andrewducker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
andrewducker) wrote2006-09-10 09:52 pm
andrewducker) wrote2006-09-10 09:52 pm
Offensiveness (request for comments)
I posted an entry earlier today with this LJ Icon.
It's not a nice LJ icon.
It's clearly offensive.
In fact the keyword for this icon is Offensive.
And![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
prynne asked me if I could be convinced to delete it. Her reason being that it contains the word "retarded", and she objects to that word (link now public).
I don't disagree that it's an offensive word. I'd certainly never use it in normal conversation.
But then I'd never say any of the things in the icon. It's there, largely, as a list of things _I_ find offensive.
And I think, myself, that it serves a purpose of saying that "Andrew finds all of these statements offensive, and wouldn't care to hear them from people around him."
In particular, it says "Goths are Retarded", which I _clearly_ can't mean, as I have numerous friends who are, or have been goths, and I've seen the Sisters of Mercy live three times, and have a large collection of black t-shirts. Nobody that knows me could in any way think I mean it as something other than "Here are things that highlight idiots when they say them."
But it's not necessarily obvious from the icon. You could read it as "Here are things Andy believes." if you didn't know me very well. You could more easily read it as "Here are things Andy finds amusing."
Knowing the internet like I do, I know that it's very easy not to recognise irony ("Saying one thing and meaning something quite different"). Many's the time I've made a comment intended to be taking as silliness and had it taken seriously.
So should I take it down? Should I depend on my audience to realise what it means?
It's not a nice LJ icon.
It's clearly offensive.
In fact the keyword for this icon is Offensive.
And
prynne asked me if I could be convinced to delete it. Her reason being that it contains the word "retarded", and she objects to that word (link now public).I don't disagree that it's an offensive word. I'd certainly never use it in normal conversation.
But then I'd never say any of the things in the icon. It's there, largely, as a list of things _I_ find offensive.
And I think, myself, that it serves a purpose of saying that "Andrew finds all of these statements offensive, and wouldn't care to hear them from people around him."
In particular, it says "Goths are Retarded", which I _clearly_ can't mean, as I have numerous friends who are, or have been goths, and I've seen the Sisters of Mercy live three times, and have a large collection of black t-shirts. Nobody that knows me could in any way think I mean it as something other than "Here are things that highlight idiots when they say them."
But it's not necessarily obvious from the icon. You could read it as "Here are things Andy believes." if you didn't know me very well. You could more easily read it as "Here are things Andy finds amusing."
Knowing the internet like I do, I know that it's very easy not to recognise irony ("Saying one thing and meaning something quite different"). Many's the time I've made a comment intended to be taking as silliness and had it taken seriously.
So should I take it down? Should I depend on my audience to realise what it means?
no subject
Hooray! thank you, and I will add fuck the thought police. So, it's an icon. One person was offended by it. Big fricking deal. Out of how many times you have posted this funny (and often ironic icon, but I have to admit some of the statements on the icon are pretty common sense, and amusing). It is only LJ (and yes, it's a public forum) but we are not homogenous borg. We do not all think alike. We do not all share the same sense of humour. We have different backgrounds, upbringings and values and I suggest that if the person who took offence at a single icon and suggested censorship, why not look closer to home at the main stream media, how people talk on the bus, how they interact in the office. An icon that actively derises such values breaks through all this but also makes one think.
Like art, and I am not likening icons/avatars to that - they act as rhetorical triggers or short circuit signs which denote a theme, content to a post (usually). they are also, akin to wearing an amusing shirt. And an icon akin to this is like bringing a whoppee cushion to a party - it is designed to ellicit an emotional response.
And for want of being an arse, some of the new generation of goths are pretty retarded after dealing with some of the cretins that I came into contact with during my tenure working in a comic book store for 2 years. I don't agree with the Bush statement though...
"we are not homogenous borg"
Re: "we are not homogenous borg"
Of course you can!
Re: "we are not homogenous borg"