Either way, I'm much more interested in discussing the main point of my post. Why is it that "cocksucker" isn't thought to be as offensive as "the other F word," when they're both demeaning terms for homosexuals?
I've said it before but it makes me cringe every time Ryan says cocksucker. Don't really hear any other GB dudes saying it. It's one of those things like "jungle fever" where people don't seem to ever think about what they're saying. Ryan clearly doesn't want to use any homophobic language but hasn't yet made the connection that cocksucker is pretty much the same as what he said the other day.
True, it's just a different word carrying the same meaning, like "sambo" or "blackie" for black people, I do wish that Ryan would stop using that one as well. It's these kind of mixed messages that cause more discussion and uncertainty of what's acceptable here.
@SpaceInsomniac: The guys at Giant Bomb clearly do not agree with certain religious groups beliefs, and they can't please everyone. They choose their audience by their behaviour, and they've chosen to have GLBT people feel welcome, which I'm glad about. I don't agree with Rush Limbaugh's views, so I don't listen to his show, but I'm not arguing him to change his views or that of his audience. If someone doesn't feel welcome here they aren't forced to stay here.
@SpaceInsomniac: I find it interesting that you brought up the words "goddammit" and "Jesus Christ" and how they can be seen as offensive. It is true that using those words go against the commandment of not taking the Lord's name in vain, but those expressions originate from the Christian community and have never been used as an offensive or repressive term for Christians. To me Ryan using those words tells me about his religious beliefs or upbringing.
The word "cunt" is certainly a horrible word, and no one here is saying that it's just fine and dandy. It has a long history of being used against women, and it will unfortunately continue to be used by many. The relative offensiveness of "cunt", though, isn't the issue here. We can argue that it should also be considered unacceptable around here, and used in a personal attack on another user, it already -is- unacceptable. I am merely arguing against the absurd argument that just because "cunt" isn't considered -as- bad as these other slurs by one mod it means no words should be off the table. People are trying to manipulate the fact that a staffmember once said "cunt" without getting in trouble to justify their use of any slur they want. It's preposterous, and it derails from the whole point of this thread that Giant Bomb has always had standards and will continue to have boundaries on what is acceptable here. Some in recent days have seemed to be under the delusion that Giant Bomb is a wild west where you can say whatever you want without repercussion, and this was an effort to set them straight on Giant Bomb policies. Unfortunately, it got derailed rather successfully, but, hopefully, people will eventually understand the point of all of this.
Then, once everyone stops twisting each other's words and relating opposition to calling other users the n word with favoring the gestapo, people can hopefully get back to just commenting in a decent manner as most have for years now. It's a shame anything ever even needed to be clarified, but considering the cries from those disagreeing with Ryan's apology and demanding that they should be able to say any slur they like, the staff and mods certainly had to say yet again that Giant Bomb does have standards and boundaries.
I am in complete agreement with you. Maybe I phrased the last sentence in my post poorly, I meant that certain people are trying to make usage of one word right (faggot) because another one is as well (cunt), rather than trying to ban the word that they say they are offended by. Giant Bomb has always had clear rules that have been enforced, and up to this point no one seemed to have a problem with them.
@WilliamRLBaker: I am certain that if Ryan had not apologised, CBS would've made him because of their policies of anti-discrimination, but I don't see it in Ryan's character to be intentionally or unintentionally offensive and I believe his apology was genuine. No one in the GB staff had used that word before, and no one had demanded that they should use it or else they would be censoring themselves. They are not trying to make homophobia or racism disappear from the world, simply saying that it does not belong here. No one is stopping you from thinking what you want about people of different sexual orientations or different races, you can go even say what you think in groups that accept it, or yelling it on the street, all that has been said is that it does not belong here.
Too many here have been saying that "Well, if 'cunt' is acceptable, than all of these should be" in an attempt to have racial and homophobic slurs considered fair game for use in the forums, but used in personal attacks, none of these words are okay.
Exactly, people are using the treatment of the word cunt to justify other bad words, that's my biggest problem here. I will attempt to explain the difference, see if I fail completely.
