XPost: rec.arts.tv, alt.homosexual, alt.tv.south-park   
   From: lawrence-OmitThisBit-logic@amd-p.com   
      
   "Ubiquitous"  wrote in message   
   news:xuKdnUceFf2twWnXnZ2dnUVZ_rJi4p2d@giganews.com...   
   > by James Hibberd   
   >   
   > The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation is coming out against   
   > Wednesday's "South Park" episode that attempted to re-define the word   
   > "fag."   
   >   
   > In the episode, the "South Park" boys rally their Colorado town to use   
   > the anti-gay slur to refer to loud and annoying riders of Harley   
   > Davidson motorcycles. Local gays initially take offense, then get on   
   > board with the re-branding too.   
   >   
   > GLAAD says they get the joke ... they just didn't find it very funny.   
   > Here's GLAAD:   
   > Though this seems to represent a well-intentioned effort by the   
   > creators of South Park to delegitimize a vulgar anti-gay slur, the   
   > fact is that the word is and remains a hateful slur that is often part   
   > of the harassment, bullying and violence that gay people, and gay   
   > youth in particular, experience on a daily basis in this country. It   
   > is an epithet that has real consequences for real people's lives. Just   
   > this year, an 11-year-old Massachusetts student named Carl Joseph   
   > Walker-Hoover, unable to endure the unrelenting anti-gay bullying and   
   > name-calling he experienced at school, committed suicide.   
   >   
   > The creators of South Park are right on one important point: more and   
   > more people are using the F-word as an all-purpose insult. However, it   
   > is irresponsible and wrong to suggest that it is a benign insult or   
   > that promoting its use has no consequences for those who are the   
   > targets of anti-gay bullying and violence. This is a slur whose   
   > meaning remains rooted in homophobia. And while many South Park   
   > viewers will understand the sophisticated satire and critique in last   
   > night's episode, others won't - and if even a small number of those   
   > take from this a message that using the "F-word" is OK, it worsens the   
   > hostile climate that many in our community continue to face.   
   >   
   > The episode was the highest-rated outing so far this season for "South   
   > Park," drawing a 1.5 adult-demo rating. GLAAD is urging people to   
   > contact "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, as well as   
   > Comedy Central, and share "personal stories of the negative impact the   
   > F-word and other anti-gay slurs have had on your life."   
   >   
      
   It's funny how minorities claim particular words as their own.  The previous   
   definitions must surely take precedence.  When I was younger, people   
   routinely sucked fags in public.  There were even lollies called fags, but   
   they were banned when they were blamed for encouraging children to smoke.   
   They're back on the market now but called "Fads".  Presumably encouraging   
   children to smoke is now acceptable as long as poofters aren't offended.   
      
   It's similar to Santa not being allowed to say "Ho Ho Ho" anymore because a   
   whore may find the expression offensive.  It's bloody ridiculous!   
      
   What about Westward Ho?  From wikipedia...   
      
   In fiction:   
      
       * Westward Ho (play), a 1604 play by John Webster and Thomas Dekker   
       * Westward Ho! (novel), an 1855 novel by Charles Kingsley   
       * Westward Ho (film), a 1935 movie starring John Wayne   
       * Westward Ho, a 1942 film starring Bob Steele   
       * Westward Ho! (1832 book), a novel by James Kirke Paulding   
      
   Places:   
      
       * Westward Ho!, a town in the UK, named after the Kingsley book   
       * Westward Ho!, an alternate name for the course at Royal North Devon   
   Golf Club   
       * Westward Ho!, the original name for the University Golf Club (near   
   Vancouver, BC, Canada)   
       * Westward Ho (Phoenix), landmark hotel in Phoenix, Arizona   
       * Westward Ho Hotel and Casino a defunct Las Vegas hotel and casino   
       * Westward Ho, Alberta   
      
   Other:   
      
       * Westward Ho, the popular name for a painting by Emanuel Leutze in a   
   stairway in the Capitol in Washington D.C.   
       * Westward Ho, a song performed by Westside Connection.   
       * Westward Ho, the theme song by John Parr from the 1990 film "Go Trabi   
   Go".   
       * Westward Ho, a Faroese sloop.   
      
   Should all of these be outlawed on the off chance that a woman travelling   
   from New York to Los Angeles, or Sydney to Perth, might be offended by the   
   term?   
      
   If people could stop being so precious, the world would be a simpler and   
   happier place.   
      
   --   
   Lawrence   
   "I got such a raging clue that I almost shot clue goo all over Joe." - Frank   
   Hardly - 11 October 2006   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)