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Fork My Dongle

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Re: Fork My Dongle

#151

Post by Confusion »

jasonlotito wrote: post #139
georgeorwell wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure why it's cowardly to suggest that. Could you elaborate? I thought it was good advice. If inflammatory comments are even possibly leading to death threats (and it seemed to me like they might be), it's probably a good idea to not post inflammatory comments. I mean, surely nobody wants to receive death threats. Are you saying that his/her comments are not inflammatory? My standard for cowardly posting is v…

> If inflammatory comments are even possibly leading to death threats (and it seemed to me like they might be), it's probably a good idea to not post inflammatory comments. That's 'victim blaming' and fairly inflammatory. That's not your intent. It's no different then telling women not to wear provocative clothing if they don't want to be raped (And before people suggest it, I'm not equating rape to anything here). B…

  It's no different then telling women not to wear 
  provocative clothing if they don't want to be raped
Telling women that not wearing provocative clothing will lower their chance of being raped is simply stating a truth. We wish it were otherwise, but it isn't. It's thus by definition sound advice and much more useful advice than stating "men shouldn't rape". Gee, thanks, the victim wasn't aware of that. Giving advice does not mean you agree with what necessitated the advice. It also does not mean that you think that if someone does not follow the advice, she deserves, morally or legally, anything that happens. Either of which you are currently arguing.

Re: Fork My Dongle

#152

Post by pc86 »

sneak wrote: post #146
andybak wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't go as far as to say that the lesson learnt recently is "If people get offended at anything it's their fault". If you think that's the case then I've got a Westboro Baptist Church to sell you...

I think the WBC is amusing. I'm deeply saddened by the fact that the top-supported petition on whitehouse.gov is a request for their free speech rights to be curtailed.

We would get along well.

Re: Fork My Dongle

#153

Post by quesera »

Wintamute wrote: post #148
olliesaunders wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t handicapped and retarded me pretty much the same thing? Why does one offend and you use the other freely?

Well, "handicapped" means having a condition that hampers your ability to function optimally, whereas "retarded" means backwards, mentally less advanced, stupid. "Retarded" is very obviously the more pejorative term. Personally I avoid using the term "retarded" because of the extremely negative/unpleasant connotations surrounding the use of the term "retard" in our culture. I know that by invoking either of those wor…

"Retarded" means slowed, or delayed. The antonym is "advanced". You can retard progress, development, rotation, etc.

It has only become a pejorative term because it's a label with negative connotations when applied to people. "Handicapped" is identical in this way.

Even if you're not sensitive to peoples' feelings about words, one good reason not to use "retarded" is that it makes you sound like a playground bully.

Re: Fork My Dongle

#155

Post by potatolicious »

sneak wrote: post #138
smoyer wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a mentally handicapped son and your use of the word retarded offends me. Pick another word? (And by the way, I do agree with your premise).

Being offended is your problem, not his. Have we learned nothing in the last 24 hours?!

The lessons of the last 24 hours have nothing to do with whether or not someone ought to be offended about something. If anything, we've learned that there is really no effective way to establish, objectively, what is an isn't offensive.

The lesson we learned was how to handle being offended: to challenge the offender directly, find a resolution, without involving an internet mob.

OP did this the correct way, and you reacted with hostility instead.

"Retarded" is a word that the bullied (and their loved ones) have heard all throughout their lives used in a pejorative manner. It is also rarely used IRL in a non-pejorative context, even though the definition exists. For someone to associate the word with its pejorative and insulting context is not at all unreasonable.

Re: Fork My Dongle

#156

Post by nawitus »

etchalon wrote: post #58
vacri wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Karen Cheng appears to be a woman. Or are you using 'guys' in the gender-neutral sense?

I was sort of using it in the "As best I can tell, all these people are dudes", sense. Like, Finbarr is a dude. If there's a girl involved, maybe that's less terrible. And yes, I realize how ridiculous that is, but that's just kinda how these things work.

>Like, Finbarr is a dude. If there's a girl involved, maybe that's less terrible.

That's pretty damn sexist.

Re: Fork My Dongle

#157

Post by davidw »

potatolicious wrote: post #155
sneak wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being offended is your problem, not his. Have we learned nothing in the last 24 hours?!

The lessons of the last 24 hours have nothing to do with whether or not someone ought to be offended about something. If anything, we've learned that there is really no effective way to establish, objectively, what is an isn't offensive. The lesson we learned was how to handle being offended: to challenge the offender directly, find a resolution, without involving an internet mob. OP did this the correct way, and you…

> If anything, we've learned that there is really no effective way to establish, objectively, what is an isn't offensive.

"The only winning move is not to play"

Re: Fork My Dongle

#158

Post by DanBC »

sneak wrote: post #138
smoyer wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a mentally handicapped son and your use of the word retarded offends me. Pick another word? (And by the way, I do agree with your premise).

Being offended is your problem, not his. Have we learned nothing in the last 24 hours?!

Many people find the word retard (used that way) to be deeply offensive.

Many other people are not aware of that offence, and also would not like to cause that offence, and once they know that many people find the word so offensive are happy to consider their use of language and find another word.

There are lots of great words to use instead of retard and retarded.

And asking someone to consider their language isn't asking for an Internet pile-on nor asking for anyone to lose their jobs.

Re: Fork My Dongle

#159

Post by jpwagner »

olliesaunders wrote: post #140
smoyer wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a mentally handicapped son and your use of the word retarded offends me. Pick another word? (And by the way, I do agree with your premise).

Don’t handicapped and retarded me pretty much the same thing? Why does one offend and you use the other freely?

It's all part of the "euphemism treadmill". In 40 years it will no longer be acceptable to use the term handicapped:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_retardation#History_of_...

Re: Fork My Dongle

#160

Post by WayneDB »

clicks wrote: post #80
nicedongle wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We got your back quite literally: https://teespring.com/DongleGate

So, to be clear, unlike submitted link's teespring payment arrangements (100% of proceeds will be donated to Girls who Code), 100% of proceeds on your link will be going to your pocket. Not knocking on you, just making it clear you hold no affiliation to the 'Girls who Code' organization as well.

Why should we care about donating money to Girls who Code? I'm not a girl and I don't see any reason why I should support them, particularly when the only time I hear anything about girls who code is when they're causing some drama.

You know what girls who code should do? They should write code and be humble instead of forming a group called Girls Who Code in order to get attention and hand-outs. To be clear: I'd rather buy a shirt that makes fun of all the drama caused by girls who code and donate the money to Children Who Are Hungry.

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