So I will admit that I am a full on Facebook addict. I spend waayyy too many hours a day checking out what all my "friends" doing, playing Farmtown or Yoville, or just generally wasting time. I have a "friend", well lets call it what it really is shall we? I have an acquaintance that I may or may not have met a few years back who was in the same mother's group as myself. She has since moved away but asked to be my Facebook friend a few weeks back. And who am I to say no?? I just didn't want to be mean and hell what's one more person. Anyway she is apparently going through a rough time (based on several what I hope were drunken status posts). Well she used the F word. OK not fuck because I have as you see no problem with that word. No she used the F word that rhymes with maggot and is a derogatory word used to describe gay people. And yes I detest this word so much I will not even type it (much like the more known N word). It is a word generally used with such hate about gay people that it turns my stomach. So I made a personal vow to never use the word myself. It bothers me when people feel like they can use it whenever to refer to anyone because they don't like something. I can't stand people using gay words to make things negative because it casts all gay people in a negative light. Some will say I am over reacting and calling someone the F word or telling someone "they are so gay" is no big deal. Well it is. It's the start of intolerance which is never good. When I was teaching high school this word was used a lot by the students along with the phrase "that's so gay" or "you're so gay". I banned both the F word and the using the word gay to describe something the kids didn't like in my classroom. I tried to explain to them how much pain and discrimination these words cause. So when my "friend" used the F word my first thought was to unfriend her (but we all know how I hate that). So I haven't unfriended her so instead I am on my soap box again on this blog. But the next time you think about using the F word or calling something gay think about it first please. You care condoning intolerance and hate.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
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1 comments:
I've alienated myself (or is it others?) many times. If anyone says something like that I tell them they shouldn't say that because it's offensive. They usually come back and say "that's not what I mean" and I tell them that's exactly what you're saying regardless of what you think it means. It at least makes them think twice.
Was listening to Maya Angelou on Oprah Radio and she made an interesting suggestion. She has little tolerance for hate, too, and said anytime someone says something, she says she doesn't tolerate stuff like that and leads them to the door and tells them they are no longer welcome. Now it helps if you're the host but not necessarily in real life. But it did give me the confidence to say something to these people.
I'm tired of being the one offended and not saying anything. And most of the time, the people saying that stuff I don't want to be friends with anyway. Or maybe they really are that ignorant and don't realize what they are saying.
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