Young gay people are called [Deleted] or [Deleted] at school today, made to feel isolated, unable to talk to anyone, bullied, even killed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard), if they don't kill themselves before that. Even older gay people are still affected by fear, most gay people I know don't dare to hold hands in public because of fear of being yelled at or assaulted. All of those feelings of fear, isolation and depression are carried in the word [Deleted] which has been used against them and to describe them as something less valuable than others. If they come here and see those words being thrown around like it's not a problem it still gives them the same feelings of not being welcome and being an outsider. GiantBomb staff doesn't want anyone to feel like an outsider in their community, that's why they aren't allowing that word.
Can anyone really say that cunt has ever been used on women to justify any of this kind of behaviour? If you do then please give examples and we can have a civilized discussion.
The word "cunt", when used IRL against a woman is almost exclusively used to make them feel isolated and bullied. Women have been in situations of domestic violence, bullying, and cyber bullying in which the word has been used have been killed and have killed themselves. Feelings of fear, isolation, and shame are carried in the word cunt. Don't think so? Start an argument with a women, and call her a stupid cunt. Cunt denigrates women and their bodies and describes them as something less valuable. If women go to a website, and see words like "cunt" thrown are like it's not a problems, do you think they feel that website is inclusive?
Thank you for explaining that, it can be hard to imagine being the opposite sex (I assume you are a woman) and thinking how that word sounds. I wouldn't call anyone a "stupid cunt", since I would never want to intentionally cause offense to anyone. I'm sure if enough people like you let the Giant Bomb staff know that they are offended by the use of "cunt" its use will be stopped. It's no chip off their shoulder, plenty of other curses to go around. It's worse when people try to make saying one wrong thing into a right because saying another wrong thing is allowed.
Too many here have been saying that "Well, if 'cunt' is acceptable, than all of these should be" in an attempt to have racial and homophobic slurs considered fair game for use in the forums, but used in personal attacks, none of these words are okay.
Exactly, people are using the treatment of the word cunt to justify other bad words, that's my biggest problem here. I will attempt to explain the difference, see if I fail completely.
Young gay people are called [Deleted] or [Deleted] at school today, made to feel isolated, unable to talk to anyone, bullied, even killed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard), if they don't kill themselves before that. Even older gay people are still affected by fear, most gay people I know don't dare to hold hands in public because of fear of being yelled at or assaulted. All of those feelings of fear, isolation and depression are carried in the word [Deleted] which has been used against them and to describe them as something less valuable than others. If they come here and see those words being thrown around like it's not a problem it still gives them the same feelings of not being welcome and being an outsider. GiantBomb staff doesn't want anyone to feel like an outsider in their community, that's why they aren't allowing that word.
Can anyone really say that cunt has ever been used on women to justify any of this kind of behaviour? If you do then please give examples and we can have a civilized discussion.
People are talking about the use of cunt here in the other thread right now.
Good, that word is a separate issue. The GiantBomb staff has already decided that f-word is not allowed, end of story. If people really want to also ban the c-word they should have made it into a separate thread in the first place, instead of using it to justify other slurs.
I think it's laughable that slurs deemed "homophobic" are somehow condemned as being worse than other words. If GiantBomb can live stream two games of Cards Against Humanity that contained plenty of racism, then this misspoken word should not be a problem. Holocaust jokes are okay but a homosexual slur (not even used as a slur) is taboo? But whatever, it was nice to see a serious, thoughtful side of Ryan here.
good point
Not a very good point. The Cards Against Humanity pack does not have a word "faggots" in it, it has "the gays", just like instead of the n-word it has "black people". You think they're being PC too? No, it's to not offend part of the possible target market, in the same way that GiantBomb does not want to offend any GLBT people here. I'm gay and I laugh when someone plays "the gays" card in a raunchy joke, because I know that it's just a joke. Saying the f-word in frustration or anger is a whole different thing to saying that "the gays" were behind the holocaust, because the whole idea is just so absurd that you (and I) can laugh about it. This whole discussion has turned into an argument what should be allowed in this community, it's no longer about what Ryan said.
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