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Cancel Culture: a case study

Started by Cassia, December 24, 2020, 08:54:41 AM

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GSOgymrat

Quote from: Baruch on December 29, 2020, 11:42:58 PM
And did you love every minute of attracting hostile attention?  Today the woke want to murder the MAGA hat people?  So moral!

Actually, I was extremely anxious and I chalk wearing that shirt up to my sexually frustrated, 19-year-old brain.

Blackleaf

Quote from: GSOgymrat on December 29, 2020, 11:22:51 PM
Although I'm glad wearing a gay pride shirt isn't considered a political statement in 2020 in America, wearing a t-shirt stating you were gay in 1985 in the South was definitely a political statement and that is what got me into trouble. At the time, that shirt pissed a lot of people off.

Come down here to Texas, and it will still offend people. That doesn't make it any more political. It just means that the easily offended hypocrites can't mind their own business and let other people live their lives.
"Oh, wearisome condition of humanity,
Born under one law, to another bound;
Vainly begot, and yet forbidden vanity,
Created sick, commanded to be sound."
--Fulke Greville--

drunkenshoe

#32
Quote from: Cassia on December 24, 2020, 08:54:41 AM
The push towards egalitarianism is such a worthy cause, however there is collateral damage for sure as people navigate the slippery slopes.

Agreed. I think it's like a phase of a phase?

There is a movement to call out slurs, form of abhorrent human behaviours attached to them which are mostly performed purposefully, and naturally this created its own counter culture in time. Because the problem with racial and gender slurs, swear and cuss words is that they are the most organic part of the languages -which itself is the most organic part of each culture- so they don't get 'coined' but born in real life and develop through people in every day scenes. The 30 years old social media history doesn't change this dynamic.   

They are ancient. Forget how old they are, first of all in every culture, even before modern state cretaed the national languages, there were accepted high forms of every native language. Although it looks -or promoted as- a richer/better vocabulary and high grammar combination -academic texts aside- it is actually just a language sterilised from this verbal culture. (That's why 'fuck you' is Shakespearaen in nature at times, lol.)

There is something to remember here with esp. western culture, about the roots of the accepted norms of language, that its 'ideals' comes from courts, circle of aristocracy and pile of a literature written to dictate to their daily conducts. Esp. after the spread of literacy, they are the best sellers of early modern Europe. Contrary to the common belief, people of the past were consciously occupied with the 'quality' of the language they speak daily, esp. the accent they use, so naturally what the language and the accents other groups of people used. Because it meant rank, class. Apparently, people even have chosen schools according to this earlier in history than we thought previously, considering what kind of an accent, vocabulary their children would have in attending which school.

So the language spoken among the learned class had already been sterilised long time ago for different reasons. Highly likely, people refused to use certain kind of words or reacted to their usage not because they were understood as 'slurs' at the time but because it was low class or out of the class. It doesn't have to be elite, doesn't matter which class you belong... monkey see, monkey do.

Slaves, nonwhite groups, workers, farmers...any group at the bottom of the food chain or one down from the other also had a lot of derog words we wold define as slurs today for each other, and for upper classes. Looking back, we find theirs natural when it targets the way up, I personally definitely do, but I also understand that if they had the time, education...means to create their own written culture in that position, we would have a whole other pile of different slurs today. (But then they couldn't have any of that and that's the whole point why I find theirs natural and right.) 

In the end, creating and using this mostly verbal vocabulary is done to provide an outlet. It's natural to our species. By outlet, I don't mean something deserved, good or bad, or needed to survive. It's natural because for us, humans, seeing someone as the inferior other is the most immediate, almost reflexive, safest way to define ourselves. In history, you'll find the comedy was born out of imitating uneducated, low class people's accents and way of speech in dialogue form. Every kind of disability for example has been a common title for comedy. That's the logic of laughing at something. You or your loved ones are not like 'that' and that is why you can alienate, find it funny and laugh about it. (Not discussing ethics.)

Well, I think while today the understanding about slurs is very different, the result is the same because the dynamic is the same. You know the present general attitude of the right and religous groups today which share many common traits with royalty, aristocracy, slave owners of the past. They see themselves as sovereignity, that's the point of everything with them. They find the cirticism and movement against these slurs they use for 'lower groups' as unreal, arrogant, artificial, PC, sissy, self-centered, pink ass...etc while in the past, it was their arrogant, pink ass who sterilised the languages, to create the 'high' and 'good' society and define it as so. LOL it is ironic and funny. In the end, AGAIN, it is about power. 

