insult race, it could reasonably be considered offensive.

In this case, however, it's quite probable that the original poster, when opening a thread titled "they sure raped the merchandise" didn't have in his mind, the "plunder, violate" meaning of the word and he indeed used the act of sexual assault as a figure of speech. It may not be very subtle or poetic but I don't think it would still be offensive to women or anything. Words such as rape, kill, bomb, crash etc are constantly used metaphorically to stress the destructive magnitude of an act or strength of a negative emotion. It's really not a big deal, it can even be considered a dead metaphor. As I stated earlier, it would be no different than a black person getting offended by the simile, "to work like a slave." Of course, there can be delicate, extreme situations where you're directly in face to face conversation with a recent rape victim and in such a case, you would avoid to use the word in such a fashion but suggesting to completely remove the figurative usage of the word in general is nothing but absurd. That level of "political correctness" is anything but correct, it is carrying a decent notion to an extreme, to the point where it becomes mindless and counter-productive, like actually putting a leash on children to protect them or something. It ceases to be sensible.

Sal said:
I don't know guys, it seems to me a minority of people enjoy or specifically seek for confrontations about really petty things, just to show how self-righteous they are. When I read that title, my mind didn't one second make the link with sexual aspect, because my mind read the word before then the word after, and once the phrase is entirely read, the meaning comes. For me, the translation was: look how they hurt my beloved game, where hurt is suggested by a strong word, to show the user hopeless.

Yes, that was exactly what I meant when I said "Nobody has to walk on egg-shells about figurative speech, just because you are trying to invent new ways to be able to act self-righteous." and "I dont become insensitive when I read the context when looking at a metaphor."
____________
Are you pretty? This is my occasion. - Ghost

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
artu
artu


Promising
Undefeatable Hero
My BS sensor is tingling again
posted December 18, 2015 02:40 PM

Interesting article
____________
Are you pretty? This is my occasion. - Ghost

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
JollyJoker
JollyJoker


Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
posted December 18, 2015 03:20 PM

Too much fuss about something that is essentially nothing new. Instead of "political correctness" you can just as well say "unwritten rules (or laws)" - that it's called a fancy name now, is an entirely different phenomenon that has to do with marketing in general and the fact that awkward things seem less awkward when they have a fancy name: a retarded - that sounds harsh, doesn't it, almost like an offense, like you wanted to rub it, and that would somehow smell like a lack of respect; mentally handicapped sounds so much more professional, free of any emotion or evaluation...

I mean, you don't call old people old people anymore - in Germany they are called a Senior (as in the opposition of Junior, like the things used in names sometimes).

It's correct, that this is all about some kind of formalism. That it's called "political correctness" may have to do with the fact that politicians have started with this crap - in Germany, it basically started with a rush in finding female noun forms. A lot of nouns existed only in male form, for example "voter", "Wähler" in German. In English a voter can be a he or a she. In German the same is true - except you can build a female form - Wählerin.
So there came the time, when suddenly every politician addressed their "Wählerinnen und Wähler" instead only "Wähler", because it was deemed necessary to express respect for the question of emancipation and gender equality.

So, yes, political correctness is a formalism - brands, if you want to. It's STILL nothing new, though. It just gets "professional attention" in this age of media, where every word is recorded.

 Send Instant Message | Send E-Mail | View Profile | Quote Reply | Link
Jump To: « Prev Thread . . . Next Thread » This thread is 3 pages long: 1 2 3 · NEXT»
Post New Poll    Post New Topic    Post New Reply

Page compiled in 0.1137 seconds