Hard Light Productions Forums

General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: The E on October 04, 2009, 06:25:38 am

Title: Political correctness
Post by: The E on October 04, 2009, 06:25:38 am
No. KometJPNs changes will have to be merged into FSO in order to do that.

Also, "Japs"? What is this, WW2?
Title: Re: Japanese Localization Patch for FreeSpace 2 is released
Post by: Spoon on October 04, 2009, 06:52:26 am
Quote
Also, "Japs"? What is this, WW2?
Incoming politicial correct ****storm!
Title: Re: Japanese Localization Patch for FreeSpace 2 is released
Post by: Mongoose on October 04, 2009, 01:36:59 pm
Yeah, let's consider "Japs" to be a no-go in here.  The term may not mean anything to some people today, but it certainly does for others given the loaded history behind it.

And this is all great stuff, Komet. :) Not only is the entire translation and character usage a feat in and of itself, but those are some really cool visual effects that I'm really hoping the team will be able to merge into the SCP codebase.  With any luck, someone will eventually be able to implement true UTF-8 support, so that this and any other future translations can be handled natively.
Title: Re: Japanese Localization Patch for FreeSpace 2 is released
Post by: Bobboau on October 04, 2009, 10:27:51 pm
no one born after 1950 would use the word jap as a derogatory, they'd have no reason to, cause Japan has been nothing but cool sense the war ended, three generations ago.

honestly I think letting derogatory meaning fade is a good thing, so on terms like that I usually don't draw attention to it, unless someone else has already.
Title: Re: Japanese Localization Patch for FreeSpace 2 is released
Post by: Aardwolf on October 04, 2009, 10:31:23 pm
Off topic, but I agree with Bobboau.

Lemma: the word 'nigga' should go hide in a corner in shame.
Title: Re: Japanese Localization Patch for FreeSpace 2 is released
Post by: Mongoose on October 04, 2009, 10:51:54 pm
New statement: let's kill the off-topic PC discussion before it starts.
Title: Re: Japanese Localization Patch for FreeSpace 2 is released
Post by: Bobboau on October 05, 2009, 12:36:19 am
a split might be more effective, though it hasn't quite reached critical mass
Title: Re: Re: Japanese Localization Patch for FreeSpace 2 is released
Post by: Goober5000 on October 05, 2009, 08:53:10 am
Abbreviations are racial slurs now?

Thread split; let's not distract from Komet's excellent work with this topic.
Title: Re: Political correctness
Post by: Blue Lion on October 05, 2009, 08:59:19 am
Abbreviations are racial slurs now?

Thread split; let's not distract from Komet's excellent work with this topic.

Oh I think there may be some hiSPanICS who may find abbreviations racial slurs.
Title: Re: Political correctness
Post by: karajorma on October 05, 2009, 09:05:18 am
Not to mention the derogatory shortening of Pakistani.


Anyway, the one Japanese person on this thread (well before it was split off) agreed it was derogatory. That's good enough for me.
Title: Re: Political correctness
Post by: Dragon on October 05, 2009, 09:31:09 am
Maybe it should also be moved to GD, I don't see this thread having much in common with FreeSpace.
Title: Re: Re: Japanese Localization Patch for FreeSpace 2 is released
Post by: General Battuta on October 05, 2009, 09:54:07 am
Abbreviations are racial slurs now?

Thread split; let's not distract from Komet's excellent work with this topic.

Agh. Please. 'Jap' is incredibly offensive to those of Japanese ancestry. It is a definite slur.

I remember Rian slapping me silly (not quite literally) the first time I brought it up, and I learned my lesson then. I'm just glad I never somehow used it in front of her grandmother.
Title: Re: Political correctness
Post by: Spoon on October 05, 2009, 10:45:04 am
Quote
Agh. Please. 'Jap' is incredibly offensive to those of Japanese ancestry. It is a definite slur.
Why? What's the history behind it?
I've always used it as an abbreviation really.
Title: Re: Political correctness
Post by: General Battuta on October 05, 2009, 10:47:42 am
It's primarily a problem amongst Japanese-Americans due to its extensive use in World War II propaganda.

