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Pastimes : THE SLIGHTLY MODERATED BOXING RING -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Poet who wrote (10621)	4/24/2002 8:45:38 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 21057

Why so much discomfort with calling a spade a spade in this regard? Because I think they (the people who constructed this word and now the people putting it in dictionaries) are calling something besides a spade a spade and then putting a definition in the dictionary to define that thing as a spade. A spade in this case would be someone who had a strong, irrational, hard to overcome fear of homsexuals or homosexuality. Someone who hates homosexuals and esp. someone who attacks homosexuals based on this hate should be called something worse then just a "phobe" or homosexuals. That action wouldn't have any simularity with someone who avoids closets and only drives full sized cars because of their claustrophobia. Someone who is of the opinion that homosexual activity is immoral probably doesn't need any special word to discribe them. If you feel that they are intolerant or a prude or mean spirited you can call them those things. Some people who dislike homosexuality or think that it is immoral or disgusting probably actually do fear homosexuality or homosexuals but many of them, probably a majority do not. I just see that a spade, and a rake, and a hoe are all being called a spade... Even if I didn't think this was being used as an attack the imprecision would be annoying. But I also think it is like calling someone who believes in a lot of government spending and control a libertarianaphobe, or perhaps a freedomphobe. Or saying that someone who wants limited government suffers from governmentaphobia. Calling someone's opinions a phobia is an attack on them, it is calling them irrational. If people actually do want to attack them I would prefer it be more straight forward and direct rather then by making up new words to confuse the issue and imply things that may not be true. Yes "governmentaphobia", is not in the dictionary, but would you like the word any better if it was? Would you like to be called a "conservaphobe" or a "republiphobe"? Tim