An Open Letter To Aruden
 

I understand why you're mad. What I think you're seeing is the GM's not responding because there is a lack of solid evidence of playerbase support of your request.

Therefore I propose you start a petition.

http://www.petitiononline.com/

I will sign it.

I demand we report every post with Holocaust in it, much like the word "******" (used academically)

One is a horrible epithet, the other is not.

It is not offensive to speak about a holocaust or about slavery. In fact, any academic could make a good argument about why talking about holocausts and slavery is good in that it raises awareness about those issues, which goes a long way to help prevent recurrences.

However, there is no good use of the word ******, other than to speak of it's use, which accomplishes the above. Any other use of the term is meant to be offensive to all black people, de facto, by the very nature of the word, and the context which it has acquired. Ignorance is your only excuse, but that only works once, and only if you were a feral child - raised under a rock - by wolves - that was born yesterday.

The only other possible exception is the ironic of black people using the word, usually amongst themselves. This is an effort on the part of blacks to have some modicum of power over whites (who many perceive as having all or most of the control in this world), in that whites are not supposed to use the word.

Now there is another movement within the "subtly" racist internet generation that thinks it is OK to use the word ****** regardless of their race, justifying that use with the above questionable ironic use.

This is a misuse of logic. The justification is akin to "hey that guy over there stabbed his wife, that must make it ok for me to do it."

The fact is that the use is offensive to many blacks, even when used by other blacks. There is a very strong movement within the black community to discourage their own use of the word. This is always more prevalent with older blacks, with black youths making up the vast majority of the population which uses it. In that it is still an offensive term which conjures up images of ethnic slavery that has no other legitimate use in modern English, no matter who uses it, don't fucking use it.

If you use it here, I at least will send private messages to forum moderators, here and on IRC, and I will try to have it removed and have you banned. That is what I can do.

Use of the word Holocaust is completely different. I understand where Aruden is coming from, but whoever made the argument in that thread that the term is general had the right of it. No matter how much I believe that the assholes who made that guild are racist little bitchfucks who are thumbing their noses at me right now, Holocaust is a word with a legitimate use. Without some kind of solid proof that they have an anti-Semitic agenda, and in the absence of an outcry by the vast majority of the community, the GM's really have no reason to act.

Should read:
I got twisted in my pre-post edits, and forgot one. DAMN YOU NO EDIT KEY!!

why do you need evidence that its intent was anti-semitic? this isn't a court of law, it's an emulated everquest server. it's best to err on the side of caution.

it's not like it's an artistic slapnuts fucking expression here, it's the name of a guild in a server full of trolls. you know exactly what they meant when they made a name like that.

don't ever compare having an open discussion with the holocaust with naming your fucking pvp troll guild after it. one of these things is appropriate, i'll let you decide for yourself which one it is.

I understand what you're saying pickled, but honestly Holocausts are a pretty common theme in fantasy worlds, and I can't see acting on it without some other kind of evidence that there is an anti-Semitic agenda behind it..

If *i* was a GM, I would look at chat logs etc., and the first time they said anything remotely anti-Semitic, I'd disband the guild and IP ban every single one of them, but that's me, and I could understand not having the time to deal with that.

If they were trying to be trolly about The Holocaust™, I'd at least expect propaganda on their website.

I don't think it's ultra-offensive, but I also don't think it matters. The fact is that the word "Holocaust" is generally associated with "The Holocaust" of Jews during WWII, and there's simply no reason to bring that into a game. It doesn't matter if that was the intent or if that is a justified association.

I've seen character surnames like "Manboobs" get changed on a whim. So what's the point in defending a guild named Holocaust when 50+ people have voted in a poll that it offends them? People are bothered by it, just change it. Annihilation, extermination, massacre -- they all mean roughly the same thing and don't offend anyone. Switch it and move on.

Let's say I made an all blacks guild. Would it be socially acceptable to name it "Massa Got Us Waddermelun"?