Periodic Table of Swearing

[The Pelagic Argosy]

I want to ask people who are banning "offensive words" in their blogs what standard of offensive words they're talking about. I mean, are we starting the scale at vagina and ending at cunt? Where does misogynist used as an insult lie on the scale? What about gender-traitor? Is it possible to use the phrase "you're suffering from internalised patriarchal thought"?

Well, of course, no such blogger will respond here. It's my trite observation that there can be no free speech if "offensive" words are proscribed, and that anyone who seeks to limit free speech in any way can, in the parlance of the Pharyngulite, go fuck themselves. Also, as has been pointed out on numerous occasions on this thread and elsewhere, for, say, an American to bar the use of a word such as "cunt" is parochial and culturalist. Although I understand the danger in the "slippery slope" argument generally, I think it really does apply in respect to limiting language. I have heard suggestions on Pharyngula that would deprive of the word "fuck" as an expletive on the basis that it disparages sex. I guess "shit" would have to go too, since defecating is a perfectly natural act and we should not denigrate it by using the word disparagingly.

[Tigzy]

Hmmm. Daniel Fincke has said that he'd prefer no insults on his blog, and certain of the baboons are already wah-waaaahing at being denied their asshole privileges: http://freethoughtblogs.com/camelswithh ... ous-cases/

[DW Adams]

OF COURSE Sally Strange was the first SIWOTI responder! Dumb cunt.

http://freethoughtblogs.com/almostdiamo ... ent-102399

I replied to her at the link at the beginning of her post. Hope she likes it.

[justinvacula]

Comment I authored on my Facebook profile concerning Stephanie Zvan's flow chart about rape jokes:

I'm not usually one to say this, but Stephanie Zvan is simply an idiot. She is no arbiter of how people should tell jokes or what should be considered funny.

I'm a huge fan of a documentary -- The Aristocrats -- filled with rape jokes and I find it hilarious. If you don't, so be it. I simply tolerate people who do not have the same tastes in humor that I do and recognize that individual differences exist. What is so difficult about the fact that some people find certain jokes to be funny while others don't? Should I, similarly like Zvan, author blog posts about how people should make music and about how certain music reinforces bad ideas and leads to the decline of society? Give me a fucking break...

[DW Adams]

SallyStrange says:

Rape is torture, and it's a hate crime against women and non-gender conforming men.



And it's still quite acceptable in our society. It wasn't until the 1990s that the last state in the USA outlawed rape by a husband of his wife.



That's the difference. Everyone understands that murder and genocide is bad. Not so much with rape. Well, people SAY they're against rape, but when you point to specific instances of rape, they'll have a laundry list of excuses as to why it doesn't qualify as rape: she was drinking, she was out alone, she was dressed that way, she was wearing makeup, she should have known better, she should have left him, she was leading him on, she just regretted her one-night-stand, she was just trying to ruin his reputation, etc.,etc, hundreds and hundreds of reasons to claim that the victim was "asking for it" and thus not truly raped. See Whoopi Goldberg's comments on Roman Polanski's drugging and anally raping a 13-year-old girl for a well-known example. Giving alcohol and quaaludes to a child, refusing to let her leave your house, intimidating her, and then finally assaulting her--it's hard for me to see how that could be anything but rape. But Whoopi said it's not "rape-rape." So.



There are jokes that involve rape that are quite funny--but these are invariably jokes that make the perpetrators and the apologists for rape the butt of the joke, rather than the victim. http://www.theonion.com/articles/raped- ... torne,817/ See this Onion article for an example.



Hope that helps.

She is all over the place.

[Guest]

Cristina Rad links a couple of rape jokes that she thinks are funny-- https://twitter.com/ZOMGitsCriss

[Horace AKA netnanny]

I have not trouble with not swearing, I made it a point of honour never to swear to the Pharyngulate when I posted there.

I don't mind if people swear at me either. It is amusing to know that you have got under their skin, no loss to me.

