[asterisk-biz] Happy Thanksgiving Day(was Manners (was: Re: " Whats New at Digium the Ast erisk Company"))

[Matthew Rubenstein]

On Wed, 2007-11-14 at 12:59 -0800, Timothy Penner wrote:
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Bill Michaelson [mailto:bill at cosi.com] 
> > Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2007 12:49 PM
> > To: Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion
> > Subject: Re: [asterisk-biz] Happy Thanksgiving Day(was 
> > Manners (was: Re: "Whats New at Digium the Ast erisk Company"))
> >
> >Care to clarify?
> >
> > Nick Seraphin wrote:
> >> I'd rather be called gay than a bigot...  the latter is far more
> >> offensive.
> >>  
> 
> Bill,
> 
> I am taking a guess here, but the word gay can mean many things that are not
> necessarily offensive (happy, bright, pleasant, etc) where a Bigot is a
> Bigot no matter how you cut it.
> 
> If you don't believe me then go check your dictionary for the dfinition of
> Gay then look up Bigot.... which would you rather be labeled?

	If you were gay you'd likely feel differently about people using the
word "gay" as an insult. The point is not that the words have power, but
that they have meanings. Using the word "gay" the way it was used, as an
insult, refers to the abuse that gay people still have to live with -
some of it physically violent. The implied reference is to the
rationalization that abusing gay people is OK because being gay is bad.
Which it is not. But using the word that way reinforces that existing
power abuse.

	Pretending that saying "gay" as an insult is OK because it can also
mean "happy" is a con that even your second grade teacher didn't
believe. Trying it on us is insulting in yet another way.

	I'm now repeating several times the simple point that using a word for
a group of people as an insult is an insult to those people. And that
those insults, and the ease of making them in public, refers to a real
threat to people's lives. I've given examples, explained how it works.
I'm not going to waste any more time, or any more list bandwidth. Anyone
who continues to register their defense of calling something "gay" as an
insult can just keep the consequences of such unacceptable speech.

	But if it happens again, I'll oppose it again. Because that's what
being a grownup knowing right from wrong is about. The privilege of
speaking in public carries the responsibility for the consequences of
that speech. Or keep it to yourself.


> -Tim
> 
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(C) Matthew Rubenstein