FYI - the c-word does not have a negative connotation for all people:

[grahamhgreen]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/bradesposito/outrageous-words-that-are-said-every-day-in-australia

[PeteSelman]

1. It's a term of endearment in the UK.

All my overseas Facebook friends use it all the time. It's no big deal.

[grahamhgreen]

2. Yup, over there its like being offended Cuz you called someone dude.

[treestar]

11. This is irrelevant

The banned poster is American. Cannot believe I seeing liberals defend use of this word.

[MoonRiver]

29. Wouldn't be happening if a Hillary supporter

had used that word against Warren or Bernie's wife.

[Denzil_DC]

16. If you really believe that, try visiting the UK and using it in a variety of social settings.

The reactions may be mixed, but I think you'll find a consensus emerging, and I doubt it'll be the one you believe your Facebook friends represent.

[hlthe2b]

23. DU is not located, nor are most of its posters, in the UK nor Australia. Your point is irrelevent.

[Starry Messenger]

30. The Admin who banned NYC_SKP is from the UK.

I guess he didn't find it endearing.

[Lizzie Poppet]

34. What he didn't find endearing...

...was SKP's politics. This was an excuse, not a reason.

[Starry Messenger]

36. I take him at his word.

Those who have other theories can certainly inquire.

[JI7]

3. yes, context matters and the use on DU which resulted in the ban was a pretty negative use of the

word . and that's putting it lightly

[Petrushka]

4. B-b-but . . . that four-letter-word was NOT used by the person banned.

(**sigh**)

[treestar]

12. Exactly the intent was so obvious

Amazing people defend this misogyny. The surgery used as an excuse too. Claiming it is no worse than calling a man a dick. Incredible.

[CTyankee]

26. B-b-but he knew what he wrote meant it and used it anyway...

such splitting hair arguments are really not convincing...you fool no one...

[Petrushka]

70. "B-b-but he knew...." ??? It's awesome . . .

. . . to see how many unrecognized mind-readers are making their presentiments known on DU.

[WillowTree]

5. Try using it as described in that.......article.......

.......on the street in NYC and let us know how that works out for ya.

But that wasn't the context as used in the post in question. And frankly, in this country, it's pretty much universally considered in a negative manner. So how it's used 9000 miles away from here really isn't germane.

[Egnever]

6. The actual context makes it much more muddled

Since it was in reference to Hillary telling reporters her speech was their interview. A cunning stunt is a perfectly apt description.

The double entendre was certainly intended but that is why it is muddled IMHO.

I understand people taking offense to it on the other hand I also see the the cleverness of the double entendre. It seems to me he thought what the person he responded to had been clever with it and rehashed it.

Was his intention to call Hillary a C word or was his intention to recognize the play on words I am not sure that is clear.

And in the context of the level of obnoxiousness this board has become I find an outright banning of a decade long poster over it troubling.

A hide certainly, but a banning smacks of a personal action instead of a reasoned response to an offensive post.

[Duckhunter935]

7. Very well stated

[treestar]

13. We know how much that poster hated Hillary

Doesn't matter how any posts they had. The severed hatred was obviously infected with misogyny too. it is not at all troubling that it is a ban offense on a board for Democrats whose likely validate is a woman.

[Vinca]

18. Somehow I missed this entire brouhaha.

Are the PC police telling us we can no longer use the word "cunning?" It gets so confusing what one can and can't use from one day to the next.

[mythology]

24. No, unless you are using it as part of a tongue twister

to get people to mix up the first sounds making it stunning and well, you get the rest.

[KingCharlemagne]

25. I think the phrase "cunning stunt" and the tongue twister embedded within is what is at issue, but

I agree that it's confusing as all get out.

[nadinbrzezinski]

41. We are now into silly season

and banning season

Watch what you say, period

(It is like all other primary seasons, but this one will be far worst)

[Hiraeth]

35. Thread Winner. Game over. Thank you all for playing.

[dsc]

39. Just wondering

if a poster played as fast and loose with racist language as he did with sexist language would you still be defending it.

[Egnever]

58. Cute but not relevant

I am not defending it I am speaking against a baning with no warning that seems to be motivated by politics as opposed to adherence to the rules.