What I don't like is a double standard where really violent language is allowed, but "gendered insults" are not. It means that
people who know the rules can simultaneously be offensive and claim to be offended.

[CommanderTuvok]

Thing is Justin, InSvanity and the other Baboons really do think they are the arbiters of what is funny, what is skepticism, what is bad language, what is sexist, what is racist, what is insulting, what is misoygnist, ad infinitum

They want to dictate how everybody else should behave, just like a horrible totalitarian regime. But they are increasingly finding people don't want to play their little game.

[The Pelagic Argosy]

Hmmm. Daniel Fincke has said that he'd prefer no insults on his blog, and certain of the baboons are already wah-waaaahing at being denied their asshole privileges: http://freethoughtblogs.com/camelswithh ... ous-cases/

Now, Dr Fincke seems like a lovely guy, but I think this tl;dr post highlights how you are will need to grease your arse in preparation for descending that slippery slope. When you have to say things like "Yes, you can call people who do psychopathic things crazy" and "Stupid is a serious word that torments more people than tranny does" you are fucked.

[DW Adams]

From comments on the Louis CK joke from Christina:

Stereotypically speaking, feminists can't take a joke.

That is funnier than the joke.

[CommanderTuvok]

Maybe ZOMGitsCriss can clean herself of that Baboon contamination she seemed to pick up after that panel debate with Stefunny, Laden, et al.

[rayshul]

I want to ask people who are banning "offensive words" in their blogs what standard of offensive words they're talking about. I mean, are we starting the scale at vagina and ending at cunt? Where does misogynist used as an insult lie on the scale? What about gender-traitor? Is it possible to use the phrase "you're suffering from internalised patriarchal thought"?

Well, of course, no such blogger will respond here. It's my trite observation that there can be no free speech if "offensive" words are proscribed, and that anyone who seeks to limit free speech in any way can, in the parlance of the Pharyngulite, go fuck themselves. Also, as has been pointed out on numerous occasions on this thread and elsewhere, for, say, an American to bar the use of a word such as "cunt" is parochial and culturalist. Although I understand the danger in the "slippery slope" argument generally, I think it really does apply in respect to limiting language. I have heard suggestions on Pharyngula that would deprive of the word "fuck" as an expletive on the basis that it disparages sex. I guess "shit" would have to go too, since defecating is a perfectly natural act and we should not denigrate it by using the word disparagingly.

I've only ever been to America once (to San Francisco) and I admit that has probably been the most insane culture shock I've ever experienced while travelling. So I do understand that America is hugely different from other countries. But the reaction to banned words seems... a little over the top. It's surely not THAT bad.

[rayshul]

By way, Sally, if you're reading... rape is a crime against MEN. You don't have to put in non-gender conforming there. MEN get raped. Gender conforming men, too, whatever the everloving fuck that means.

[Badger3k]

Maybe ZOMGitsCriss can clean herself of that Baboon contamination she seemed to pick up after that panel debate with Stefunny, Laden, et al.

Do we need to count the days until she's tossed, or do you think they'll cut her slack since she's female and can be reeducated?

[Horace AKA netnanny]

Rayshul,

I think that you are being unfair to Americans. I have lived in England, Asia, Eastern Europe and South America. Everyone criticises the Yanks for being insanely this or that, but they don't use any other countries as a measure. So:

-Asians will say that Americans don't wash themselves enough/E.Europeans told me that Americans are obsessed with cleanliness (sign of a sick mind you know)
-Asians will say that Americans are too serious/E.Europeans will complain that they are shallow and superficial (well yes, thank god was my reaction, Eastern Europeans can be a pretty grim lot).
-English people will say that they are prudish about language/Colombians that they are too blunt.
-English people will say that they throw their money about/Thais that they are stingy.

Complaints about Americans culture often say more about the culture of the complainer: e.g. Czechs are like a bunch of unwashed philosophy grad students, English people are rude misers and Thais superficial gold diggers.

