Weeb revolt over trap censorship

Status
Not open for further replies.

Dreiko

Elite Member
Legacy
May 1, 2020
2,943
1,000
118
CT
Country
usa
Gender
male, pronouns: your majesty/my lord/daddy
I don't think laymen would know what a trap is in the first place
Well at least it has the benefit of being in a language they can speak. If I started using Japanese words like it's normal people's eyes would glaze over. Also, incidentally, that is what a weeb would do, using random Japanese in everyday English speech is super cringe lol. I'm actually old enough to remember the original definition and not the reclaimed one for that term that is more like a synonym to otaku or something nowadays, so I avoid acting in that way at all times XD.
 

Chimpzy

Simian Abomination
Legacy
Escapist +
Apr 3, 2020
12,878
9,325
118
Well at least it has the benefit of being in a language they can speak. If I started using Japanese words like it's normal people's eyes would glaze over. Also, incidentally, that is what a weeb would do, using random Japanese in everyday English speech is super cringe lol. I'm actually old enough to remember the original definition and not the reclaimed one for that term that is more like a synonym to otaku or something nowadays, so I avoid acting in that way at all times XD.
Then, use something like femboy or tomgirl instead. Those are in a language they can speak, and have the benefit of actually conveying the meaning of feminine boy much better to someone who is not kneedeep into anime subculture, while also not carrying the negative connotation of trickery that trap does (as well as being a poor translation of otokonoko).
 

Thaluikhain

Elite Member
Legacy
Jan 16, 2010
19,147
3,890
118
Is it? I thought it was specifically a cross-dressing thing.
Such distinctions presumably being lost on transphobic types. It gets used as a slur against trans people (or did a few years ago, I might be a bit behind the times).

But yeah, hard not to have negative connotations with the word "trap", given it's more usual meaning.
 

Dreiko

Elite Member
Legacy
May 1, 2020
2,943
1,000
118
CT
Country
usa
Gender
male, pronouns: your majesty/my lord/daddy
Then, use something like femboy or tomgirl instead. Those are in a language they can speak, and have the benefit of actually conveying the meaning of feminine boy much better to someone who is not kneedeep into anime subculture, while also not carrying the negative connotation of trickery that trap does (as well as being a poor translation of otokonoko).
To me femboy sounds more like a diss, like calling someone a sissy if that makes sense, like you're not really a boy, you're a weaker version of one! Meanwhile a lot of otokonoko would literally proclaim their manliness with utterances like "I am a man among men!" and so on. And this is the first time in my life I see "tomgirl", never heard that one before lol.


Honestly, I don't even really call em traps when I think about it, most of the time I just call em dudes since that's what they are, cause what they dress like seems to be reductive to the char anyhow. I just don't care for language being policed like this by people who don't even get what it's about.

Such distinctions presumably being lost on transphobic types. It gets used as a slur against trans people (or did a few years ago, I might be a bit behind the times).

But yeah, hard not to have negative connotations with the word "trap", given it's more usual meaning.
Yeah so from this I guess the important thing here is context.


If you have some crazy conservative type ranting about trans people and using the word trap interchangeably with other insults, that's one thing.

If you have anime fans discussing a show, that's another.

Treating the latter like it's just the same as the former, well, that's just nuts.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Specter Von Baren

Worgen

Follower of the Glorious Sun Butt.
Legacy
Apr 1, 2009
15,014
3,879
118
Gender
Whatever, just wash your hands.
Such distinctions presumably being lost on transphobic types. It gets used as a slur against trans people (or did a few years ago, I might be a bit behind the times).

But yeah, hard not to have negative connotations with the word "trap", given it's more usual meaning.
Maybe, but I've still never really seen it used in a negative way. The term certainly has that connotation, but I've only seen it used in the affirmative, such as a 'trap thread' where people want to see traps. Maybe I stopped being a /b/tard before it really came into their lexicon.
 

McElroy

Elite Member
Legacy
Apr 3, 2013
4,609
387
88
Finland
Uhhh, what?
You have a tendency to deflect criticism by saying it's written out in problematic language. That it's telling of the critic that they devalue some group of people. But some people do sad and pathetic things sometimes even though it doesn't hurt anyone else. They can be criticized for that nevertheless.
 

Worgen

Follower of the Glorious Sun Butt.
Legacy
Apr 1, 2009
15,014
3,879
118
Gender
Whatever, just wash your hands.
You have a tendency to deflect criticism by saying it's written out in problematic language. That it's telling of the critic that they devalue some group of people. But some people do sad and pathetic things sometimes even though it doesn't hurt anyone else. They can be criticized for that nevertheless.
Not really? Still not quite sure what you are talking about here, can you rephrase? Cause I really don't fully understand your point here.
 

