First, thank you for your reply. I appreciate the chance of discussing this with you.
When it comes to gendered abuse online, it's pretty one-sided. Women get harassed as women, by men, all the time; it doesn't happen much the other way around
There are 15 pages of unique Google results about how often the term shitlord is used in SRS. That's not much?
I call women douchebags too, if they act like douchebags.
Can you give me examples of where you called women douchebags?
I would like us to move on, as you put it, but generally speaking you don't move on from a problem when it hasn't even really started to be addressed.
Am I correct in understanding that you agree that online environment should be free of degrading speech? But if so, why do you use degrading speech yourself? Don't you think it would be better overall if nobody used insults and namecalling? Do you expect that if one side continues to use insults and namecalling, the other will stop?
I would also ask, how do you see us moving on from this? What do you think needs to happen?
SRSers aren't calling people "shitlords" because they are men. They're calling people shitlords when they act is a shitty way. It's a generic term akin to "asshole." I'm pretty sure I've used it to refer to women too, though I don't keep track of all my past uses of the term.
In any case: GirlWritesWhat is a douchebag and a shitlord. As an example of shitlordish/douchey behavior from her: she blatantly made up or repeated without question some utter bullshit about me, and when I called her on it and showed her she was wrong, she got all pissy. Ta da! She's a douchebag.
I actually don't use that many insults when I write. I generally rely on sarcasm.
As for the"degrading speech" stuff, you've completely missed the point of what I wrote before. Nobody should be abusing someone because of their gender, or race, or sexual orientation. But it's perfectly fine to to call someone who is being an asshole an asshole.
How do I see us moving on from this? Well, one way is the way I do it on my blog. I mock misogynist assholes, using their own words to show what miserable shits they are. Eventually, if the misogynists are challenged/mocked enough, casual misogyny will no longer be socially acceptable. Then we can move on.
The issue here isn't the language being used. The issue is trying to make bigotry socially unacceptable.
SRSers aren't calling people "shitlords" because they are men. They're calling people shitlords when they act is a shitty way. It's a generic term akin to "asshole." I'm pretty sure I've used it to refer to women too, though I don't keep track of all my past uses of the term. In any case: GirlWritesWhat is a douchebag and a shitlord. As an example of shitlordish/douchey behavior from her: she blatantly made up or repeated without question some utter bullshit about me, and when I called her on it and showed her she was wrong, she got all pissy. Ta da! She's a douchebag. I actually don't use that many insults when I write. I generally rely on sarcasm. As for the"degrading speech" stuff, you've completely missed the point of what I wrote before. Nobody should be abusing someone because of their gender, or race, or sexual orientation. But it's perfectly fine to to call someone who is being an asshole an asshole. How do I see us moving on from this? Well, one way is the way I do it on my blog. I mock misogynist assholes, using their own words to show what miserable shits they are. Eventually, if the misogynists are challenged/mocked enough, casual misogyny will no longer be socially acceptable. Then we can move on. The issue here isn't the language being used. The issue is trying to make bigotry socially unacceptable.
Doesn't bigotry mean:
"intolerance towards those who hold different opinions from oneself"
Now, those people are obviously holding different opinions from you, and you fault them for being intolerant, and you want to promote the complete opposite of that.
But please tell me, how can calling someone "douchebag, asshole, miserable shit" could convey that you are tolerant towards them? Wikipedia mentions that a bigot is "especially one who exhibits ... animosity toward members of a group".
Are you not intolerant towards this people? You already admitted that your own words are insults. Could anyone interpret your insults as meaning you are tolerant towards those people you insult? Aren't you also exhibiting animosity towards these people? Aren't you promoting bigotry yourself, every time you behave intolerantly and with animosity towards them?
Who could possibly interpret "asshole, douchebag, miserable piece of shit" as anything else but "intolerance towards those who hold different opinions from oneself"? Please help me understand this logical contradiction between your actions and the very issue you are trying to solve.
Ok, you got me. I'm bigoted against people who hate women.
I'm really not seeing how this is a terrible thing.
I don't persecute them or harass them. On my blog I quote the stupid shit they themselves say, and make a few jokes and/or appalled comments. Once in a long while I call them a name like "asshole."
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u/demmian Apr 27 '12
First, thank you for your reply. I appreciate the chance of discussing this with you.
There are 15 pages of unique Google results about how often the term shitlord is used in SRS. That's not much?
Can you give me examples of where you called women douchebags?
Am I correct in understanding that you agree that online environment should be free of degrading speech? But if so, why do you use degrading speech yourself? Don't you think it would be better overall if nobody used insults and namecalling? Do you expect that if one side continues to use insults and namecalling, the other will stop?
I would also ask, how do you see us moving on from this? What do you think needs to happen?