[Horace AKA netnanny]

Re previous post,


to be evenhanded I have to point out that Canadians complaints about Americans show that we are a bunch of introverted cowards.

[rayshul]

Rayshul,

I think that you are being unfair to Americans. I have lived in England, Asia, Eastern Europe and South America. Everyone criticises the Yanks for being insanely this or that, but they don't use any other countries as a measure. So:

-Asians will say that Americans don't wash themselves enough/E.Europeans told me that Americans are obsessed with cleanliness (sign of a sick mind you know)
-Asians will say that Americans are too serious/E.Europeans will complain that they are shallow and superficial (well yes, thank god was my reaction, Eastern Europeans can be a pretty grim lot).
-English people will say that they are prudish about language/Colombians that they are too blunt.
-English people will say that they throw their money about/Thais that they are stingy.

Complaints about Americans culture often say more about the culture of the complainer: e.g. Czechs are like a bunch of unwashed philosophy grad students, English people are rude misers and Thais superficial gold diggers.

I think you might have mistaken me there - I'm actually asking Americans if it's *really* that bad. From what I see on the internet it's primarily Americans who are rallying against these words and I don't know if that's honestly representative of the wider American stance. From movies it seems like Americans swear all the fucking time, and Americans I've talked to online don't seem to be all anti-words to the same extent.

I know it's a hugely different culture from going there once - like I said, INSANE culture shock when I went there - but I can't really believe that there's that much outcry when people use those words.

[justinvacula]

Hmmm. Daniel Fincke has said that he'd prefer no insults on his blog, and certain of the baboons are already wah-waaaahing at being denied their asshole privileges: http://freethoughtblogs.com/camelswithh ... ous-cases/

Now, Dr Fincke seems like a lovely guy, but I think this tl;dr post highlights how you are will need to grease your arse in preparation for descending that slippery slope. When you have to say things like "Yes, you can call people who do psychopathic things crazy" and "Stupid is a serious word that torments more people than tranny does" you are fucked.

Only if some other FTB commenters (and bloggers!) adhered to civil behavior. Interesting, too, is that Dan used 'shitbag' as an example - PZ, Zvan, and Canuck have loved using that one on me :)

[Horace AKA netnanny]

Rayshul,

the Americans that I have met have been better mannered than Brits or Canadians (but from the country not the city). You probably have more experience of the place than I do. For a Canadian it is too close to home to be interesting to visit.

[Badger3k]

Rayshul,

I think that you are being unfair to Americans. I have lived in England, Asia, Eastern Europe and South America. Everyone criticises the Yanks for being insanely this or that, but they don't use any other countries as a measure. So:

-Asians will say that Americans don't wash themselves enough/E.Europeans told me that Americans are obsessed with cleanliness (sign of a sick mind you know)
-Asians will say that Americans are too serious/E.Europeans will complain that they are shallow and superficial (well yes, thank god was my reaction, Eastern Europeans can be a pretty grim lot).
-English people will say that they are prudish about language/Colombians that they are too blunt.
-English people will say that they throw their money about/Thais that they are stingy.

Complaints about Americans culture often say more about the culture of the complainer: e.g. Czechs are like a bunch of unwashed philosophy grad students, English people are rude misers and Thais superficial gold diggers.

I think you might have mistaken me there - I'm actually asking Americans if it's *really* that bad. From what I see on the internet it's primarily Americans who are rallying against these words and I don't know if that's honestly representative of the wider American stance. From movies it seems like Americans swear all the fucking time, and Americans I've talked to online don't seem to be all anti-words to the same extent.

I know it's a hugely different culture from going there once - like I said, INSANE culture shock when I went there - but I can't really believe that there's that much outcry when people use those words.

