By "brothers" and "sisters" are you really trying to say that we have African American people who are members of this site? Or are we not allowed to say that, either? Look, Brian, I'm not trying to turn this into a debate and I've said my bit already. Stil, to answer your question I'll just say this: they shouldn't. Lots of benign words can be racist, sexist, homophobic, threatening, or just plain ol' hateful and it is wasted effort to try to control how they get used in every instance (which is what you are doing when you ban them) and by going down this path that the owner/mods of this board have chosen we'll now have to consider eliminating all sorts of things. Offhand, I'd say that since we don't like how emphasizing the first three letters of our QB-who-must-not-be-named might be used, then we should also ban any reference to drinking a "40", eating watermelon, being on our periods (sexist, not racist), or describing a play or coaching decision as "retarded" (especially if the coach in question is a "brother" or "sister").
Hate is what turns words vicious and I just can't help thinking we're better off not getting hung up on their trivial use, or spelling, and instead actually addressing situations where hate is clear. Good intentions do not justify certain knee-jerk decisions.
Cheers, and please again note that I'm just stating my opinion...no intent to offend anyone, anywhere. Ever.
Last edited by
MysterMatt on Mon Oct 31, 2011 11:52 am, edited 1 time in total.