100% agreed, freedom of assembly should absolutely not be infringed upon.
But I’m going to disagree and say that it makes no difference what the aims or intents of the group are. Who’s going to be the one to draw lines about what’s a “socially acceptable” goal? It’s possible to find the interests of any fringe group offensive, whether it’s the Nazis, Black Panthers, La Raza or local Furries chapter.
Assemble all you want, but when you start committing violence, or harming others, then you’re going to jail. Instead we’re erring on the side of being intolerant of viewpoints that could conceivably offend anyone because those ideas could lead to violence. And if that’s not the definition of “Thought Police” then what is?
I mean, if the whole NSA/Terrorism insanity teaches us anything, it’s that sooner or later you’re going to fall into some subgroup that could conceivably be defined as DANGEROUS.
I do think that racist terms can eventually lose their implications and pass into common usage, although when exactly that happens is certainly up for debate. I don’t think there’s any problem with “paddy” in 2014, but people who claim “faggot” isn’t a slur anymore can piss up a rope.
My favorite example: “barbarian” comes from the ancient Roman stereotype that foreign languages all sound like “bar bar bar.” It was basically the equivalent of calling an Asian person “Chingchongese.” Two millennia have made it a racially-undefined term for “a violent and/or uncultured person.”
Similarly, “spaz” is apparently considered a very offensive ableist term in Britain. It periodically causes problems for video game and cartoon importers.
In Britain, I can buy faggots in gravy at any store, and it isn’t considered a slur - it’s considered a meatball. Americans are likely to find them offensive, though, as they’re made of offal.
I wouldn’t be too pleased to see “n****r limes” on sale at the local Kroger, even if they came with polite signage explaining that the etymology was actually from, I dunno, the East Indian “nijir” meaning “delicious.”
In this scenario, expecting overseas growers to change the local name would be silly, but I’d certainly expect English-language sellers and writers to find a different name. So, with regard to the kaffir lime/makrut lime, I can see the problem and I’d want publishers with a South African branch to be aware of it, but trying to change the name worldwide seems inappropriate.
That’s fair enough, in Britain. I’m okay with words having different regional meanings; see, again, “spaz.” I assume, though, that you don’t get people going around calling folks “fags.” if that’s accurate. In the US, it really is purely a slur, and people who try to convince you that it’s okay because they don’t mean it as a slur are generally entitled assholes.
What’s always bewildered me about “kaffir” as a South African slur is the weirdness of its derivation: it’s the Arabic word for “infidel”, which the Boers then applied to the non-Christian Africans. I can only imagine that the Boers first heard it - and realized it was offensive - because it was being yelled at them by Muslims.
To visualize just how ridiculous this is, imagine a bunch of black kids calling a white kid “redneck” - and then imagine that kid turning around and yelling “REDNECK!” at the first Mexican kid he sees.
Not really, unless maybe you’re actually referring to a person with cerebral palsy or another seizure disorder. It shows up often enough in children’s entertainment without comment. There’s no connection to any medical condition.
Edit: I feel like I should clarify, it really doesn’t have that connotation here. It’s not like the “oh, when I say faggot I don’t mean gay people, so it’s okay” bullshit. Calling someone with palsy a spaz would be exactly as insulting as calling them “Twitch,” and for the same reasons.
The first time I visited a bar in Australia it took me a moment to realize what a companion meant when he asked “do you know if they allow fags in here?”
Most etymologists think the term “Paddy Wagon” stems from the historically high percentage of Irish people in American police forces rather than the percentage of criminals. As ethnic stereotypes go, “those people tend toward careers in law enforcement” is pretty mild.
An alternate theory is that the term just started as an abbreviation of “Patrol Wagon” and wasn’t related to the Irish at all.
