case: (Default)
Case ([personal profile] case) wrote in [community profile] fandomsecrets2014-01-25 03:42 pm

[ SECRET POST #2580 ]


⌈ Secret Post #2580 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


__________________________________________________



02.


__________________________________________________



03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06.


__________________________________________________



07.


__________________________________________________



08.


__________________________________________________



09.


__________________________________________________



10.


__________________________________________________



11.


__________________________________________________



12.















Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 082 secrets from Secret Submission Post #369.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

(Anonymous) 2014-01-25 10:31 pm (UTC)(link)
It's as offensive as calling someone a muggle. Or even less because the average Japanese person never watched Code Geass.

(Anonymous) 2014-01-25 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, again, it's the part where the OP claims they now use it unironically that interests me. Maybe no one cares enough to be offended (seems like the comment up thread about 2chan says otherwise), but what exactly does that confession mean? I do use 'muggle' ironically, but one day I were to claim that I'm now using it unironically, it would imply that it is now an actual slur to me and I'm okay with using it.

(Anonymous) 2014-01-25 11:04 pm (UTC)(link)
This. Seriously, in a world where real racial slurs exist, whining about a silly fictional one is a waste of time. It's not even insulting - it's a number, just a number. If it were a slur that was clearly an insult (like, I don't know, something of the "shit-head" quality) that might be different.

(Anonymous) 2014-01-25 11:16 pm (UTC)(link)
I find this weird. You speak as if, even in real life, ethnic slurs and the likes are always specific insults. They're not. They're often words that have no inherently offensive meaning in themselves, or are even meaningless, but are derogatory anyway due to what they're associated with.

(Anonymous) 2014-01-25 11:33 pm (UTC)(link)
But ethnic slurs, whether inherently insulting or not, are real.

I can't believe we're having a conversation about how the word "Elevens" has racist power. The whole concept was created by a Japanese person and the Japanese people in the story are the protagonists. It's a plot device designed to make Japanese people victimized special awesome people, as is more than common in Japanese media.

If we got to a point in society where the word Elevens was adapted as a real racial insult, non-otaku type Japanese people were aware of the meaning, and it was used to actually insult them... maybe we'd talk about words evolving. But as it is, this is a ridiculous conversation to even be having.

(Anonymous) 2014-01-25 11:54 pm (UTC)(link)
The word doesn't have to have a wide cultural influence to be insulting on an individual basis. Any Japanese person who is aware of the word's fictional meaning coming into contact with someone using it, and what's more, using it without irony, could be offended, and with fair reason. It all goes back to intention, doesn't it? If you're not using the word ironically, why are you using it at all, unless you mean for it to be an insult? So yes, it makes the OP a dick.

(Anonymous) 2014-01-26 01:49 am (UTC)(link)
OMG, this thread. Somebody, somewhere, always and forever, is going to be offended at something. Even the number 11, apparently.

(Anonymous) 2014-01-26 03:19 am (UTC)(link)
Sure, and faggot is just a bunch of sticks. Don't be dicks to people, it's not hard. If you have to wonder, "Is using this word offensive to an entire nation?" it probably is.

(Anonymous) 2014-01-26 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
nayrt

did you really just compare "faggot" to "elevens"???

and then suggest that elevens was offensive to an entire nation?

(Anonymous) 2014-01-25 11:19 pm (UTC)(link)
You realize that a lot of slurs don't *start* from an offensive word, they become offensive because of the way people use them.

Jap was just a shortening of Japanese, still pretty offensive.

(Anonymous) 2014-01-25 11:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, "Elevens" is totally just like "Jap" and they have the same historical context and everything

(Anonymous) 2014-01-26 08:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Jap is pretty bad, it's better if you use Nips.

(Anonymous) 2014-01-25 11:26 pm (UTC)(link)
It may not be a real insult, but it's probably not a good idea to call Japanese people that. Everyone is a muggle, so calling someone a muggle doesn't really mean anything. However, not everyone is Japanese, and depending on where you live, Japanese people do face discrimination. So, it's probably not the greatest idea to call Japanese people something other than "Japanese people".

(Anonymous) 2014-01-25 11:35 pm (UTC)(link)
I agree with this, though I think it's ridiculous (and mildly insulting) to call Elevens a racist insult, if you are unable to call Japanese people... Japanese people... you have a problem.

(Anonymous) 2014-01-26 12:00 am (UTC)(link)
But even the fictional meaning of 'Eleven' doesn't mean "Japanese people", it means "Japanese people stripped of all national identity and brought low to the point where they're just a number in our system". Are you arguing that, in the context of the show, it isn't a racial slur? Because it totally is.

Now, whether a fictional slur should be considered insulting in the real world is a different discussion. But it's probably not a good idea to use it anyway because of reasons mentioned in the previous comment.

(Anonymous) 2014-01-26 09:17 am (UTC)(link)
Muggle isn't an offensive word in Harry Potter though. Elevens used in the context in Code Geass is a reminder to the Japanese people that they lost autonomy as a nation and people and are lesser than and subordinates to their colonizers, the Britannia Empire.

It's like in the Potter-verse of calling a Muggle a Mudblood basically.