Nice job by a wing-nut news site - they set a filter to automatically change "gay" to "homosexual." Therefore, "Tyson Homosexual" just made the U.S. Olympic Team.

http://deadspin.com/50206...-very-fast

Sample Headline:

"Homosexual eases into 100 final at Olympic trials"

Nice work.

Absolutely pitiful.

Idiots in Action!

Absolutely typical.

Be sure to read the comments following the article.

[This message has been edited by Bob Netherton (edited 6/30/2008).]

Can someone explain to me why 'homosexual' is more or less offensive than 'gay'? And then explain to me why those of you that posted in this thread are so offended by this filter? I mean it doesn't make sense to me, but at the same time, neither does the "tsk tsk tsk"ing from everyone else in this thread.

Let's say that for some ideological reason you insist that the term homosexual be used. Let's further say that any document that passes through your hands, you insist on modifying to comply with your intent. Even news articles written by someone else.

This puts your ideology front and center, and overrides the intent of the original writer, forcibly coercing them to use your terminology. Essentially, you're forcibly rewriting the original work to comply with your ideology. That, I think, is pitiful, not to mention an offense against liberty.

In this case, the action became evident when such replacements took a person's last name and replaced it with homosexual. The fact that it was not previously evident in no way ameliorates the insult to the original works that was done.

As for the difference between "gay" and "homosexual", I think you should ask that question of the site that was making the substitutions; certainly they must have had a specific agenda.

[This message has been edited by Major Pain (edited 7/1/2008).]

Speaking in generalities. . . .

I think most offensive words become thought of as being that when those who are the target/subject of the words decide that they are offensive (or improper/inappropriate). And I'd think history / baggage / accumulated connotation (or whatever you'd want to call it) has much to do with the rejection of such words. I'd also imagine that rejection of baggage laden labels and the adoption of self-chosen identifiers has much do with building a sense of group identity, awareness and pride (and I'm pretty sure there is way more to it than I can understand).

Adoption of new identifiers and the rejection of old labels is something that's been going on all my life, so it doesn't seem all that odd to me. I know that some people (not to be singling out Levi here and suggesting that he is one of these) seem disturbed by it and complain about "political correctness" and I suppose to a certain extent it is. But at some level it seems to me to just be a matter of good manners. If someone (or a group of someones) chooses to be called by a certain term, it just seems polite to respect their wishes.

Heck, some folks take exception to being called by nicknames - it causes me no harm or distress to respect their wishes and address them by their given name. I've noticed that Richard is insistent on being called Richard, so it seems only polite to not call him Rich - it seems to me that it should be his choice.

Likewise it causes me no harm or distress to use words such as African-American / Black, Native American, Gay , & etc.

And let's face it, sometimes it seems everyone has an agenda - - the folks running the website with the filter have theirs . . . some activists GLBT community have theirs. Myself, I thought the "Homosexual Wins 100 Meters" was funny, but then I'm not really caught up in those agendas to the extent that the activists in either camp are. Okay, I thought it showed that the folks running that website are morons. But as Levi pointed out to me another thread, I'm pretty much surrounded by morons so I decided maybe I need to relax a bit and just laugh at `em. ;-)

But anyway, my thoughts went something along these lines.

Other news stories:
Homosexual Talese, author of "Honor Thy Father" (1971) and "The Kingdom and the Power" (1969), wins literary prize.

Misspellings:
What if there was a glitch and the filter targeted GOP rather than gay . . . those would be some great headlines.

Potential problems with banner advertising at their website:
Ultra Strength BenHomosexualr Cream - Get Some Today

[This message has been edited by Hal Neumann (edited 7/1/2008).]

I'm happy to call anyone by any name that they want to be called, but I live in an area with a lot of very vocal LGBT folks and I've never heard anyone object to the word 'homosexual'. Is it considered offensive?

I am also acquainted with a lot of conservative Christians and I have never heard anyone say that the word 'gay' was more or less offensive than the word 'homosexual' so I'm not sure why they put this filter in.

However, I think the people getting offended by this are making a knee-jerk reaction based on the source. I find the headline humorous as well, but I don't really get anyone being particularly offended by it (except maybe Mr. Gay). There are a lot of words that they could have used that would be offensive, but I don't think 'homosexual' is one of them.

BTW, a lot of folks actually prefer the word 'queer' now because it is more all-inclusive and not nearly as awkward as 'LGBT' where in the past that was more of a slur.

[This message has been edited by Levi Forman (edited 7/1/2008).]

Levi:

FWIW, I started this thread because I found it to be humorous. Perhaps I should have posted this in the humor thread.

It's also ironic to me that some posters on mc.com decry political correctness, except when it's their fellow wing-nuts attempting to be politically correct.

The distinction between "gay" and "homosexual" is completely lost on me...

Who's defending political correctness? And why are you calling me a wing nut again?

[This message has been edited by Levi Forman (edited 7/1/2008).]

Levi:

Not saying that you decry political correctness.

Not calling you a wing-nut.

"Some posters" does not = "Levi"

Bob,

Like one of the posters in that link said I'm surprised that Fred Phelps hasn't begun protesting the Olympics. This is so asinine it's funny. Talk about people taking things WAYYYYYYY to seriously.

The man's last name is "Gay" thus the instant connection to homosexuality? Makes sense to me

What's the big deal? Everyone knows Homosexuals can run fast, even in heels. Silly Breeders.

