Dear asshole, let me explain to you the power of words

Over at Pharyngula PZ has a post up about one of the GamerGate shitspigots.  This guy has created a totally insipid, reality challenged cartoon of the differences between a feminist and a feminazi.  You can head over there and see the idiocy for yourself, but what I wanted to focus on is this little gem.

Actually I’m not antisemitic. I love kikes just as much as I love niggers and faggots. Awww have I offended your little SJW feels with my awful words? Suck it up, shithead. ACTIONS are what count in the real world. Words don’t mean a fucking thing. Being offended doesn’t mean a fucking thing either.
I support equal rights for EVERYBODY from every walk of life but I hate word policing and social justice warriors with all my heart.
Get on my level, you hypersensitive little cunt!

(the following is my response over at Pharyngula, which I think is worth repeating)

These little fucknuggets kill me.
They get so mad and frustrated that people dare to criticize them for using gendered or racial slurs so they tell us that these words don’t mean a thing and don’t have any power. Yet they’ve just gotten emotional over the use of words to criticize them.
Then there’s the problem of trying to minimize the power of words when there’s ample evidence that they very much affect us–and not just in one direction (offense).

Words have the power to engage us and draw us in. How many people have read a really fantastic book by a writer that draws you into the world, or gets you engaged in a character such that you actually care about what happens to that character?
That’s the power of words.

How many atheists engage in debates with theists, hoping to sway them (or the other way around)? Debates use words (wow I feel silly saying that). Those words, when strung together properly and with a strong enough argument, can be enough to sway opinions. Words can change minds.
That’s the power of words.

How many people have worked up the courage to ask someone on a date, only to be rejected for whatever reason? Sure some people bounce back and take rejection well. Others get bummed out. They get melancholy. They get morose. Due to words.
That’s the power of words.

Conversely, how many people have worked up the courage to ask someone on a date, and found that person has accepted? Remember that joy? Remember that happiness? Remember those butterflies? You got those all from words that were spoken.
That’s the power of words.

What about grandparents who hear from their child that they’re going to be grandparents?

The college student who finds they haven’t been accepted to medical school?

The lesbian couple who learn that their state legalized same-sex marriage, so they can get married after years of wanting to do so?

Four little words–“Will You Marry me”–can have such power over people. It can cause people to squeem* in joy or recoil in horror. Words did that.

The feeling in your gut…the sorrow…the anger…the frustration you feel when you hear the words “You’re fired”?
All of that, and so much more…that’s the power of words. Words touch us. They affect our moods. They have the power to uplift up us or tear us down to the deepest, darkest doldrums. They have the power to take us on flights of fantasy that we’ve never dreamed of or stir unspeakable rage inside us. They have the power to bring our darkest fears to light and to showcase our greatest triumphs.

To deny the power of words is to deny reality.

But then we are talking about anti-feminists. and dealing with reality is not their strong suit.

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Dear asshole, let me explain to you the power of words
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11 thoughts on “Dear asshole, let me explain to you the power of words

  1. 1

    Hey, Mr. Inner-tube lips, in all of your asinine ranting and raving about Sam Harris and his supposed bigotry towards Islam, you trotted out Right Wing lunatics as our bigger threat.

    Do yourself a favor and look at the Pew research on Muslim attitudes and violence.

    I added the numbers and 13% of Muslims in the Pew polls supported violence, including suicide bombing of civilians, in defense of Islam.

    There are extremists in any group but no other culture or religion on planet Earth would have numbers like that regarding violence against innocent people.

    Put that in your hysterical, overbearing ass pipe and smoke it.

  2. 2

    So you have evidence that US citizens are in greater danger from Islamic extremists rather than domestic terrorists? Great.
    Where’s the link?

  3. 4

    Nice link.
    I guess you’re still looking for evidence that Islamic extremists are a greater threat to US civilians than domestic terrorists. Good luck with that.

  4. 5

    Hey goober, the old saying “ignorance is bliss” is not really meant to be taken literally.

    Three thousand people were murdered on 9/11 in this country alone.

    Do a little research and look at the number of innocent people killed by terrorists over the last 15 years and see if you can notice what the perpetrators have in common.

    I’ll give you a hint:

    They weren’t Jains, Christians or Buddhists.

  5. 6

    Also, what does world news (or Canadian news) have to do with the level of danger American citizens are in from Islamic extremists?
    http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/04/the-greater-danger-military-trained-right-wing-extremists/275277/

    http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/04/charts-domestic-terrorism-jihadist-boston-tsarnaev

    http://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/2014/08/domestic-terrorism/

    http://www.splcenter.org/home/2013/spring/the-year-in-hate-and-extremism

    and then there’s this:
    http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/publications/terror-from-the-right
    There have been over 100 right wing plots, conspiracies, and racist rampages since the Oklahoma City bombings.

    Again, people who live in the US are in greater danger of domestic terrorist attacks than Islamic extremists. Whatever your deal is with Islam, you need to deal with reality.

  6. 7

    I know all about the September 11 attacks. I know we lost thousands of civilians. It doesn’t change the fact that we are not in greater danger from an attack from Islamic extremists. Domestic terrorists pose a greater threat to Americans, and I’ve backed that up with evidence. You’ve yet to present any.

  7. 8

    Holy shit goober!!!

    Please name the Right Wing terrorist that murdered three thousand innocent Americans in one day or a hundred days!!

    The U.S. government has much better covert operations and surely many more spies inside our country to deal with the Right Wing lunatics than they do to deal with the Islamic lunatics that are scattered around the planet!!

    And some of the Islamis lunatics are supported financially by foreign government with deep pockets and access to powerful military weapons capable of far more destruction than our own homegrown idiots have access to.

    Please do yourself the favor of pulling your head out of whoevers ass it happens to be inside of.

  8. 9

    I guess you have nothing further to add to this conversation since you cannot produce evidence that Americans are in greater danger from Islamic terrorists than domestic terrorists. You continue to use the September 11 attacks as “evidence” that we’re in greater danger from Islamic extremists, while discounting the continuing violence from right wing militias (plural), sovereign citizens, and domestic hate groups.
    But whatever. You clearly have no intention of pulling your head out of your ass and dealing in facts. You have a narrative that you’re going to stick to, evidence be damned.

  9. 10

    Those links provide nothing other than to assert that there are lunatics in any society.

    Our homegrown idiots don’t have access to the types of weapons that foreign lunatics supported by large groups of jihadists or governments do have access to.

    And again, this country doesn’t have any state that has a majority that would support executing apostates, adulterers, and foreigners that offend their ancient holy book. Or even a significant minority. Which many, though certainly not all, Muslim cultures do support.

    That’s the type of Caveman mentality that separates the Muslim population from every other population in the world.

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