One Observation About The Word Skank And Its Use On This Board

I was perusing the board and I saw the word skank used... I don't see much difference between calling a woman a skank , calling a person of color the n-word, calling a gay person a f-g, or calling a transgendered person an "it"...

How any progressive can use that word and how any progressive can see somebody use that word and not call foul is beyond me...

Being a progressive means eschewing all forms of bigotry even when we don't like the target.

-DSB

But if anybody thinks the person that made statement is a progressive he or she is a fucking joke...And if the person who made that statement thinks he's a progressive he's a fucking joke...But he stablished he's not a progressive when he used the word...

Otherwise it's never-ending.

You wouldn't believe what kind of classism a poor person like me sees around here continuously. Using the term "class" itself is a prime example - as in "he or she has no class." Most people (including progressives) have no clue that using the term "class" in that context perpetuates the bigoted idea that a person's quality and worth are related to their economic standing.

It's probably a similar case with "skank."

In one overheated exchange I succumbed to my darker angels and called somebody "cupcake" I was informed that word was "homophobic"... To me it's a way to put a person who is acting tough in their place...But some words are beyond the pale like "skank", the n-word, the f-word, etcetera...

In reference to Obama. I say that about anyone (white, black, or purple) who says something I see as outlandish. But I got labelled racist immediately.

It's funny how some people jump on every unintended slight, but don't notice when genuine bigotry is promoted right under their noses. Oh well.

"Put down the crack pipe" is a common epithet without racial connotations...But I can see how it would be seen as racist in certain contexts...

I suspect there are people here who would say we shouldn't use any epithets at all...

Once we combine your list of forbidden words with all the different lists of 100,000+ posters with different races, cultural backgrounds, and so on, there will be very few colorful words that can be used in a post. Everyone will be expected to know the cultural derivation of a word before they use it.

Case in point, my childhood and upbringing must be severely deficient, because before reading DU I didn't know that the term "tar baby" is now considered racist. (IT actually means, "something from which it is nearly impossible to extricate oneself" according to Merriam-Webster Online, and that is the only meaning I associated with it.) So had I used that word, people here would have labeled me a racist, just because I had no idea of their cultural perspective on it.

That said, I actually agree with the proposition that insulting language should be avoided as much as possible, and "skank" certainly falls into that category. So does "put down the crack pipe", btw. "Tar baby" does not, when the context is consistent with the dictionary meaning of the expression, but still I know better than to use it here....

It's like what Potter Stewart said about obscenity," I know it when I see it."


Some words are just beyond the pale...

Nominated.

:hide:

:spank:



:)