The fact that you can search for the actual word on this site and find plenty of instances of it being used with out repercussion makes this ban a farce.

Lot's of vile posts on this site that only get hides. Why is this one so special that it warrants a ban of a long time poster?

[GCP]

74. Exactly

The word police have gone too far this time. I've been on DU since 2001 and I've never seen the political correctness as bad as it is now.

[cali]

8. It does in our culture. Kind of irrelevant that it's perceived differently in AU

[SwissTony]

10. DU is an interntional board, so what is "our" culture?

Mainly American, I'll gladly grant you.

[el_bryanto]

20. DU's culture is it's own culture

If there was a visitor from Australia who used that word and legitimately didn't know it was offensive, presumably upon discovering it was offensive he or she would apologize and promise not to say it again. I don't think NYC Skip has that defense, though.

Bryant

[SwissTony]

33. I'm an Aussie and would not use the c-word.

And most certainly not the n-word. I know both are offensive.

[grahamhgreen]

42. Why swisstony?

[SwissTony]

50. It's a word that offends many people and unless there's a good reason for using it

I wouldn't do so. Particularly as we're on an international board where some of us say tom-ay-to and others say tom-ah-to.

[Violet_Crumble]

17. It depends on who's using it and how....

If an American DUer is calling someone else one, it's bad...

If an Australian DUer is calling someone else one at DU, it's kind of bad because we should follow the When In Rome rule at DU...

If, on the other hand, American DUers get outraged that the word's commonly used here and doesn't have the same shock value, then that's bad:

Australia's Opposition Leader Just Called A C**t In Parliament

I'm not sure what the call is if I were to greet Swiss Tony with it if he posted in the Australia Group, which is, btw, the one place at DU where my culture fucking rules!!

[SwissTony]

37. Violet, you can call me "dickhead" any time.

My Dutch wife and kids do so. They are also Aussies.

As I said in another post on this thread, we Aussies often call each other names that would shock non-Aussies. We know how things work in Oz.

But on DU, I know what's OK in Oz can cause offence elsewhere. So, I don't use certain words and phrases.

[Blue_In_AK]

46. My son-in-law is Aussie,

and he's used some affectionate nicknames for his kids, too, that might raise some American eyebrows, but his loving intent is very clear.

[SwissTony]

56. And the greater the affection the "worse" the name

In Aussie, if you haven't seen your best mate for a few weeks, you'll greet him with something like "You fucking ugly bastard".

[Blue_In_AK]

66. Exactly.

My son-in-law was a professional rugby player. When he gets around his old teammates the conversations are hilariously ribald.

[SwissTony]

67. Just out of interest, Union or League? I'm not asking for his name. Just curious. n/t

[Blue_In_AK]

69. I'm not sure.

Whatever one was good enough for him to get his cover shot on the Rugby magazine at one time. I believe he played for at least Australia, Hong Kong, and Great Britain, and then when he was semi-retired he played with the Santa Monica guys, which is where he met my daughter, who was playing with the Santa Monica ladies rugby team. I'll PM you his name, maybe you know of him.

We met some semi-elderly Australian ladies out at the Iditarod finish in Nome a few years ago who knew exactly who he was. That kind of tickled me.

[SwissTony]

71. Rugby League is the game I SHOULD have played.

I was born in Glasgow (Scotland) in 1950. Glasgow was not a rugby town in those days.

My family moved to Adelaide in 1960. Not a rugby town either. I remember playing a soccer game and then standing watching a rugby game - the first I'd ever seen.

I became a rugby fan at about 3:30 am one morning. I had a dreadful cold and had been sleeping and woke up at some ungodly hour. Nothing to do, so I put the TV on. There was a Home Nations game: Scotland v England (The Auld Enemy) so i watched it. I was amazed at the skill level - one Scottish guy unloaded a ball to his teammate to score a try while being smashed into the ground.

The fact that the game was being shown at 3:30 am says all you need to know about how rugby was regarded in Adelaide in the early 70s.

Some years later, I discovered Rugby League. I was watching it on TV and thought "Oh, WOW". And then my wife said "You should have played this game."

Remind your SIL that the State Of Origin has already started if he needs the reminder.