There is a few segments of the population - the extremes on both ends of the political spectrum I'd say, that are really that PC, but I don't think the majority of us are. Most don't give a shit. There are some places where language is more moderated, such as schools, and there is some service paid to it in businesses, but it depends on the place and it's culture. I know some places where nobody really cared, and others where you had to be careful of every word you said. In the Army, you can talk one way with your peers and subordinates (within limits, depending on rank, etc), but if you talk with someone higher up, especially in the officers, forget it. There's always variations - some are more old school, down to earth, F-this types, and others are stick-up-the-ass PC police. Some are prudes, some aren't. I don't think even in the "liberal" academic enclaves are that corrupted, but then again, people like PZ have been showing me that maybe I've been wrong on that.

[rayshul]

Ah okay, thanks for that insight. I do remember the recent case of someone saying "vagina" and it being a big deal in US politics... but then #vagina started trending in the US sooo... I've always felt like I've been getting mixed messages about US culture. Certain people seem to suggest that America is the PC-ist of the PC... or at least aspires to be that way. (Although perhaps that's just how I'm reading it, as an outsider.)

So I guess from what you've said, I can assume this isn't really an American thing - it's all spewing from a specific radical subset of people-who-just-happen-to-be-mainly-Americans. Much like their feminism, I suppose.

Horace, I keep getting told by Canadians that America is nothing like Canada! (Never been to Canada, always wanted to.)

[franc]

I've only ever been to America once (to San Francisco) and I admit that has probably been the most insane culture shock I've ever experienced while travelling. So I do understand that America is hugely different from other countries. But the reaction to banned words seems... a little over the top. It's surely not THAT bad.

Well, you just have to look at what they've done with the word "nigger". Not like they're the only country that has non-whites that have been treated badly or been in the slavery industry. It has taken Americans to make the word so utterly toxic. It is not a problem any other country has had. They are generally in the business of creating problems to whine about.

[Badger3k]

This was just posted, and I immediately thought of trying to talk with the baboons:

http://amultiverse.com/2012/07/27/the-hobo-summit/

[Horace AKA netnanny]

Rayshul,

If you have the money to go to North America for a holiday I would not recommend Canada. It is too expensive here compared to the states (esp beer). You might find the French part interesting, but you can see French people in Europe as well. The only thing that I would recommend this place for a foreigner is if you want to shoot a large animal. or go fishing.

It is a good place to live, a boring place to visit.


The advantages of internet anonymity, I can say this in public.

[Badger3k]

Ah okay, thanks for that insight. I do remember the recent case of someone saying "vagina" and it being a big deal in US politics... but then #vagina started trending in the US sooo... I've always felt like I've been getting mixed messages about US culture. Certain people seem to suggest that America is the PC-ist of the PC... or at least aspires to be that way. (Although perhaps that's just how I'm reading it, as an outsider.)

So I guess from what you've said, I can assume this isn't really an American thing - it's all spewing from a specific radical subset of people-who-just-happen-to-be-mainly-Americans. Much like their feminism, I suppose.

Horace, I keep getting told by Canadians that America is nothing like Canada! (Never been to Canada, always wanted to.)

Myself, I blame Canada for everything:

[youtube]bOR38552MJA[/youtube]

[franc]

Liberals like to claim that they are open-minded and tolerant, but nobody besides liberals believes that. Indeed, liberals’ claim to be open-minded and tolerant is itself a form of close-mindedness, based on the assertion that other people are less tolerant than they.

Yeah. The vulgar caricature of "liberal" as painted by the likes of Coulter and Beck anyway. Which is a precise depiction of Myers et al. "Liberal" is another word, like "libertarian" that has been corrupted beyond repair.

[AndrewV69]

Horace, I keep getting told by Canadians that America is nothing like Canada! (Never been to Canada, always wanted to.)

I suppose you have never heard the expression TAC (Tight Ass Canadain)?

[Horace AKA netnanny]

If I ran this country I would hunt down and liquidate all those Margret Atwood types who are always trying to raise our cultural profile.

The money saved would be used to convince the American public that we are situated next door to New Zealand.

