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View Full Version : Young People See Online Slurs as Joking.....



MMC
09-20-2011, 06:33 AM
http://news.yahoo.com/poll-young-people-see-online-slurs-just-joking-070620137.html

WASHINGTON (AP) — Is it ever OK to tweet that a girl's a "slut"? How about slinging offensive names for homosexuals in a post to a friend on Facebook? Or texting a racial slur? Most young people think it's all right when friends are joking around with each other, according to a new poll.

Jaded by the Internet free-for-all, teens and 20-somethings shrug off offensive words and name-calling that would probably appall their parents, teachers and future bosses. And an Associated Press-MTV poll shows they don't worry much about whether the things they tap into their cellphones and laptops could reach a wider audience and get them into trouble.

Seventy-one percent say people are more likely to use slurs online or in text messages than in person, and only about half say they are likely to ask someone using such language online to stop.
Fifty-five percent of those surveyed say they see people being mean to others on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. And 51 percent encounter discriminatory words or images on those sites.

But they mostly write off the slurs as jokes or attempts to act cool. Fifty-seven percent say "trying to be funny" is a big reason people use discriminatory language online. About half that many say a big reason is that people "really hold hateful feelings about the group."

That may be why even the most inflammatory racist slur in the AP-MTV poll — the "N-word" — didn't rouse a majority of young people. Only 44 percent said they'd be very or extremely offended if they saw someone using it online or in a text message. Thirty-five percent said it wouldn't bother them much, including fully 26 percent who wouldn't be offended at all.
Among African-American youth, however, 60 percent said they would be offended by seeing the N-word used against other people.

But 41 percent of women deem "slut" deeply offensive (jumping to 65 percent if it's used against them specifically), compared with only 28 percent of men. And 39 percent of those who are gay or know someone who is gay are seriously offended by the use of "fag," compared with 23 percent of all others.

A similar effort to persuade kids not to use "retard" hasn't hit home with half of those surveyed, who don't find the word even moderately bothersome. Twenty-seven percent are seriously offended, however.

But constantly seeing ugly words on their electronic screens may have a coarsening effect. "It's caused people to loosen their boundaries on what's not acceptable," Leader said.
In contrast, only a third say discriminatory words about blacks are most often intended as hurtful, while two-thirds think they are mostly jokes. And 75 percent think slurs against women are generally meant to be funny.

It's OK to use discriminatory language within their own circle of friends, 54 percent of young people say, because "I know we don't mean it." But if the question is put in a wider context, they lean the other way, saying 51-46 that such language is always wrong.

A 13-year-old Concord, N.H., girl was suspended from school for posting on Facebook that she wished Osama bin Laden had killed her math teacher. The University of Texas Longhorns dismissed a sophomore football player for his racial slam against Barack Obama on Facebook after the 2008 presidential election. And a Harvard law student's email to friends, suggesting that blacks might be intellectually inferior, was forwarded across the Internet, prompting the law school dean to publicly denounce it.
"People have that false sense of security that they can say whatever they want online," said Pletka of Cape Girardeau, Mo. "Anything that you put into print can be used.".....snip~

Yes, I would agree people would be more loose with their rhetoric while hidden behind electronic devices. Do they think about the consequences. Not just so much the younger crowd. Anybody. See, no visual perception with which to gage just whether or not one can approach another with some bullshit or not.

Conley
09-20-2011, 08:37 AM
I have seen variations of the n word used around here as a term of affection, like bro or brutha, etc. I don't have a problem with it...it's all in how it is used. Now if you are standing face to face with someone and they are heated and using words and curses at you then it is a different story. Even then though for me personally words aren't that big of a deal.

MMC
09-20-2011, 11:51 AM
I have seen variations of the n word used around here as a term of affection, like bro or brutha, etc. I don't have a problem with it...it's all in how it is used. Now if you are standing face to face with someone and they are heated and using words and curses at you then it is a different story. Even then though for me personally words aren't that big of a deal.

Culture Club - Karma Chameleon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmcA9LIIXWw#)

Oh, you mean like Karma Chameleon. http://politirant.com/Smileys/oldrant/grin20.gif ;D

Conley
09-20-2011, 11:53 AM
Yes...now if they called me "Boy"...well then...

O0

I guess Boy George is different.

>:D