29 Oct
2015
29 Oct
'15
10:18 a.m.
" I suggest that you do some research into the countless number of times that
"progressive" people have screwed over minorities who weren't in their own
demographic."Inapplicable analogy. By"screwing" you mean political or
economic discrimination. Contra dancers are not of any particular demographic. and are
not "screwing" people not in their own demographic.
Please re-read the messages pointing out that in Europe, particularly, "gypsy"
still definitely gets used as a hateful slur.
The connotations of words vary from country to country. Without more information about
the extent to which and in what nations/regions "gypsy" has serious negative
connotations, Judgment should be withheld based on undocumented comments in this thread.
Quite a few callers form our side of the Atlantic have called in Europe. We have
not input from them about how or if the dance figure we call gypsy has been handled.
This discussion may leave all our dance gypsies nameless Michael Fuerst 802 N
Broadway Urbana IL 61801 217 239 5844
On Thursday, October 29, 2015 8:51 AM, Aahz Maruch via Callers
<callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
On Wed, Oct 28, 2015, Michael Fuerst via Callers wrote:
I have been contra dancing for 30 years or so and this is the first
time I've encountered a question about "gypsy" being controversial.
The people who contra dance on average are well left of center
politically--people who would never use an ethnically offensive
word.(Finding a bumper sticker at a contra dance gathering supporting
a Republican candidate is quite impossible.)As you noted, language
evolves, and the use of "gypsy" in contra dancing never had any
offensive baggage or intent. Given the thousands of left-wing contra
dancers who have guiltlessly gypsied over the years, having a single
individual (who may not well be a member of the allegedly offended
group) come to a dance, and for some reason makes the connection she
did, does not seem adequate to drop the word.
<belly laugh> Your suggestion that progressive people promoting
political correctness always stick to their progressive principles is
risible. I suggest that you do some research into the countless number
of times that "progressive" people have screwed over minorities who
weren't in their own demographic.
To save you a bit of time, here's one specific example that consumed
large amounts of time and emotional energy in one of my other social
groups:
http://fanlore.org/wiki/RaceFail_%2709
Your examples of "nigger" and
"faggot" are not comparable, as they are
today often sill used with intended hate.
Please re-read the messages pointing out that in Europe, particularly,
"gypsy" still definitely gets used as a hateful slur. And I don't know
enough about *ALL* of American culture to presume that "gypsy" isn't used
that way here in significant subcultures. Certainly "gyp" (as a verb)
does get used.
--
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