[Badger3k]

Horace, I keep getting told by Canadians that America is nothing like Canada! (Never been to Canada, always wanted to.)

I suppose you have never heard the expression TAC (Tight Ass Canadain)?

I thought we weren't supposed to do rape jokes? :D

[AndrewV69]

It is a good place to live, a boring place to visit.

Except Regina, I am always in a hurry to leave that place.

Oh and Manitoba! Last time I tried to use tried to use a roadside washroom, mosquitos the size of golfballs nearly carried me away, and I had to beat a hasty retreat, covered in bites, and wound up peeing in a bottle in the car.

Tis enough to bring back memories of Glasgow, Oh Sunny Glasgow, Oh How I Miss Thee!!! {not}

[Badger3k]

If I ran this country I would hunt down and liquidate all those Margret Atwood types who are always trying to raise our cultural profile.

The money saved would be used to convince the American public that we are situated next door to New Zealand.

I teach high school. I wouldn't be surprised if many didn't think that already. I had one girl who was writing a story for English and it had to be in the US. She was upset because she wanted to set it in New York. Facepalm. I don't know if she just was that ignorant, or if she never thought about it, or...I don't know. She had a hard life, but she was willing to learn and very inquisitive, and when she earned her diploma she really had earned it. She also had an atheist boyfriend and we had talked about it a bit - she brought it up, she did leave saying she really didn't believe either, so we had an effect (although I'd certainly credit the boyfriend more than myself - I just encouraged her to ask questions).

[Horace AKA netnanny]

Off to bed now, thanks for the chat with you guys,

AndrewV69, people from the tropics never believe that we have worse insect infestations than they do. Clouds of mosquitos, literally.

If you are fooling enough to holiday here do so in early fall. Best time of year.

[AndrewV69]

Horace, I keep getting told by Canadians that America is nothing like Canada! (Never been to Canada, always wanted to.)

I suppose you have never heard the expression TAC (Tight Ass Canadain)?

I thought we weren't supposed to do rape jokes? :D

The only compelling argument not to do rape jokes is that Sally Strange might show up and subject us to one of her screeds, doubtless as a result of her sexual fustrations and her inability to cope with them.

Yumping Yimminy! When you get someone protesting like that, I get the feeling that not only that the lady doth protest too much, but there is something not kosher at the bottom of it.

[sacha]

<swoon>

[youtube]NUkReg_ZHaE[/youtube]


and even more <swoon>

[youtube]bpA7pfR0FIc[/youtube]

he was my superhero...

[sacha]

My Austrian friend who lives in the US tells me that the Merkins always ask about the kangaroos when he tells them he is from Austria.

If I ran this country I would hunt down and liquidate all those Margret Atwood types who are always trying to raise our cultural profile.

The money saved would be used to convince the American public that we are situated next door to New Zealand.

[AndrewV69]

AndrewV69, people from the tropics never believe that we have worse insect infestations than they do. Clouds of mosquitos, literally.

Oh I believe it, having spent over a decade in a couple of 3rd world countries myself. Some of the most interesting years of my life were spent there (for Chinese values of interesting) and I picked up the majority of my collection of scars there.

Lawl, I really have to laugh at the thought of some of the baboons having to deal with what I have in the past.

[Badger3k]

AndrewV69, people from the tropics never believe that we have worse insect infestations than they do. Clouds of mosquitos, literally.

Oh I believe it, having spent over a decade in a couple of 3rd world countries myself. Some of the most interesting years of my life were spent there (for Chinese values of interesting) and I picked up the majority of my collection of scars there.

Lawl, I really have to laugh at the thought of some of the baboons having to deal with what I have in the past.

I get the image of a Victorian-era British noble, exploring the jungle with a full table and all the settings for their afternoon tea. Marching through the jungle with the victrolla for music and the iron tub for their evening bath.

Their idea of roughing it is 2-ply toilet paper in the hotel bathroom.

