So I can't be hurt by words? I don't have feelings that are equally as valid as yours? - Scoble, Alex Scoble

I don't think he was saying that Alex.... I'm sure there's a racial slur for every ethnicity on this planet - Jeff (Team マクダジ )

Rah, that wasn't my point, though it appears some people took it that way. racism is very stigmatized, it is no simple insult, you can cause character damage with the phrase, it isn't an innocent term to through around. So if someone says a racist term, even without intent, it's fair play to label them as racist, and we're not supposed to fight over that label. As I said last night, some of these "racist" terms don't actually carry as much stigma outside the community, or even no stigma if used by someone that exists within the group that the term describes. Jap and Pak are abbreviations FFS, but they still apparently piss the people in those groups off if you use them. - Jimminy, CoG of FF

Racial slurs are meant to cause offense by definition. But I don't see them as necessarily defaming. I would be much more concerned and offended if someone called me a 'negligent Engineer' than I would by any racial slur. Being called a 'negligent Engineer' is defaming and malicious in that it can effect my credibility and my livelihood. Being called a racial slur is intended only to piss me off. It will probably not effect my credibility and my livelihood. My response to the racial slur would be to think that the person saying it was ignorant. You can substitute the word 'racist' for 'negligent Engineer' and the statement above has the same meaning. - Jeff P. Henderson

Alex obviously knows that my statement has nothing to do with whether he can be hurt by words. Right Alex? Cuz that doesn't even make sense. I'll say it again, "You can't equate a racial slur with a simple insult." If you can't understand what that means, I don't know what to tell you. Many probably don't get that simple statement because they haven't grown up on the wrong side of racism. Maybe it's a problem of being on the outside looking in. I don't know. - Rah-PM 2012

So you are saying that if you offend me that it somehow means less than if I offend you? - Scoble, Alex Scoble

I'm saying that you looking at racism being equal to offending someone is absolutely ridiculous. I'm going to leave this whole thing alone, though. We have made a bazillion comments and I don't think anyone has learned anything. At least, I haven't. We're all dancing, but nobody is listening to the same song. - Rah-PM 2012

And that's the problem...when you see my point of view as ridiculous, how can we have a frank discussion about this at all? - Scoble, Alex Scoble

We aren't discussing the same thing. Are you telling me that racism is simply a form of insulting someone? That's what it seems like. - Rah-PM 2012

Rah, what I was saying is that being called racist is worse than being called a slur which is worse than a simple insult. Calling someone racist, is defamatory, which has negative outward effects. Calling someone a slur, is a derogatory remark, has severe emotional effects for that person. Using a simple insult like idiot, is also derogatory, can cause minor emotional effects for that person. So if you call someone racist for using a slur, even without intent that's worse. - Jimminy, CoG of FF

Rahsheen, I hear what you are saying. I guess it is hard for some of us who have not lived our entire lives 'on the wrong side of racism' to fully understand the gravity of a racial slur. Believe me, I'm trying to understand. One thing I can say is that with all of this discussion that has gone on about racism and racist comments over the past 2 days, I may have learned a little more about what is it like to be on the receiving end. Your point being my primary takeaway. Though frustrating and rather circular, I think that all of the recent discussion has been a good thing. - Jeff P. Henderson

Rahsheen, you are being perfectly clear. - Ayşe E.

Let me try this again, then. I am a black man. In the country I live in, that simple fact means pretty much everything is stacked against me. This is because of racism. I've already been defamed simply by being born here. The outward effects are burned into my skin. By using a racial slur, you are giving power to the very system that caused extreme physical and emotional suffering for my entire bloodline, even down to my 2yr old son. It's not just words. - Rah-PM 2012

To tell me that being called a racist is worse than someone using a slur is absolutely ridiculous to me. To equate an insult with a racial slur is also ridiculous. I'm sure my position is equally ridiculous to some of you, but this is my life. I'm sure someone else could explain it better from a book-knowledge perspective, but this is the best I can do. - Rah-PM 2012

Rahsheen, I think your explanation of how things really are is probably the best I have heard articulated in all of the conversations I have read on the topic in the last 2 days. - Jeff P. Henderson

Not to beat a dead horse, but lets flip things around for a minute. Believe it or not, as a 'white' person, being called a racist is probably one of the most offensive and shameful things anyone could call me. Use any slur against me that you can think of, racist would top that. I grew up in the 60's and the word racist stirs up a lot of very ugly images in my head. As a child, I remember images of the Ku Klux Klan burning crosses on lawns of black families on the news. I remember seeing MLK on TV and hearing the negative and often violent reaction that some white people had to his message. I remember when MLK was assassinated. I remember seeing the race riots in countless towns and on university campuses in the southern US in the late 60's. I remember seeing hard working Americans openly being denied homes, jobs, entry to good schools all because of the color of their skin. When I hear the words racism and racist, these ugly, frightening and shameful images appear in my head. I do not ever want to be associated with people who perpetrated this kind of behavior past or present. - Jeff P. Henderson