I can see the perspective that they're both protected classes, treating them the same. The only reason mst people don't connote the similarities is probably because of the longevity of use and historic context. This is a forum about God, which is an aspect of religion, therefore making the space an implicit that those words be used in the pejorative.
ie. If this were neonazi.com I would expect to see tons of use of the former and few of the latter. However doing a quick search of the forums, the 15 pages of threads with "christard" are relatively small compared to the 31 pages of threads containing "nigger". From my perspective, generally, I don't see see christard as offensive, just unproductive. I feel even less concern about the other word and neither are in my usually exclamatory vocabulary. I would say, as a site, that it's policed very well for discussion purposes and I trust the admins to do whatever they've been doing to maintain that, even if I personally might disagree with some of the rules.
Discussion is a social contract, and entering into that contract there is the implicit position of being able to offend and being open to offense. </2 cents>
ie. If this were neonazi.com I would expect to see tons of use of the former and few of the latter. However doing a quick search of the forums, the 15 pages of threads with "christard" are relatively small compared to the 31 pages of threads containing "nigger". From my perspective, generally, I don't see see christard as offensive, just unproductive. I feel even less concern about the other word and neither are in my usually exclamatory vocabulary. I would say, as a site, that it's policed very well for discussion purposes and I trust the admins to do whatever they've been doing to maintain that, even if I personally might disagree with some of the rules.
Discussion is a social contract, and entering into that contract there is the implicit position of being able to offend and being open to offense. </2 cents>
"There ought to be a term that would designate those who actually follow the teachings of Jesus, since the word 'Christian' has been largely divorced from those teachings, and so polluted by fundamentalists that it has come to connote their polar opposite: intolerance, vindictive hatred, and bigotry." -- Philip Stater, Huffington Post
always working on cleaning my windows- me regarding Johari
always working on cleaning my windows- me regarding Johari