It's a lot like the term 'colored'. Seems inherently inoffensive, but it isn't due to its history.

Please, please don't use it. It brings up extraordinarily painful associations for a lot of people.
Title: Re: Political correctness
Post by: karajorma on October 05, 2009, 10:57:46 am
Maybe it should also be moved to GD, I don't see this thread having much in common with FreeSpace.

Give it a day or so. In general it's a bad idea to move a split thread without the participants knowing where their posts went.
Title: Re: Political correctness
Post by: Mongoose on October 05, 2009, 12:30:22 pm
Especially when the moderator is wondering why one of the posts he was attempting to moderate is still getting reported a day after the fact. :p
Title: Re: Political correctness
Post by: Aardwolf on October 05, 2009, 07:32:11 pm
Because HLP is an army of stupid cattle.
Title: Re: Political correctness
Post by: Kie99 on October 05, 2009, 08:17:39 pm
The only reason these offensive words are offensive is because people give that meaning to them, for example by reprimanding those who use them, or banning the words.  I might use the term Jap or Japs, not because I hate the Japanese, because it's quicker than typing 'Japanese People' or 'Japanese Person'.  The words 'Yank' and 'Jock' are similar, and I've never seen any posts removed for the use of those words.  'Paki' is different because it's often used to refer to all people who look middle Eastern, but from what I've heard, it is fairly normal for Pakistanis to use it between themselves.
Title: Re: Political correctness
Post by: Rian on October 05, 2009, 09:06:47 pm
No. Absolutely not. It is not an acceptable abbreviation because it is a racist slur. Most such terms are shorter than the words they replace, or they wouldn't roll off the tongue so easily. That doesn’t make them acceptable in civilized discourse.
Title: Re: Political correctness
Post by: Aardwolf on October 05, 2009, 09:20:08 pm
I, for one, was not alive during the second world war, nor were any of you as far as I am aware.
Title: Re: Political correctness
Post by: karajorma on October 05, 2009, 09:22:58 pm
'Paki' is different because it's often used to refer to all people who look middle Eastern, but from what I've heard, it is fairly normal for Pakistanis to use it between themselves.

It's not actually. I can't remember ever hearing it used in that way. There are a few who tried to "reclaim" it same as black people did with nigger but mostly they were beaten down and told to stop cause that just doesn't work.

No. Absolutely not. It is not an acceptable abbreviation because it is a racist slur. Most such terms are shorter than the words they replace, or they wouldn't roll off the tongue so easily. That doesn’t make them acceptable in civilized discourse.

I tend to believe they're shorter cause the kind of people who use them have trouble with longer words. :p
Title: Re: Political correctness
Post by: Rian on October 05, 2009, 09:27:24 pm
Fair enough.  :p
Title: Re: Political correctness
Post by: Aardwolf on October 05, 2009, 09:37:50 pm
(Stupid parallel also involving WWII)

Nazis (National Socialist party) chose the short name for themselves.
Title: Re: Political correctness
Post by: General Battuta on October 05, 2009, 09:52:02 pm
I, for one, was not alive during the second world war, nor were any of you as far as I am aware.

None of us were alive during slavery or Jim Crow or any of that either, but you damn well can't get away with using the terminology that resulted.

This thread should be over. Now. This shouldn't be a debate.
Title: Re: Political correctness
Post by: Mongoose on October 06, 2009, 01:03:15 am
Seriously.  A forum user from Japan stated that he didn't like the use of the term because of its connotations.  That invalidates any and all counter-arguments right there.

I'm going to go ahead and lock this, because I can't see it going anywhere constructive.  If one of the global mods/admins feels like it's worth unlocking and shipping over to GD, feel free.