[Blue_In_AK]

72. They're always watching rugby on TV down there.

I'm sure he's aware.

The rugby players I've met through him are such interesting guys and really much different than, say, our professional football players. They're gentlemen. It's a tough sport, though.

[SwissTony]

9. How Aussies address each other often surprises and confuses furriners.

I used to teach maths (in Oz) at tertiary level and one day I was sitting in the staff room talking to a mate and fellow lecturer when the head of the department walked in. He said "I've been looking for you two. You're a pair of dickheads." There was a Canadian lecturer on exchange sitting just opposite us. He was shocked. He told us later that such a comment would have lead to a fist fight in Canada. Our reaction? Mate's: "Oh, why is that, (name)?" Mine: "Have you just worked that out, (name)?"

[randome]

15. Your personal likes and dislikes -or Australia's or mine- are irrelevant.

Last edited Fri Jun 5, 2015, 08:01 AM - Edit history (1)

It's understandable that some would see use of that word as offensive and worthy of a ban. Like calling Muslims 'ragheads'.

Trying to see things from other points of view makes life so much easier, IMO.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Everything is a satellite to some other thing.[/center][/font][hr]

[NuclearDem]

19. Oh for fuck's sake.

Freepers pull this kind of shit to justify using f**.

[grahamhgreen]

43. You just used f***, lol!

[LexVegas]

21. I've seen similar justification for using the n-word. nt.

[NCTraveler]

22. Is one of their houses in a different country?

Were they posting from one of their foreign villas? lol. This is where it's going now.

[MineralMan]

27. Irrelevant.

Applying that word to a potential Democratic candidate for President is entirely a different matter. It is not the word, or the play on words, alone that is the problem here. That level of disrespect for a woman who is very likely to be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States simply has no place on a website named Democratic Underground.

Such vile insults have no place here, and are incredibly easy to avoid. Using such an insult is a deliberate decision.

Never mind the misogynistic elements of that slur. Aiming it at Hillary Clinton is the real offense. We know better. We can do better. We should do better.

[grahamhgreen]

45. If it was serious, if it was a bad joke taken the wrong way, well....

[sammythecat]

28. Who cares?

We're not in any of those places, we're here, and here that word has an extremely negative connotation and everybody here knows that.

[SwissTony]

38. But where is "here"?

I'm pretty sure your "here" is not my "here" and Violet's "here" is not the same as yours.

This is an international board. We've got US expats posting here. We've got Brits and Aussies posting.

[sammythecat]

40. Wow! What a clever way of looking at it.

Another Gerry Spence, you completely destroyed my argument.

I guess you're right!

Go ahead and use it then.

[SwissTony]

51. LOL I actually have a cat called Sammy. Nice puddy n/t

[SwissTony]

60. You had an argument? I must have missed that? n/t

[MuseRider]

31. When a person is writing,

even if they are angry, they have a chance to rethink and change what they write before sending it on. He has been a member for a very long time, he knows the rules and the sensibilities of the forum. This stupid "he was quoting the post above so we would know what was said once it was gone" is ridiculous. It could have been done without saying what he said. It seemed very much like an opportunity to get by with something and he took it.

The thing about "it is just a word" is true until you are on the end of the word when it is used the way it is meant in most situations. Most men I know will not even flinch if you call them a gender specific word as an insult but they are rarely used to judge the recipient and all those like them in the horrific ways the c-word is used for women. Of course, things being what they are, I need to mention that I am not talking about ALL men. See how that works? I must use that little phrase, "not all men" constantly. Me thinks y'all are pretty sensitive but have a certain way you get around it without looking like "silly little babies".

When I was was little a relative of mine had a stash of very graphic written porn. I was a little girl, not older than 10 when I found it and was mesmerized since in the early 60's TV spouses still slept in separate beds. Much of it was the all powerful men and women were frequently being raped (of course they ended up loving it) but the prevailing word used for insults, verbal battery and disgust was that word. It will never fail to bring me to my knees when I hear it. It was not cute, funny nor a term of endearment.

If this site chooses to let this slide I don't think there is a chance I can participate. Once this starts it will be fair game against women with the word play. Hillary brings the worst out in some people and the backlash from the other side is already frightening to anticipate. Can't we please be civil here with regards to gender specific insults? I know insults in general are the norm but think about it and those you are harming. It can really be hard to read.

[Rex]

32. Straight to the point - what SKIP said was meant as an insult to Hillary Rhodam Clinton.

You can't paint a barn red and then tell everyone it is blue...doesn't work that way, the EYES won't lie...they never will.

[Act_of_Reparation]

44. Who gives a shit?

In some circles, the n-word is a term of endearment. But not here. So don't fucking use it.

Not a terribly hard concept to wrap one's head around.

[grahamhgreen]

47. It's possible that some people may have mistook a bad joke done in poor taste as a vicious verbal

Attack meant to demean, demoralize, degrade and bully.

[LanternWaste]

48. No more, nor no less possible than some people may have mistook

No more, nor no less possible than some people may have mistook an attack meant to demean, demoralize, degrade and bully as little more than a bad joke in poor taste...

[grahamhgreen]

49. Would you agree that intent is important in this context?

[Act_of_Reparation]

53. I remain unconvinced.

Sarcasm doesn't give you license to the Leviathan of gendered slurs. It won't protect you from those who find any use of the word, humorous or not, an attack on women. So my rationale steadfastly remains: don't fucking use it. Ever.

This place isn't your house, and not everyone reading these forums is your fucking friend. So it's probably best you not say anything here you wouldn't say in public, in front of your grandmother.

[grahamhgreen]

55. But he didn't use it, it was a play on words. That leads me to believe it was intended

as a joke.

[beam me up scottie]

68. What if he had "joked" about the words "nuck figgers" in a thread about Obama?

Would everybody still be falling all over themselves to excuse his use of a slur?

Somehow I doubt it.

[Act_of_Reparation]

75. Simple logic, BMUS. Racial slurs are bad. Gendered slurs are fine. Because jokes.

Makes sense, right?

[samsingh]

52. i may not say it but i think about it every few minutes

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

54. We're not all people.

As, no doubt, many folks have already said in the comments, most of the folks on this site are Americans, and in America, it's one of the most misogynistic words out there.

[nashville_brook]

57. RESULTS OF JURY SERVICE --> 0-7 LEAVE IT

On Fri Jun 5, 2015, 01:02 PM an alert was sent on the following post:

FYI - the c-word does not have a negative connotation for all people:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026783073

REASON FOR ALERT

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.

ALERTER'S COMMENTS

No amount of excuses makes using the c-word okay here. Just stop trying to defend that shit.

You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Fri Jun 5, 2015, 01:11 PM, and the Jury voted 0-7 to LEAVE IT.

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: I am not going to hide the truth!
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #7 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: This OP doesn't meet the threshold for a hide imo.

Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.

[grahamhgreen]

59. I apologize for offending the alerter. Post is not meant to offend, but to inform.

[nashville_brook]

62. thanks for the clarification, but it's not necessary. any reasonable person knows this...

the alerter, on the other hand, is clearly one of those throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks. it's sad, middle school behavior.

[Comrade Grumpy]

61. The censorious feel emboldened. The jury disagrees.

[kiva]

63. And in the U.S. we use the word 'fannie'

in front of small children. I wouldn't use it to my UK or Australian friends or on a UK or Australian website, and if you can't control your fingers or care to education yourself about another country's customs, then you really shouldn't be posting in foreign communities.

[grahamhgreen]

65. "Education yourself"? lol

[kiva]

73. Ooooh, typo negates everything else in a post.

I wish you many typos to point out, since your logic skills aren't going to make for many posts. Heres another one, just for you.

[whatchamacallit]

64. I once posted a video of Jarvis Cocker's excellent song "C**ts Are Still Running the World"

I first heard it in the end credits of Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men. Jarvis used it in that "Brit way" to damn the one-percent's pernicious control of the levers of power. It was aimed at men mainly, but it was locked in minutes despite the context. I get it tho, the word has a connotation rooted in sexism and misogyny, so it was a gamble.

[liberal N proud]

76. Offensive lands with the reciever of the message

In other words, what does not offend you may offend me, so if I am offended, then it is inappropriate.