I quite agree Chairman, though some words are commonly used with consistent, offensive intent, so we don't automatically need to assume a lack of offensive intent. Rather, we understand their use, in particular contexts, to be most likely reflective of intent.ChairmanOfTheBoard wrote:if thats true, then words arent inherently offensive.MDlaxfan76 wrote:ChairmanOfTheBoard wrote:Bandito wrote:Racists/white supremacists use and used the word 'monkey' to demean African Americans; they did it as Dems back when Dems did include that element and today as Republicans, now that they are found within, and tolerated by, the GOP.
are you suggesting that the intentions matter???
i ask because aFan said it's offensive language.
Just to be clear, Chairman, those are my words in the quote, not Bandito's.
Absolutely, intentions matter.
As others have expressed, DeSantis should have known (if he didn't) that the word should be avoided in that context. He has a plenty wide enough vocabulary to have expressed himself cogently and forcefully without it.
But as I explained, it could simply have been a flub, a stumble, a mistake.
If so, easy peasy to correct with a quick apology. But he chose to go the other way, which means he cares more about appealing to racists than not.
So, intentions matter.
But as we've seen with the N word, the offensive power of the word can be subverted by its intended targets under some circumstances. And so we need to look at context of use, who is using it and why.
Words like "monkey" or "ape" of "jungle bunny" or...when used in the context of an African American have clear, historically offensive intent. Any remotely intelligent person in today's world knows that to be the case, thus is making a choice when they use such words when referring to an African American today.
As I said, if they make an honest mistake and stumble into such use inadvertently, it's very easy to swiftly apologize for having given offense. If a sincere apology, it'll be obviously so.
Where DeSantis proved his offensive, racist pandering intent was in refusing to apologize. He may well have stumbled at first, (we don't 100% know) but the refusal to apologize was a clear signal as to whose views of him he most cared. He chose to kowtow to actual racists. That dramatically increases the probability that he had offensive intent from the get go.