The Word 'hysteria' Has An Ugly Past

[ValhaHazred]

The modern usages is not sexist in anyway.

The very fact that this thread was started at all proves you wrong. If you where right it wouldn't have started because no one would say it was.

 

EXCEPT SEVERAL OF US ARE. 

[FrothingLoins]

B®itches be crazy.

 

Also, you pantysniffers are blowing this way out of proportion.

 

 Guess what? Death Knights in WoW have an ability called Hysteria. WoW DKs can be female.

 

 Nobody ever made a QQ thread about the name there.

 

 

 It depresses me that the maturity and level of "in touch with reality" on the freaking WoW forums (See also internet sphincter) is higher than the Moarfarm forums.

 

 

 I no longer want to live in this Sol System anymore.

 

You guys can all Orokin Derelict my balls.

Edited November 21, 2013 by FrothingLoins

[BizarreFetalChimpanzee]

Well, while I do agree that they could have maybe chosen a more fitting word for the ability, I don't find the word hysteria to be particularly offensive. Whenever I have heard it used or whenever I have used it personally, it has been referring to instances of mass hysteria; ie, how crazy people were going about 2012 or the Swine/Bird Flu. Not for some sexist connotation that I didn't even know existed until the creation of this thread. 

[Zakalwe]

The very fact that this thread was started at all proves you wrong. If you where right it wouldn't have started because no one would say it was.

 

EXCEPT SEVERAL OF US ARE. 

Several people being ignorant of the way language evolves and rallying to make a mountain out of nothing doesn't = proof.

 

The fact is if you went up to 100 people in the street and asked them, they would have no idea of the dark history of this word.

 

That's because it no longer means that.

 

Feel free to test it to prove my point.

[Buzkyl]

I'm actually abit concern people found sexism in the skillset of Valkyr and wanted to site how the word were use before as evidence. 

 

Stop overthinking, relax

[BlueThingy]

Alright, if you want to play that game then the word "Bad" is also an offensive word.

 

As it derives from the Old English word: Baeddel, which was a derogitory insult insult torwards Transgendered people or Feminine men.

 

So you hear that guys? Don't use the word "Bad" or you might offened some LGBTWTFBBQ Linguists.

 

The word bad isn't still used today to specifically insult transfolk or feminine men.

 

The word hysteria is used to denigrate women and people acting in a feminine or childish way today and support a culture of sexism from the bottom to the top.  It's not about offense.  It was really only ever partially about offense.

 

Maybe we can just not be so thin-skinned and not give a damn.

Where I live at the N-word is literally used as a term of endearment and as a greeting on a regular basis.

And everything is perfectly fine.

Nobody is offended, and nobody is partaking in Hate crimes or racist activities.

 

I can say from personal experience

If you trivialize the word, you trivialize the hate behind it.

 

Personal anecdotal experience aside.  The N-word does harm.  It's been tainted by generations of derogatory use. The attempts at reclaiming it have been filled with good intentions.  But the reason that the N-word is harmful has not gone away.  And simply USING it won't make it go away.

 

The word itself has no power.  Of course not.  No word does.  No word is really inherently racist.  But then again, neither is really anything.  Context creates racism.  And no, not the context of your sentence or your conversation or whatever.  It's the context of a deeply racist culture that empowered the word and gave it to racists who still use it.  You can't take it from them.  Best you can hope for is to bar them from saying it for so long that racism itself ends and all humans are reguarded equally.  Then the word will have no power.

 

 

 

Or, at least, wait so long that what people are being racist about changes. Then at least it will mean some new kind of slur.

 

 

 

So you hear that guys? Don't use the word "Bad" or you might offened some LGBTWTFBBQ Linguists.

 

And this is what I'm talking about.  Nothing is inherently bigoted.  But within the context of a culture that marginalizes, criminalizes, and brutally murders people not conforming to the gender and sexual norms?  Where entire swaths of millions of people who are fighting just to be recognized as human beings are being mocked and told to shut up and sit in the corner.  Entire movements are mocked and attacked every day from every angle.  When you say stuff like that?  You're just another one, piling just a bit more hate.  Just a bit more mockery.

