April 17, 2005 - 11:04 p.m.
re-education:
some things that irk me... generally and specifically.
You've already heard my bit on cross-minority bigotry... fun stuff like gay bashing by racial minorities, or racism in the trans community...
however, in everyday life... I feel so compelled to level people who use obscenely offensive language (and I'm not talking expletives that get replaced by numbers, signs and exclamation marks ()@#$*&!!).
but #@*&%! seriously.
I'm so tired of seeing people write/say/giggle/sneer
the following:
"that is so gay"
(um. no it's not. the object/subject you're talking about has NO sexual orientation, nor is it happy. Get a better vocabulary, grow up and learn to be specific and sensitive to other people.)
"that is so retarded"
(equally offensive and as widely embraced as a synonym for "dumb" "stupid" etc. Even if you're refering to yourself, consider the fact that someone within earshot MAY ACTUALLY HAVE A LIVED EXPERIENCE PERTAINING TO THE OFFENSIVE SLANG YOU USE WITHOUT THINKING ABOUT IT).
Unless you also think it's okay to walk around saying ...
"that's so _______ (fill in ethnic/racial/religious slang)"
OR
"that's so _______ (rape, abuse or any other actual situation/experience people have that gets trivialized by people's misuse of words).
I can think of many appropriate words to attach to those who find themselves doing these things. If you would like a list... please consult a dictionary. what particularly saddens me is that so often the people I see doing this are individuals that get lumped into stereotyped categories themselves. Try someone else's shoes on for just one second. I dare you.