[franc]

My Austrian friend who lives in the US tells me that the Merkins always ask about the kangaroos when he tells them he is from Austria.

There's always George. And the ever recycled anecdotes of Merkins arriving in Austria mid-winter with Hawaiian shirts and surf boards.

[AndrewV69]

Their idea of roughing it is 2-ply toilet paper in the hotel bathroom.

Worse than that begad! More like this:
[youtube]LCkFhafk26A[/youtube]

[AndrewV69]

In other news, someone is laying down the law:

http://freethoughtblogs.com/camelswithh ... ent-365337

Daniel Fincke says:
July 28, 2012 at 12:23 am

The people who want to equivocate wrongness have the following goal: they want to say that they are justified using group-insults because their opponents use individual-insults. They will get no solace from an honest reading of my post which denounces all abusive language the same and gives them no license to use group-insults (or their own individual-insults) because others are doing it too.

NO, I don’t need to share your distinctions that abusing people in one way is not so bad because it’s not abusing people in another way. Sexual harassment is bad even though it’s not rape. It derails discussions of sexual harassment when people insist that copious qualifications be made that it’s not the same as rape.

Same here. YOU may not be convinced that insulting people is morally wrong. But it is. That’s MY point. That’s what I am interested in getting across here. In plenty of other places I talk about the moral wrongness of other things. I am not obligated to pretend that one form of bullying is not such a big deal because it has different kinds and qualities and quantities of abusive effects from another.

Bullying is bullying. Insulting language is bullying.

All your other distinctions are jockeying for political advantage and self-righteousness. I don’t want any of it.

If he enforces that, the baboons will have one less place to indulge themselves.

[justinvacula]

What does this even mean?

http://i.imgur.com/2cfvg.jpg

[rayshul]

What does this even mean?

http://i.imgur.com/2cfvg.jpg

I believe that's referring to something Pappa said on an entirely different forum, completely unrelated to you or the Slimepit.

Welcome to the projected hivemind.

[rayshul]

Also: I loved Hitchens so much.

[AndrewV69]

Also: I loved Hitchens so much.

He lost me when he went over to the Neocons on Iraq.

*sheesh* I better not get started. Even today people do not get what is going on. After the "weapons of mass destruction" and all the other nonsense was shown to be just that, no one apparently has asked what what they were being misdirected away from.

Even people who have read Chomsky appear to have said nothing.

[AndrewV69]

What does this even mean?

http://i.imgur.com/2cfvg.jpg

I believe that's referring to something Pappa said on an entirely different forum, completely unrelated to you or the Slimepit.

Welcome to the projected hivemind.

And here is a link:
Would it be immoral to rape a Skepchick?
http://rationalia.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... c8de261839

[AndrewV69]

Now this reminds me of the baboons for some reason:

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/ ... ick-fil-a/

It is not enough for many on your side to achieve your goals of legal equality. You seek to destroy anybody who dissents, including ruining them professionally.

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

Very excited, I'm getting my new snake today!!!

This has nothing to do with the current thread (or...does it?)

[Za-zen]

Is asking a sex worker for a refund Attempted rape?

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

Is asking a sex worker for a refund Attempted rape?

Why would you even ask for a refund? Bad performance?

[Git]

Meanwhile, I'm just wondering how many lines of coke Danny Boyle had used coming up with last night's performance...

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

Meanwhile, I'm just wondering how many lines of coke Danny Boyle had used coming up with last night's performance...

Not the same guy, then?

[Git]

Meanwhile, I'm just wondering how many lines of coke Danny Boyle had used coming up with last night's performance...

Not the same guy, then?

[youtube]xW5abat5NEU[/youtube]

Although I'm a cynic when it comes to the games, to be fair, I was quite chuffed at that.

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

Meanwhile, I'm just wondering how many lines of coke Danny Boyle had used coming up with last night's performance...

Not the same guy, then?

[youtube]xW5abat5NEU[/youtube]

Although I'm a cynic when it comes to the games, to be fair, I was quite chuffed at that.