[FrothingLoins]

The word bad isn't still used today to specifically insult transfolk or feminine men.

 

The word hysteria is used to denigrate women and people acting in a feminine or childish way today and support a culture of sexism from the bottom to the top.  It's not about offense.  It was really only ever partially about offense.

 

 

Personal anecdotal experience aside.  The N-word does harm.  It's been tainted by generations of derogatory use. The attempts at reclaiming it have been filled with good intentions.  But the reason that the N-word is harmful has not gone away.  And simply USING it won't make it go away.

 

The word itself has no power.  Of course not.  No word does.  No word is really inherently racist.  But then again, neither is really anything.  Context creates racism.  And no, not the context of your sentence or your conversation or whatever.  It's the context of a deeply racist culture that empowered the word and gave it to racists who still use it.  You can't take it from them.  Best you can hope for is to bar them from saying it for so long that racism itself ends and all humans are reguarded equally.  Then the word will have no power.

 

 

 

Or, at least, wait so long that what people are being racist about changes. Then at least it will mean some new kind of slur.

 

 

 

 

And this is what I'm talking about.  Nothing is inherently bigoted.  But within the context of a culture that marginalizes, criminalizes, and brutally murders people not conforming to the gender and sexual norms?  Where entire swaths of millions of people who are fighting just to be recognized as human beings are being mocked and told to shut up and sit in the corner.  Entire movements are mocked and attacked every day from every angle.  When you say stuff like that?  You're just another one, piling just a bit more hate.  Just a bit more mockery.

 

You sir lead a small life.

 

 I'd say you're being hysterical about this.

 

Edit: Also the fact that "riot" was suggested as a less harmful ability name is laughable. My uncle was trampled in the Seattle WTO riots and died on the scene. Ever survived a real riot? Ever SEEN one? It is humanity at it's most horrifying and disgusting.

 

 But man, using a word that once referenced old-antiquity medical theory is just not ok.

Edited November 21, 2013 by FrothingLoins

[BlueIstari]

How about we just stop being offended by small things and move on with our lives? This PC police garbage is unproductive and juvenile.

[TwiceDead]

 Please stop making threads that relate to a words history, I could pull 20 out of a hat right now.

Impressive. I tilt my hat to you. [/no sarcasm, completely serious]

 

But yeah, I don't really see anything wrong in calling the skill Hysteria. I'm not really aware with words in history and how taboo they were in the past, but let's just focus on the present. 

[Cursor]

How about we just stop being offended by small things and move on with our lives? This PC police garbage is unproductive and juvenile.

 

Wrong, I'm afraid.  I don't mean that to be offensive, I just think it's patently incorrect.

 

It's difficult to combat something as institutionalized and socially ingrained as sexism.  It's extremely easy to allow it to just slip by, not even in an overt or violent way, just in small things that people do and say.  It has to be opposed at every instance, unfortunately.  The only way to affect change is to educate people, and make them aware when something they've done or said is not okay.

 

This is the only way to be productive.

Edited November 21, 2013 by Cursor

[Yg-Dosst]

 

And this is what I'm talking about.  Nothing is inherently bigoted.  But within the context of a culture that marginalizes, criminalizes, and brutally murders people not conforming to the gender and sexual norms?  Where entire swaths of millions of people who are fighting just to be recognized as human beings are being mocked and told to shut up and sit in the corner.  Entire movements are mocked and attacked every day from every angle.  When you say stuff like that?  You're just another one, piling just a bit more hate.  Just a bit more mockery.

 

You seem to overestimate the amount of fucks I give about politics at this point.

I don't play video games, nor browse the forums to listen to bigoted political opinions bashing other bigoted political opinions.

 

Warframe doesn't have that problem.

Go somwhere where that problem does exist.

Make a voyage to the Middle East, so you can spread the good word.

Why don't you try fixing the inhuman atrocities, such as women getting acid dumped on them by extremists, before you start *@##$ing about rhetoric in a random video game.

 

I hope you realize how shallow you look right now.

 

Being an Internet Social Justice Warrior does literally nothing.

Just like every last bit of the "Slactivist" movements.

 

The "LGBTWTFBBQ" was a jab at the "Alphabet Soup" Slippery Slope that the movement is riding down.

