Guys, I just want you all to be aware how exceedingly difficult it was for me not to make a post here that just says "censorship is for fags". I realize that's awful. That's exactly why I wanted to say it.
Now that I've gotten that out… WARNING. THIS IS A DAMN LONG POST.
I talked to mann about this briefly earlier today, and while I can completely understand the view that words like "faggot" are exclusively slurs, I can't bring myself to agree with it. As Aristotle put it, it is the mark of an educated mind to entertain a thought without accepting it. I like to hope that those of you who consider this to be a hot button issue read this post in at least the same spirit.
Point the first, forbidding a word specifically because it offends some people is an immature and poorly considered course of action. As a christian, I'm occasionally offended by things said by some of you guys openly in the channel. If I were to react to this with indignant self righteous rage, or by starting a campaign to ban discussion of things that offend me, not only would I be in the wrong, but no one would go along with it, because that is stupid. As an adult, I respect your right to say things that offend me when you aren't speaking with intentional malice. I think that this issue should be treated in the same manner; some things offend some people. That's okay, we're grownups.
Point the second, "faggot" does not function exclusively as a slur. Words like macfag, newfag, oldfag, and other derivatives are perfectly acceptable modern usages of the term that have zero homophobic connotations whatsoever.
Point the third, not even use of the term in it's connotation as a slur need be offensive. For example, my statement "censorship is for faggots" is in itself an offensive statement, but taken in context of the discussion at large is a simple use of irony to illustrate a dismissive point. Sure, you could be offended by that, I guess, but pshhht. If I call dexanote, who I'm using for this example because he's a nice fellow who can take a joke, a gutless cock ravaged asshelmet, he won't be offended, because he is a cool guy who knows I bear him no ill will and am just being ridiculous. If I call him a stupid faggot buttmunch curb scraping, the same principle applies even though it includes the word faggot. Context makes it inoffensive.
A_Fat_Ghost calls people niggerlipped faggots. He is a great guy, and surely no one would advocate banning him. Context is everything. If you guys were saying "people should be kicked and banned for using the word faggot to willfully insult homosexuals", I would agree completely. You're not saying that.
Point the fourth, it is not the place of moderators to be offended. If you find yourself reacting to user actions or making rules based on your personal emotions, you are always wrong, no matter what the issue is, because you have failed to maintain moderative objectivity and are acting with bias. Waxx is not an asshole. He is a damn fair man, and here understands the importance of treating issues with detachment. When I was an op in the channel, I enforced rules based on how I felt at the time. Now I'm not an op, because that is bad. This principle applies to every issue, including this one.
Point the fifth,
CENSORSHIP IS NOT OKAY, EVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.
Never should any human being enforce a ruling that limits the free speech of another. Kicks for intentional and malacious trolling? Sure! Kicks for using a word you don't like? Not okay. I unilaterally refuse to consider any word regardless of context a disciplinary offense and so should you.
Look. I realize offending people is a bad thing. I realize it's unpleasant to be offended. I think we can all agree that people ought to be nicer to one another, but this is too much. By attempting to protect the interests of a group of people, you are imposing your will upon another and limiting their capacity to express themselves. That's not acceptable.
In short, making use of the word faggot or its derivatives a punishable offense is a terrible, ignorant, stupid idea, and I do not agree with it. This applies to every other word you can think of, ever.
Now, here's the part where this post becomes really controversial, because I'm about to call a couple of us out in particular. It's entirely possible that this is both tactless and mean to say. I'm going to say it. It's possible that it will ruin your ability to objectively consider the rest of my post. It shouldn't, and I expect better of you.
Gnosis and pig_catapult, lately I've been seeing a whole lot of posts here from you talking about how offended you are by variations on this same issue, and not a lot (read: zero) posts about literally anything else at all. It's come down to the point where you are only posting when openly advocating infringing on the basic right of personal expression of others now, and that offends me. I think you both need to take a step back and consider why you're a part of this community and how you can contribute meaningfully, rather than simply reacting to things that hurt your personal feelings. There are websites specifically intended as frontlines for social crusade; this is not one of them.