Anyway, how do you do it? How do you create a culture inwhich these slurs have no meaning at all? I am not saying how do you stop this or wipe this words out because you can't. You can't stop people from using these words or even creating new ones.

Not just because the natural rule of the attraction of prohibition, or human aptitude or willingness, but because when you define them as a high price costing no-no, you maintain their existence. Hell, you fortify it.

Having said that, I agree with Cassia on how it is important for the kids not to grow up hearing role models using them. But I think what she said about a kid not knowing about the back and front of a slur is more important. She said 15 years old for a specific example, but I think that goes for older people too because they are cut out form the reality of this situation, I mean they can't make it real in their heads, it is just bad, you just don't say it. Imagine the gap between a 75 year old and 35 year old person about racial slurs. Imagine a 35 year old today, greeting the young son of his friend like "Johnny, you son of a bitch, how're ya kid?" like your grand father could do in 60s. 

In my opinion, the best way to go about this -and I'm guessing this will happen naturally in the future- is rendering these words passive. Not trying to wipe it out, not trying to make it positive, not making a huge deal in social dialy life. If someone in public service uses it, if a politician tries to use it... 'publicly' is the key word here, anyone in a official station uses it...you get the gist...Off with his head. Fire him, grill him, shame him; cancel the hell out of his ass.

But jumping on kids, singers, comedians, artists, actors...anyone in social media as if the building is on fire; giving exaggerated reactions, ruining people's lives, reputations, canceling everything, millions of posts in an hour... only help these fucking words stay active and powerful. Because they are about having power over a group to begin with. All it does is teaching the kids to get angry and emotional about it, keeping it alive. Because that's actually including them in those words, making it real. Saying: 'see that's you'.

You can't wipe this shit out by creating sensation and crisis in the name of awareness. It's already obvious which people use it when and where. A young woman, a kid really, reproducing some lyrics is not using the n word.  People who really use these words use them because they want to use. They use it willingly and purposefully with an agenda, they perfectly know what the fuck it is.

You want to create an awareness? Don't avoid the n word like the plague or a weapon in the school. When they reach 11-12 year old, before all the hormones kick in, write it on the board in capitals and explain, tell them that 'This word has nothing to do with you. This is a meaningless word that was made up to create and maintain an abhorrent system in the past, it didn't have to do anything with black people then. And it doesn't have to do anything with any of you regardless of your race now, today. It doesn't have any meaning in our world that's why we don't use it.' Cut the fucking cord, make it so irrelevant, turn it into a public embarassment. But not something 'baaad'. This is important because people like doing/saying bad things. They are not afraid of it. They even see it as courage, something individual, cool, reactive; a sign of being out of the herd in this context.

You know what's the worst case that's gonna happen? They will use it in teenagers years, just because they were told not to along with some swear words -we all did because adults did it- get it out their system. And as adults, they will be immune to any kind of political or pop cultural emotional abuse related to this culture designed to push them to be a victim or a perpetrator with their usage.

Nobody thinks or accepts that they're racist or sexist, doesn't matter what they really are or whatever the circumstances. You can't shame or educate people by telling them what they say is 'bad', 'harmful', or 'that's a shame'.

But you know what people everywhere around the world, in every culture are so naturally scared of? Being irrelevant, and feeling public embarassment as a result. In any context. For an adult, it is the worst thing that can happen. Not being included in anything. You can't be successful, you can't get laid, you can't have friends, people won't listen to you let alone take seriously, you don't count; you can't do anything.

That's how you fight with this culture. You make it so completely irrelavent, it becomes one of the most embarassing things.

But right now, as far as I understand, even though -supposedly- most people are so loudly against these words, they are there, alive and kicking, hanging in the air on everybody's head in a powerful way while they are absolutely meaningless in this day and age.

"science is not about building a body of known 'facts'. ıt is a method for asking awkward questions and subjecting them to a reality-check, thus avoiding the human tendency to believe whatever makes us feel good." - tp

Baruch

Young people are young.  Old people are old.  Human nature is a disaster.  How is that for a summary?  Sorry, your Lord and Savior will never come back.
Ha’át’íísh baa naniná?
Azee’ Å,a’ish nanídį́į́h?
Táadoo ánít’iní.
What are you doing?
Are you taking any medications?
Don't do that.