I've lost track of how many letters It has now and no longer care enough to look it up.

[BlueThingy]

Wrong, I'm afraid.  I don't mean that to be offensive, I just think it's patently incorrect.

 

It's difficult to combat something as institutionalized and socially ingrained as sexism.  It's extremely easy to allow it to just slip by, not even in an overt or violent way, just in small things that people do and say.  It has to be opposed at every instance, unfortunately.  The only way to affect change is to educate people, and make them aware when something they've done or said is not okay.

 

This is the only way to be productive.

 

Agreed.

[BlueIstari]

It's difficult to combat something as institutionalized and socially ingrained as sexism.

 

Uh-huh... please define sexism, as I'm curious what brand of social justice loon I'm interacting with.

 

It's extremely easy to allow it to just slip by, not even in an overt or violent way, just in small things that people do and say.  It has to be opposed at every instance, unfortunately.  The only way to affect change is to educate people, and make them aware when something they've done or said is not okay.

 

So, yeah, you want to be a thought policeman. People should talk and act how you want them to, offensive intent be damned! You'll be glad to know that according to George Orwell, you'll have a very pivitol government role in the future.

 

This is the only way to be productive.

 

Yeah, because treating a segment of society as a protected class really empowers them. I'm sure women greatly appreciate your efforts to protect them from language that you find offensive to all of them.

[Cursor]

Uh-huh... please define sexism, as I'm curious what brand of social justice loon I'm interacting with.

 

Discrimination because of sex, although I'm also an opponent of genderism, which is often mistaken for sexism.  Also, please let's avoid the ad hominems.  It does nothing to strengthen your argument.

 

So, yeah, you want to be a thought policeman. People should talk and act how you want them to, offensive intent be damned! You'll be glad to know that according to George Orwell, you'll have a very pivitol government role in the future.

 

It's not thought policing to tell christian kids that they can't bully other kids for being (filtered: g a y).  Or hell, bullying for any reason.  Do you think slavery was wrong?  Do you think it was still wrong when people were keeping slaves, or was it okay because people said it was okay?  If you're trying to defend sexism then by all means please just say so, so that I too can understand the kind of person I'm interacting with.  Education and indoctrination are two different things, and in this case there are people who are woefully unaware of the harm their actions can cause on both the micro and macro level.

 

Yeah, because treating a segment of society as a protected class really empowers them. I'm sure women greatly appreciate your efforts to protect them from language that you find offensive to all of them.

 

Are you referring to women?  Because I really hope that you're not.  But anyway, this is not a class thing.  Like, at all.  The problem is that there are denigrating, derogatory, and demeaning aspects of society that specifically rob women of power and agency that is afforded to men.  They're not being "protected" because they're struggling to dispel these inequities.

 

But if you want to phrase it that way, then I have no problem admitting that this is my stance.  I abso@(*()$lutely want women to be protected from the wage gap, sexual and gender discrimination, and rape culture.

Edited November 21, 2013 by Cursor

[Yg-Dosst]

Uh-huh... please define sexism, as I'm curious what brand of social justice loon I'm interacting with.

 

 

So, yeah, you want to be a thought policeman. People should talk and act how you want them to, offensive intent be damned! You'll be glad to know that according to George Orwell, you'll have a very pivitol government role in the future.

 

 

Yeah, because treating a segment of society as a protected class really empowers them. I'm sure women greatly appreciate your efforts to protect them from language that you find offensive to all of them.

 

DING DING DING!

WE HAVE A WINNER!

 

[BlueThingy]

You seem to overestimate the amount of fucks I give about politics at this point.

I don't play video games, nor browse the forums to listen to bigoted political opinions bashing other bigoted political opinions.

 

So, again, I ask. Why are you here?  I play video games to escape the homophobia, misogyny, and racism of real life.  But it follows you in.  Honestly, it's like people get more bent out of shape when you CALL something sexist or racist then when something IS sexist or racist.

 

Warframe doesn't have that problem.

Go somwhere where that problem does exist.

 

Warframe has many problems.  Sexism is one of them.

 

 

Make a voyage to the Middle East, so you can spread the good word.

 

Don't have to go anywhere, the sexism came to me.  You really don't have to go far to find it.  And yes, it is racist to single out the middle-east when I am 100% sure that whatever country you are living in(and I'm betting it's nowhere near the middle-east) is chock full of sexism.  Stuff to the gills even.

 

Why don't you try fixing the inhuman atrocities, such as women getting acid dumped on them by extremists, before you start *@##$ing about rhetoric in a random video game.

 

Sexism is sexism is sexism.  The small things are the foundation of the bigger ones.  When people are at the point where they are stripping away human rights and the very lives of people due to one bigotry or another, that's outside my power to fix.  And I've tried.  Not everyone can fight those fights.

 

But I can fight this one.  Games are my medium.  They are a realm of infinite possibility.  Where you can rewrite reality itself to suit you.  Make anything, be anyone.  And bigotry still pervades it.  I think that fighting to keep people's fantasies and entertainment free of this stuff is a decent start.  Change the way people think.  Don't let any of it go without being pointed out.  Make people see.

 

Maybe when people see that even video games are full of this stuff.  Maybe when they start to be able to recognize what these tropes are and how they work. They'll start seeing where they hide in their real life too.

 

 

I hope you realize how shallow you look right now.

 

If that's all? Then that's cool with me.  Been called worse.

 

 

Being an Internet Social Justice Warrior does literally nothing.

Just like every last bit of the "Slactivist" movements.

 

You are objectively wrong.

 

 

The "LGBTWTFBBQ" was a jab at the "Alphabet Soup" Slippery Slope that the movement is riding down.

I've lost track of how many letters It has now and no longer care enough to look it up.

 

...So?  It's still bigotry.  Regardless of what your reasons were, insulting and mocking an already marginalized group struggling for basic human dignity isn't cool.

 

But no one ever apologizes for that sort of thing.  They just double-down.

[__Kanade__]

I was really disappointed to hear that the Valkyr's ultimate ability is named "Hysteria". Though the word on it's own doesn't mean anything terribly offensive, it has an ugly history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hysteria

 

The summarize quickly: Hysteria was a word used to trivialize the feelings of women in the past. The details are much worse than I'd rather mention here.

 

I'd much rather if her ultimate had a name more like "Blind Fury", "Claw Riot", or just "Unbridled Rage". My favorite of the three is the latter, since it better matches her theme of being a rebellious captive much better.

 

Please consider renaming this ability.

Same for the word "G-A-Y", but now it means homo instead of being happy and jolly, but you don't see anyone complaining about it.

[BlueThingy]

So, yeah, you want to be a thought policeman. People should talk and act how you want them to, offensive intent be damned! You'll be glad to know that according to George Orwell, you'll have a very pivitol government role in the future.

 

 

I assure you.  If you want to be sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic or any other thing your heart desires?  There is literally nothing we can do about it.  At least in America it's not illegal to be a bigot.

[Cursor]

-snipped-

 

Except that feminists don't tell women how to act.  In fact, liberation and agency is core to feminism.  Women can be whoever they want to be.

[Yg-Dosst]

 

Are you referring to women?  Because I really hope that you're not.  But anyway, this is not a class thing.  Like, at all.  The problem is that there are denigrating, derogatory, and demeaning aspects of society that specifically rob women of power and agency that is afforded to men.  They're not being "protected" because they're struggling to dispel these inequities.

 

But if you want to phrase it that way, then I have no problem admitting that this is my stance.  I abso@(*()$lutely want women to be protected from the wage gap, sexual and gender discrimination, and rape culture.

 

Then why in the living F*** aren't you on the proper site discussing those.

Why must you be on a God-damned Forum board for a video game to discuss politics over a single @(*()$ word in that game.

 

Also look at your own post again:

 

They're not being "protected" because they're struggling to dispel these inequities.

 

You're implying that all women have the exact same stance of opinion.

You are holding that ideal that EVERYONE MUST share your opinion on politics, because you're right.

That's the definition of bigoted.

[Cursor]

Then why in the living F*** aren't you on the proper site discussing those.

Why must you be on a God-damned Forum board for a video game to discuss politics over a single @(*()$ word in that game.