Can't watch in my country :(

[Phil_Giordana_FCD]

Well, I'll just go with the usual, then...

[Scented Nectar]

If I'd been there I would have been sorely tempted to gatecrash! If you happen to find out any more about this, please do let me know.

It started and finished so quickly, that there wouldn't have been time to get an elevator downstairs. It lasted all of maybe 5 minutes. As soon as I heard it start up, I grabbed my camera and rushed out to the balcony. Over on the YouTube comment page for it, one person is saying that it sounds like an Armenian instrument being played, and others have other guesses.

Hey, isn't THIS just a cut and paste someone did of [unnamed female offspring of youknowho]'s article that we all just read recently in the Wayback Machine? Meaning also, that Sally Strange has no idea that she's now arguing against one of the royal family.
http://www.scentednectar.com/sneerfacto ... ugh-03.gif

AndrewV69, people from the tropics never believe that we have worse insect infestations than they do. Clouds of mosquitos, literally.

West Nile virus is back again this year in some areas, as well.

[Michael K Gray]

Now that this once vital thread has devolved into a truly vapid stream of recipes, Cricket, pets, tone moderation, not real computer games as though they were real, cricket, weddings, stupid lame faked photos, questionable rhetoric against offspring, suggestions that are aimed at the relatives of unliked folk: "You will die a zero you worthless fuck - unlike most denizens here, you will not be missed. No one will miss you", musical suggestions, recipes, cricket, and so on, I hereby suggest that our, or "my", battle has been comprehensively won.

The FfTB spew-crew are now in critical melt-down mode.
They will now destroy themselves from within, of that I am confident.
My job is done.

I bid you all farewell, unless, or until, the ever-decreasing circle of FfTB acolytes actually re-exerts a significant effect on the world.
Those of you who have my email address are more than welcome to continued social intercourse.
But I have more important things to do than bitch about the tone of USA resident wimps.
(Read what I wrote about my prisoner-of-Japanese-War mate, whenever you wish to put things into perspective)

(Flounces off in white chiffon Lab Coat, (radiation particle-proof of course))

[Scented Nectar]

MIchael, surely the baboons haven't finished with their dramas. Come back during some of their future antics, and enjoy those with us.

[franc]

(Flounces off in white chiffon Lab Coat, (radiation particle-proof of course))

Can you suck my balls first? Just gargle them like furry Maltesers. It would mean a lot to me.

[Guest]

As one who believes in absolute free speech, I cannot condone the banning of any word or term. I can understand the motivation of such intention, but it is ultimately wrong. It is ultimately wrong for a number of reasons, not least being that it is open to subjective interpretation. It is also wrong because those who seek to prohibit it may be doing so for ulteriot purposes, but even if they are genuinely altruistic, it is still wrong. It is actually in principle, a greater injustice to ban, than not to ban.

Free speech is one of the most fundamental rights we possess as humans. We relinquish it at our peril. No one has a right not be offended. However just because one has the right to exercise absolute free speech, does not automatically mean that it should be so. For with rights come responsibilities. So while I defend to the death the right of anyone to say anything, no matter what, it is wise to self censor and exercise caution also.

[surreptitious57]

As one who believes in absolute free speech, I cannot condone the banning of any word or term. I can understand the motivation of such intention, but it is ultimately wrong. It is ultimately wrong for a number of reasons, not least being that it is open to subjective interpretation. It is also wrong because those who seek to prohibit it may be doing so for ulteriot purposes, but even if they are genuinely altruistic, it is still wrong. It is actually in principle, a greater injustice to ban, than not to ban.

Free speech is one of the most fundamental rights we possess as humans. We relinquish it at our peril. No one has a right not be offended. However just because one has the right to exercise absolute free speech, does not automatically mean that it should be so. For with rights come responsibilities. So while I defend to the death the right of anyone to say anything, no matter what, it is wise to self censor and exercise caution also