Are racism and hate speech permitted on Similar Worlds?

@swirlie Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and disagree there, because there are some words and expressions that are absolutely 100% objectively racist. And expanding from that, there's some stuff that's definitely, objectively hate speech. If I flag something as such, it's because that was clearly the intent. And I don't want this person to just be blocked, I want them to have a little warning on their profile. In fact, I'd prefer not to block that person, because there's a couple of people I know and otherwise get along with who like to use words and phrases that are objectively hate speech.

I won't say who. They know who they are.

@LordShadowfire
...and in response to your 'flag', your username account and your username account only, will be blocked by the Admin from interacting with the said username you have flagged, which was the actual point of my post, not the degree of subjective perception Racism and hate speech carry with your report.

@swirlie And my point is, if somebody says something objectively racist, that's the only person who should be punished.

@LordShadowfire
A person cannot say something "objectively Racist" unless someone else decides they are saying something objective.

@swirlie It being subjective is definitely not a serious take according to the laws of several nations with users here.

Maybe a lawsuit might someday lead to actual enforcement of their TOS.

@swirlie So, according to all that, what is the "n-word"?

@Therealsteve
The "n-word" is whatever meaning you assign to it. Of itself, it has no inherent meaning.

@swirlie I agree, it's a shame some words are given so much power.

@Therealsteve
That's my whole point though... words aren't given any power! Words do not contain power nor do words contain inherent meaning of themselves. This is because we do not have the power to pre-assign what a word will mean; we can only embrace the meaning that is assigned to it in the moment until that assignment changes and that word is then used to mean something else until further notice.

@LordShadowfire “And I don't want this person to just be blocked, I want them to have a little warning on their profile. In fact, I'd prefer not to block that person, because there's a couple of people I know and otherwise get along with who like to use words and phrases that are objectively hate speech.”

If you get along with them, why don't you accept the speech they use? You wouldn't want to get them in trouble. Did they do anything to you?

@swirlie “Words do not contain power nor do words contain inherent meaning of themselves. This is because we do not have the power to pre-assign what a word will mean; we can only embrace the meaning that is assigned to it in the moment until that assignment changes and that word is then used to mean something else until further notice.”

While there is a meaning assigned to a word, people may be upset if the word is used and the meaning is seen as derogatory. A different response can only be expected if the meaning changes.

@emiliya Okay, so if you saw me calling someone a n*****, which is a direct violation of the rules of this website for a damn good reason, you'd be cool with it?

@swirlie No. It's not. I was being sarcastic, using the most obviously fuсked-up example I could think of. And you just defended two of the most objectively offensive terms I've read on the internet by calling it arbitrary. At this point, I'm starting to wonder if maybe you don't have an alt account where you spout racial slurs all day for fun.

@LordShadowfire “Okay, so if you saw me calling someone a n*****, which is a direct violation of the rules of this website for a damn good reason, you'd be cool with it?”

If you were my friend, yes. Friends are loyal to each other.

@LordShadowfire By betraying their friend? This is not a friendship. Reporting them and engaging with others about them is a betrayal.

@LordShadowfire

A word that someone like yourself assigns 'special' meaning to as officially representing what you'd call a "racial slur", has no inherent meaning of itself.

Therefore, that 'word' is not a racial slur until someone like yourself comes along and decides to give derogatory meaning to that otherwise meaningless word.

@emiliya

The only meaning that is assigned to a word is the meaning that YOU assign to it. Of itself, a word has no meaning.

To suggest that a different response can only be expected if the meaning changes is categorically false. This is because the word didn't have meaning in the first place, other than what the perceiver decided that word would mean in their own mind.

The perceiver then has a choice, to either ignore the word completely, or to assign 'special' meaning to that word to appease their own agenda.

@swirlie And I am done watching you defend racism.

@LordShadowfire
One thing I've learned about you LordShadowfire, is that you're unable to fully comprehend logic unless someone explains it to you.

I was not defending Racism because no examples of Racism existed anywhere in this entire thread thus far. Therefore, you are categorically wrong in your accusation.

What I was defending was the literary context of English words, while pointing out that words are ONLY what we make of them.

Of themselves, words have NO inherent meaning which suddenly spring to life the moment a bunch of alphabet letters are arranged in a certain sequence which spells that word, thereby causing hellfire and damnation to rain down upon the writer of that word.

Do you remember the nursery rhyme, "Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me"?

Names cannot hurt you because names are comprised of words which contain no inherent meaning, other than the 'special' meaning we choose to assign to those words.

And if you have a desire to be hurt by the words someone hurls at you, then you will attach the same meaning to those words that your attacker attached to them as well ...and what you will feel when you hear those words spoken is what your attacker wanted you to feel when he spoke those words.

In this case, your attacker has won because you supported his perception of word-meaning.

But, if you don't subscribe to what your attacker meant by those words, then YOU have won! It's as simple as that.

Racism has absolutely nothing to do with words.

Racism is expressed as an attitude, a mindset.

Racism cannot be expressed through words which have no meaning, unless YOU decide to assign meaning to inherently meaningless words and everyone who hears those words are in full agreement with you as to what those words will now mean as a collective understanding.

As everyone supports the Racial attacker in his perception of what that word will suddenly mean, as evidenced by their declaration that a Racial slur has been imposed onto them by a Racist, the Racial attacker has won!

He won because he was fully supported by those whom he attacked because they all agreed with what his words would mean, which means they all agreed with HIS perception of a word's Racial connotation!

If they didn't agree with him, his words would have no meaning to them.

@swirlie I just don't see how anybody can make the claim that a racial slur is not objectively racist. I'm not sure how that makes me illogical.
I asked about specific racial slurs.
Words like s**tskin? That's the one I asked you about earlier, and I never got a response. I see that used all the time on Twitter, and people don't get in trouble for it. Can you defend it?
Do you remember the expression, "Don't buӏӏsһіt a buӏӏsһіtter"? Names can absolutely hurt because of the intent behind them.
You really need to rethink this entire argument. I'm not even going to address the rest of your comment until you respond to this. Because you just keep repeating the same point over and over.

@LordShadowfire
Actually Lordshadowfire, it is you who needs to rethink your understanding of what Racism actually means because as it stands, you don't have a clue what you're talking about.

I've already defended the childish examples you've dragged off Twitter by explaining numerous times to you that words mean nothing. If you cannot understand that fact, then what hope do you have of understanding anything I could possibly tell you about literary perception? Absolutely NONE, I would say.

The reason I keep repeating the same point over again is because you keep repeating the same Racist rhetoric over and over again without actually comprehending anything I've said.

You clearly have an axe to grind which you demonstrate repeatedly on this website and regardless of what anyone says to you about anything, your insatiable 'need' to be perceived as 'right' and 'all-knowing' has got you by the balls and it won't let you go and now your frail ego wants to run with what it thinks it knows about Racism until it can convince you that you are 'right'.

When you learn how to read, how to comprehend logic and how to behave like an adult on this website, then we'll talk. But until then, you've got a lot of work to do on yourself.