Semantics Are Gay

When I first got to in-processing when I joined the Army, there was a minor physical test I had to take. Everyone takes it. It’s mainly done to prove that the person is physically ready for the athletic feats required in basic training. Those who failed the test wouldn’t be kicked out, but they would have to take some additional physical training before they were allowed to move onto actual basic training.

Anyway, I took the test and I passed easily. It was very simple. Complete a mile run in under ten minutes, do 10 sit ups and 5 pushups. No joke, only the comatose would not be able to pass that test.

Following the test, we all got herded into two different groups. As is frequently the case with me, I got a bit confused and wandered into the wrong group.  My squad leader came to get me.

“You’re with the wrong group,” she informed me.

“Why, are these the people that failed?”

She gave me a condescending look and let out a sigh. “No, they are the people that could use a little bit of extra help before heading off to basic.”

That was one of my first experiences with obnoxious semantics. Apparently, ‘failure’ was too harsh a word for people who were about to become trained killers for their country. Instead, they were ‘people that could use a little bit of extra help.’

Back then, when I was still a flaky pot head turned soldier, I simply nodded and moved on. Now, I say this. I was right when I called those people failures, because they had failed. They had to pass a test and they failed. Changing the way we addressed that failure did not change the fact that it was, in fact, a failure.

Words are words. They hold no true power. The only power a word holds is the power that we as individuals give it. Changing the way we address something doesn’t change the underlying condition. In fact, when we do try to soften the blow by softening the language, it usually just comes across as condescending.

Semantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, like words, phrases, signs, and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotation. That part is from Wikipedia.

Semantics are bullshit. When you are trying to find hidden meanings behind the words being used, you don’t gain any higher understanding of the individuals around you. You only gain incite into your own preconceived notions about those words. You can never truly know what another person is feeling when they use a certain word. You can only know the way you are affected by those words. Arguing semantics does nothing but undermine an individual argument. That’s part is from the Essa Alroc dictionary on how to not be fucktarded.

In case I’m getting too high-brow, let me give you an example. ‘That’s so gay’.

Generally, this sentence is used to describe something ridiculous or stupid. “2 broke girls is so gay. Harem pants are so gay. Obama’s opinion on Syria is so gay.”

I bring this up because I’ve seen a recent movement in the liberal community. They want people to be ashamed of calling things ‘gay’. They think that referring to something as ‘gay’ makes it ok to discriminate against people who are gay. Mainly, they’re arguing semantics…and they’re looking like douchebags while they are doing it.

When you tell other people what to say, it’s only a small jump before you start telling them what to feel. To me, ‘gay’ can mean many things. It can mean someone is happy. It can mean someone is homosexual. It can mean something is stupid or ridiculous.

And when you get pissed off because I say ‘that’s so gay’, because you assume that I’m using this phrase to discriminate against gay people, based on your own personal feelings about the word, you’re actually undermining my opinion.

Simply stated, I don’t tell you who to love. Don’t tell me how to talk. It is not up to me to change the way I talk to fit your personal opinion about what is appropriate. Just like it’s not up to you to change your sexual orientation so other people will find it appropriate. To me, ‘gay’ can mean stupid or ridiculous and it doesn’t have any relation to homosexuality. You can’t change your sexual orientation and I’m not going to change the way I view a simple word. So stop with your marketing campaigns. The world has bigger problems then teenagers saying ‘that’s so gay.’

To quote Inigo Montoya “I do not think it means what you think it means.”

If you want to see how to truly deal with a word that offends you, take a tip from black people and the word ‘nigger’.

Yup, I just wrote nigger. Watch as I do it three more times. Nigger, nigger, nigger. No, I don’t go dropping the n-bomb on a regular basis. I just want the shock value to wear off, because I’m going to be using the word nigger quite a lot in the next few paragraphs and I don’t want it to become a distraction.

Nigger actually descended from the base Spanish form ‘negro’, meaning black. It was initially a neutral term that very few people were offended by. Of course, this was during the days of slavery, when black people were considered second class citizens. The term nigger became more and more offensive over time. After a few years, it was considered slang, used by only the lowest of the low crackers. As a result, the gentrified American white people started using ‘colored’ instead.

Yeah, because that was so much better.

Over time, nigger went from being a neutral term to a vulgar term. The classy whites wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole, but the crackers still used it to excess.

Then came the Emancipation Proclamation and black people started getting their identities back. Nigger no longer meant black. Instead it meant slave.

And it became verboten.

Nigger would have just been considered a forbidden word, if it weren’t for the forward thinkers out there, who refused to be swayed by semantics. Instead, black people started to use it as a way to refer to themselves or their friends. They used it freely, but they kept it for themselves. It was totally kosher for a black kid to call another black kid ‘his nigger’. But if they flipped it, and a white person uttered the phrase, shit was on. It became their word. No longer a racial slur, it actually became a term of affection. They took the power out of nigger by making it their own.

If you read my page, then chances are, you know me pretty well. If you know me, then you know that there are two people I admire on the planet above all others. Those people are George Carlin and Richard Pryor. I admired their abilities to take the power from something by making it a joke. They gave me words to live by.

Never underestimate the power of funny.

But there is one area that I will always disagree with Pryor on. It is when he said this, following a trip to Africa;

“{I am} regretting ever having uttered the word ‘nigger’ on a stage or off it. It was a wretched word. Its connotations weren’t funny, even when people laughed.”

Pryor had an opportunity. He had the opportunity to take the power from a word. He had the power to turn that word and use it against the people who created it in the first place. Instead, he let semantics influence him. For me, that was the day he lost his power.

A word or phrase only has the power you give it as an individual. It’s not about what other people think. It is about how you feel about it. Semantics don’t help. Instead, they make you ashamed of using a word because you don’t want to offend people. Using the only the words others deem appropriate doesn’t make you politically correct. The ‘appropriate’ words don’t prove that you’re not a racist. Using only the appropriate words all the time just makes you a coward. When you focus on the words, as opposed to the message, you lose the message.

Don’t say ‘could use some extra help’ when you mean ‘failure’.

Don’t say “is below average on the intelligence scale” when you mean “retard”.

Don’t say ‘that is stupid or ridiculous’ when you mean ‘that’s so gay’.

We as individuals give words their power. When we read into what is being said and decide that it is offensive, even when the overall message isn’t, we give those words a power they don’t deserve to have. We undermine our arguments by arguing linguistics instead of arguing real issues.

The real issue isn’t ‘nigger’. It’s that black people don’t have the same rights as everyone else. The real issue isn’t that ‘that’s so gay’ is offensive. It is that gay people don’t have the same rights as everyone else.

We don’t choose our color and we don’t choose our sexual orientation. The only thing we choose is the way we react to the people around us. When you get offended over a simple line that someone else uses, you give them power over you. You give semantics the ability to make you happy or sad.

No simple word should even have that power. Listen to what people say, as opposed to the words they use. You might just learn something. And remember;

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.