Kae

That which exists in the absence of space.
Legacy
Nov 27, 2009
5,792
712
118
Country
The Dreamlands
Gender
Lose 1d20 sanity points.
nothing. Just a few butt holes that want to act like they have the final word on anything when they don't. I find this ironic coming from Reddit, because they sure as hell don't have the high moral ground. I'm mainly talking about the mods. I remember talking to you either from the Devil May Cry form in, and at the DMC Reddit, that particular form became a nightmare. After the controversy with the reboot and things finally settled down, it was a cool place to go to. When Devil May Cry 5 was announced and the forum was doing great. When the game released things were fine for a time, but then assholes started showing up and just wanted to post shitpost and a whole bunch of dumb memes instead of talking about anyting character story related to the series. What was a real kick in the groin was that the modders would encourage bad behavior like this. any positive thoughts or meaningful discussions was routed out or punished. like the game that forms, the mods were encouraging people to act like assholes. That is why I am glad I never joined Reddit. It was as I suspected when I first heard about it back in my early twenties, about place founded by assholes for assholes.
Yeah I don't like Reddit either to be honest, while I do like shitposting it shouldn't be the only thing to do and having an earnest discussion is good from time to time, though I'll admit I'm more of a lurker for that type of stuff rather than an actual participant, but I get what you mean, to be honest what little I've seen of reddit since it isn't a platform I use seems to be purely memes.

No brother! Return to the shitposting side!

I'm always shitposting, but I do have some opinions on things that I guess need to be stated more earneastely if I am to communicate them effectively, as fun as shitposting is , it's hard to deduce what the poster's intention's are from it.

Edit: More seriously. I think the term "trap" is fine so long as it is being used in jest and small doses, there's nothing wrong with people ribbing each other or making a joke so long as no one goes overboard and makes it a problem. I'm autistic and people often use it as a negative description of something but I don't mind it and can laugh at it myself so long as it is being used for things that it is actually relevant for (If it just becomes shorthand for "bad" then I have a problem with it) and not all the time then I think that is fine too.

The more difficult thing is to use words with responsibility. Just allowing outright hateful words to be said with no recourse or banning words entirely are both the easy way out and extremes that I feel are the wrong route.
The thing is that language is fluid, the meaning of words is always changing and as such it's impossible to keep them consistent, I mean the actual definition of the word trap has very little to do with what's actually being discussed here, the problem is that it was given a negative connotation by transphobes, then it became an anime meme and now that it's used and status as meme has been solidified it's slowly being claimed by transphobes again under the guise of it just being an anime meme, like I get it can be funny and that there's lots of good memes with that word, but due to the fluid nature of language it's impossible to restrict it's use specifically to anime.

In any case the comparison to autistic seems fair at first, but the word autistic comes from a genuine medical terminology that unfortunately gets used as an insult which was later reclaimed mostly for self-deprecation memes, however the term trap when referring to men that look like women has it's origin on people actively using it to imply that trans-women are rapists, while the use of both words is similar the etymology of one vs. the other is a bit different and considering that one actually originated as a slur, like I said before I don't like the term and it doesn't offend me when it's used against me, but I can see how it would be more offensive to a trans-woman as the term is loaded, it not only implies that she's pretending to be something she's not but that she's also doing so in order to get people to do something undesirable, so it might not hurt my feelings but I can see how it would hurt someone in that situation.

So at the end of the day we have to ask ourselves is the word really fun enough that we should insist on using it despite it's negative connotations?
Are there words that could be used instead?

But of course if you think about it that's just the natural way of language, it may seem like censorship because the fast travel of information has accelerated the speed in which words get cycled but this isn't anything new, when I was kid words like retard and ****** were completely normal to use and nobody saw them particularly negatively but that hasn't really been the case for a while.
 

Kae

That which exists in the absence of space.
Legacy
Nov 27, 2009
5,792
712
118
Country
The Dreamlands
Gender
Lose 1d20 sanity points.
Maybe, but I've still never really seen it used in a negative way. The term certainly has that connotation, but I've only seen it used in the affirmative, such as a 'trap thread' where people want to see traps. Maybe I stopped being a /b/tard before it really came into their lexicon.
Just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

In any case I remembered this video I found a while ago on the subject and while a bit old it more or less expresses what I wanted to say in my previous posts far more eloquently than I can.
 

Houseman

Mad Hatter Meme Machine.
Legacy
Apr 4, 2020
3,910
760
118
it's slowly being claimed by transphobes again under the guise of it just being an anime meme
Is it really? