just because something has become "slang", does NOT make it acceptable.

sexist or racist comments are STILL sexist or racist, no matter HOW common the usage is. and isn't it interesting that so much slang is so very, very sexist?

so, any of you who are defending shuster's "pimp" comment, or slang such as "bitch-slap" need to do a small reality check. just because something is in common usage (and believe me, it is NOT common amoung the people I know) doesn't change the fact that it IS sexist and offensive.

we are being told that it is okay to be sexist and offensive because it is slang. what a load of codswallop. and we are being told to "get over it" guess what? WRONG. anybody who is using that as a defense needs to seriously examine their biases.

or they bring up bogus threads saying Edwards supporters what do you think..and if we tell you what we really think the smear machine goes into full force..

i think this has gone far enough..

Shuster apologized..people don't appologize unless they did something wrong..
he was suspended from work..people don't usually get suspended from work unless they did something wrong..
wrong is still wrong..

what Shuster SAID WAS WRONG..IT WAS dispicable..and the longer you condone it and tell others get over it..the more you hurt your candidate..i am a woman who fought for womens rights..long before many here who are now making excuses for this behavior were born..and i despise this type of sexism..the same as i despised what Imus said and Shuster reported on!

wrong is wrong..period..

STOP MAKING EXCUSES.

FLY

The ones I see defending it are dolts.

you seem to have a problem with time orientation.

about my future existence. I'm pre-offended.

can only be used in certain contexts and by certain people! (and which ones, of course)

The shifting of a word into the realm of slang can effectively strip it of its etymological origins, at least to the extent that the user of the word can reasonably be held to account for what the word might previously have meant.

I grant that a period of weeks or months is too short to divest a word of its sexist/racist baggage, but at some point the new usage of a word effectively supplants its older meaning. Clearly "pimp" and "bitch-slap" are terms still commonly used with their original intents, so these (and many others) should be recognized as the offensive slurs that they are.

But have you ever described something as fascinating? When you did, did you literally mean that the thing bewitched you with a phallic amulet?

If not, then you've demonstrated my point for me.

Well, technically they were, but then "scatology" didn't mean quite the same thing then as it does now. Damn words just won't sit still and behave. :evilgrin:

Minimal panties-wadding effect.

Schuster is just the target of a larger smear effort, and not entirely by the Clintons. And that's what bothers me so much about it. It's about Hillary Clinton being just as cozy with the media as Bush was, and the media doing the bidding of a particular candidate or PARTY, as I think is more the case with Schuster. He's been very, very rough on the Republicans all week, especially the last few day with Joe Scab out. Without Joe's big giant head sucking up all the light, and his incessant hot air overpowering every actual intelligent word his co-hosts are saying, Schuster has been a bit more free to get hot and bothered about the war. Joe always shuts him down, ridicules and mocks him, but he's getting to fight back at Pat Buchanan and GOP-War lovers of MSNBC, and I think they were happy to have the opportunity to take him off the air, and Hillary was willing to go along. Just more things that should make you go "hmmmmmmm."

.

as common slang only seems to become a problem when there is an advantage to be pressed.

How many people have used the expression about LOTS of people, men and women, and no one bats an eye even as they cringe a bit on the inside?

Would it BE an issue if Limbaugh said it? No - it's expected and ignored. If Glenn Beck said it? No - it's expected and ignored. If ANYONE at FOX said it? No - it's expected and ignored. Just as it has been for the last ten years.

That "word" is apparently acceptable enough to appear in TV Guide and on tee-wee :rofl: