I just wanted to take some time to write up my thoughts on this, as what I was hoping for was the minority among the admins and certainly the community. The old censor list, which I did not contribute to, included some “less offensive” words that are commonplace in online settings because of the guise of anonymity. Mostly these have to do with handicaps/perceived handicaps and, while not necessarily offensive to me on a personal level, I suppose they are offensive on a theoretical one. I believe, whole-heatedly, that the way in which we choose to use language is important. Allowing for certain words that offensive only in specific situations (or perhaps better stated, in an offline, social world) to be so common in our online community only serves to desensitize us to the true nature of their offensiveness.

I am a fan of analogies, so I’ll throw one—in the United States, violence is common in entertainment and media. This is especially true on the internet, and especially true on the internet that I grew up with. I remember being in high school and exploring the dark recesses of the web at that point and finding David Pearl’s execution video. It didn’t necessarily phase me at that point, because I was at an age where I had been playing violent games and watching violent movies with enough regularity that “just another violent video” didn’t strike me. I’m sure if I witnessed It happening, I would react much differently. But it has been over a decade and I still remember that, and I remember the website (not that I think it still exists, I really don’t know).

In the same light, there are very few people, myself included, who take the persona they online into their daily lives. When we use language that disparages a subset of people in one setting because it is “okay” to do so there, we stop thinking of it as anything but okay. Perhaps it’s because I’m so engrossed in the teaching world now and I spend so much time reading about inclusivity and the history and reason behind it that this has become so much more important to me in the past two years or so.

“But tbham, you’re no better than us, you used to say terrible things on the internet, too!”

Yes, I did. It’s not like I’m not aware of that, but I have changed how I approach interactions online. I don’t expect every person in the community to do so, because it’s unrealistic, and, again, this is the internet, and most of you are much younger than me. I don’t mean to say that I’m better than anyone, I just have a different opinion, and I hope on some level someone can agree with the idea behind what I’m trying to say, whether or not they care to change their behavior within the CTL. Maybe it’ll give someone thoughts on how they approach life outside of the internet. I know it’s helped me be a better person in general, whether or not you believe or care about that.