Um...Kyle

I pulled this from Deadspin

They don't take anything seriously

In the "Deadspin" thread:

Homosexualord Perry - That's good work!

>>FWIW, I started this thread because I found it to be humorous.

Many of us who post here would likely benefit from regaining our sense humor - we (and I'll include myself) are just taking some things way too seriously and jumping down other peoples' throats at the drop of a hat. I suspect it's only going to get worse as November approaches as much of it appears to be driven by politics. Perhaps laughing a bit once in a while would help to mitigate this polarization that is screwing up our country?

I'm all for that

Follow Up Story - "One News Now" to Re-Issue Altered Trading Cards

http://www.tiricosuave.co...ing-cards/

Example Card:

Before: Dick Trickle
After: Phallic Secretion

From the web site www.tiricosuave.com. That's just an outstanding name for a web site.

The reason Homosexual is used is because it connotates the nature of that "sin" in their eyes much more then the word gay. As in Homosexual conjurs up images of sweaty heathens having butt orgys while the word Gay conjurs up images of 4 pretty dudes showing a neanderthal how to impress the lady folk.

That whole filter/word thingy.

Someone had my call up the school web site through a site that changed words. Pretty funny, primarily since anytime the word "school" came up, it changed it to "hell on earth".

Josh,

Someone tell you this or are you just making assumptions?

Well, I was reading down thru the thread and was all ready to 'splain why reasons the right-wing churches prefer to use HOMOsexual instead of gay - I was going to put it into the whole "baseball/nice" vs. "football/mean" dichotomy that George Carlin (may he rest in laughter) created. But when I came upon J.Dyba's explanation, I thought "Hellfire and Damnation! Nothin' can top that!" (npi)

[This message has been edited by Steve Craddock (edited 7/1/2008).]

I don't have the time atm to try and locate the source but at one point there was a pretty incriminating memo that got leaked from the Falwell organization(I think, it was one of those nutty groups) that broke down the "Gay" vs. "Homosexual" reasoning and the above associations.

That message was then re-enforced to me through my discussions with both gay and righteously religious peers I have gotten to know very well throughout the years.

Anyone slightly educated or well-read in the tactics of psychological warfare could probably also deduce the reasoning.

I didn't find any reference to the memo you mentioned, but a little googling did come up with at least a couple blogs and such that generally back up what you said. Not really that 'homosexual' has a really negative connotation or that it's necessarily offensive to anyone but it's a more clinical and less personal term.

Anyway if that happened to be a web site you read, you would have to question them feeling the need to secretly edit content that was written by others with no likely purpose aside from manipulating their readers opinions.

Similar to what I mentioned a while back about using blogs as a primary source of news. Blogs have a more overt bias to them, but at the same time, you are letting other people shape your opinion by your choice of news source.

Now, enough babbling,

http://www.rinkworks.com/...4&inside=1

Now that the fires are put out I was able to look around a little bit and I couldn't find that memo either. I was exposed to it during a college class and am not 100% sure of where it was sourced from. The idea though has often been re-enforced to me by several Gay people I know.

I shot an email to a friend of mine who does PHD supervising in religious studies and this was his reply:

"Well the "PC" version of the use of homosexuality is rooted in the Bible. Even amongst the devout persists urban legends and one of those is that homosexuality was labeled in the original manuscripts of the Bible. So many, feel homosexual is the only true way to describe the person or behavior as it is directed by the divine word. This is not really true. If you are actually interested you can Google up the word "arsenokoitai" and find all sorts of great research and papers discussing this subject.

The common acceptance however is that the word sex, within the term homosexual, shines a light on the act that many want this behavior framed within. Gay people love each other and can attempt to have meaningful relationships where homosexuals like to have sex with others of their gender. Like all things in life I really feel the context of the word is as important as its use. In any clinical/scientific environment you will almost never see the term Gay to describe a homosexual patient and this is not rooted in any sort of malicious intent."

[This message has been edited by J. Dyba (edited 7/2/2008).]

Wow - this thread evolved from something humorous and entertaining to something educational and intellectual - all the while remaining interesting. Cool! Good job Levi and JDyba.

[This message has been edited by Steve Craddock (edited 7/2/2008).]

Curt, if you can walk in the heels, they are not what draws the attention...... it's the feather boa!!!

Is Queer History, History with an Agenda? Sure
By Vicki L. Eaklor
History News Network
June 30, 2008
http://hnn.us/articles/51189.html

Paul Harvey used to refer to gays as "practicers of homosex". Maybe he still does...or is he in hell with Fred Phelps?

This just in:

Unfortunately, "Tyson Homosexual" suffered an injury today and collapsed while attempting to qualify for the 200 meters...they've done an MRI and are awaiting the results. Initially, they suspected it was a cramped hamstring, but it will be revealed in the morning whether the test results show it to be a more severe injury.

Either way, his chances of participating in the Olympics in Bejing are now in jeopardy...I hope things turn-out well REGARDLESS of what his last name is.

I have a step daugghter woh is in a relationship with another female who am I to judge. She is happy. Get on with life

It seems to me most likely that "gay" was placed in a profanity filter only because "gay" is much more common currency in slang.

ie...

Do you know how I know that you're gay?
That's so gay

The fact that they're now being accused of bigotry for trying to stop it seems ironic.

Rick K. = Politically Correct Weenie

Woohoo. A racist, a homophobe... now I'm too PC.

Awesome.