 

Also look at your own post again:

 

You're implying that all women have the exact same stance of opinion.

You are holding that ideal that EVERYONE MUST share your opinion on politics, because you're right.

That's the definition of bigoted.

 

Sexism needs to be fought at every turn.  And mass media is rife with sexism.  This is actually one of the most important places to combat it.

 

Women can be sexist too, you realize?  Like, sexist against women?  That's how indoctrination works.  And again, I point to my slavery example.  It's wrong now.  Was it wrong 200 years ago?  Or was it magically okay because a culture said it was okay and and a millenia old book that said it was okay?

[Yg-Dosst]

 

Don't have to go anywhere, the sexism came to me.  You really don't have to go far to find it.  And yes, it is racist to single out the middle-east when I am 100% sure that whatever country you are living in(and I'm betting it's nowhere near the middle-east) is chock full of sexism.  Stuff to the gills even.

 

 

Sexism is sexism is sexism.  The small things are the foundation of the bigger ones.  When people are at the point where they are stripping away human rights and the very lives of people due to one bigotry or another, that's outside my power to fix.  And I've tried.  Not everyone can fight those fights.

 

But I can fight this one.  Games are my medium.  They are a realm of infinite possibility.  Where you can rewrite reality itself to suit you.  Make anything, be anyone.  And bigotry still pervades it.  I think that fighting to keep people's fantasies and entertainment free of this stuff is a decent start.  Change the way people think.  Don't let any of it go without being pointed out.  Make people see.

 

Maybe when people see that even video games are full of this stuff.  Maybe when they start to be able to recognize what these tropes are and how they work. They'll start seeing where they hide in their real life too.

 

 

Rev up that Tinfoil Hat, Nancy! Didn't you hear? The whole system is out to get me!

 

 

...So?  It's still bigotry.  Regardless of what your reasons were, insulting and mocking an already marginalized group struggling for basic human dignity isn't cool.

 

 

Yes, the idea that you must cut off your own genitals and subject yourself to massive amounts of chemicals your body does not produce because you hate the body you were born in is definitely related to dignity.

 

Or so says the "T" of "LGBT"

[LordGale]

Everybody, chill the F*** out.
You're all getting off topic.

Hysteria is @(*()$ perfect. Yes, it's a word with unfortunate implications. Valkyr is unfortunate implications personified. Her @(*()$ blurb says she's scared, angry, and willing to kill. That's one way to use the word hysterical. What you rather we call it? "Valkyr-takes-great-offense-to-the-implications-of-her-backstory"?

It could have been named a ton of things, but Hysteria fits perfectly because THE SKILL IS HER PTSD AND FLASHBACKS OF THE ZANUKA PROJECT GIVING HER WAKING NIGHTMARES, DURING WHICH SHE GOES BERSERK.

[BlueThingy]

Yes, the idea that you must cut off your own genitals and subject yourself to massive amounts of chemicals your body does not produce because you hate the body you were born in is definitely related to dignity.

 

Or so says the "T" of "LGBT"

 

I was gonna say something sarcastic here.  But this topic is rather personal.  I will say this once and then I am dropping this line

 

You do not know what you are talking about.

 

 

Rev up that Tinfoil Hat, Nancy! Didn't you hear? The whole system is out to get me!

 

Ad hominem.  No need to reply

[Yg-Dosst]

Sexism needs to be fought at every turn.  And mass media is rife with sexism.  This is actually one of the most important places to combat it.

 

Women can be sexist too, you realize?  Like, sexist against women?  That's how indoctrination works.  And again, I point to my slavery example.  It's wrong now.  Was it wrong 200 years ago?  Or was it magically okay because a culture said it was okay and and a millenia old book that said it was okay?

 

You fail to understand the fact that it's a Single word that has lost it's meaning.

That's what we're talking about.

That's what this whole hoo-plah is about.

 

Also the idea that men are "Forcing" women to believe and think that it's okay to be treated wrong is just insane.

 

You are advocating for Censorship and thought policing.

 

As for the slavery example it's far past irrelevant from the rather neutral connotation of a word meaning "intense emotion"

As is your shoe-horned jab at religion.

How about we go back to the more relevant "Baeddel" example that you completely passed over?