sullster

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[ February 14, 2002: Message edited by: sullster ]</p>

Mad Kally

Attention sullster:
Administrators are people with opinions and feelings just like the rest of us..

Thank you and good night!

Gurdur

Actually, Sullster, had I been Estonian, I might have felt serious and justified offence myself at one of your comments on another thread.

Maybe you're getting just a little too emotional?
You seem to be over-reacting a few times the last couple of days.

Waning Moon Conrad

Isn't it just a wee bit pompous to arrogate the right to apologize to a nation for something done by people whose only connection to you is that your ancestors and theirs came from the same general area of a continent?

[ February 13, 2002: Message edited by: Waning Moon Conrad ]</p>

Pantera

This crib sheet they gave me says that the role of an administrator is to recruit and advise moderators, to take disciplinary action against errant users and to determine board policy, in conjunction with the other administrators.

When not carrying out this role I normally just try to be myself - which usually means being a pompous over-bearing pedant who jumps into a topic with my oh-so-correct definitions in order to show just how above-the-fray I am.

Thank you and good night.

echidna

And I'm glad you did, saved my fingers the effort.

(Although personally I see myself more as the self-righteous trumpet-type.)

brighid

I have had a similar experience within the black community. Let me attempt to explain the usage and why it’s not considered derogatory when one black person says it too another or about another black person. I am not sure how everyone else’s friendships work, but within my close circle of friends we will call each other a bitch, a slut, a whore, demon possessed heathen, evil witch, etc. In that context it’s not offensive because we are friends and we each know that there is no derogatory connotation to it. Example – a close friend of mine is on quite the dating frenzy and I refer to her as the vixen slut all the time – even in mixed company (not around children of course) and she’ll call me a bitch. No offense it taken, however neither one of us would use that language to a man or woman we were not familiar with – except of course if he or she deserved it Now, because in some circles of the black community I have been excepted as almost one of their own I could call someone I knew a the N word without getting my ass beat. Because they are fully aware that I am not a white person they have to fear. Black women always use that term for their men and it is understood among their circles that it isn’t derogatory. Typically they shy away from using it in front of white people because they realize the connotation for us. Even though I don’t speak “ghetto” on any sort of regular basis I can slip into it if I am with a group of friends that does talk like that when they are around intimates (friends or otherwise).

You may even notice similar types of behavior within a group of teenagers!

Now – if some woman or man I have never met walked up to me and called me a bitch it’s pretty safe to say it’s meant in a derogatory manner and I would be offended. White people who use the N term generally mean it in a very derogatory way and offense is conveyed because of the intent of the speaker! Now if a Christian calls me an atheist witch (which is the proper term for me) I would be fully aware that this was a venomous attack. Whereas if one of fellow atheists called me it I could feel pretty confident that it was no big deal – unless otherwise implied.

This isn’t to say that if a black person, using it in a specific context (such as in anger) called another black person the N word that it wouldn’t be offensive, but it wouldn’t be AS offensive if a non-black called him/her this in the same context of anger.

So, it’s a matter of familiarity and the use of slang. Now, all those words in and of themselves are not exactly clean or decent, and may offend others in the vicinity that don’t understand the relationship between the people using those “colorful” expletives.

I am not providing these examples as an excuse for the use of foul language, but for some of the reasons I am aware of that explain why it’s OK for some to use the vernacular and not others without that same expression becoming a pejorative.


Brighid

I'm With Stupid

Well said (love the sarcasm)...

Oh... an observation: Isn't it just a bit odd, that 99% of the people who piss on the mods and admins also post ignorant horseshit like this:

Strange coincidence, don't you think?
(Methinks the admins are doing just fine. )

[ February 14, 2002: Message edited by: The Unholy ]</p>

sullster

Criticism from all is well taken and before I get a reputation that I do not aspire to, I have deleted all offensive posts.

In actuality, what I have enjoyed about the Secweb is the intellectual level of it and the constraints that most posters put on themselves.

[ February 14, 2002: Message edited by: sullster ]</p>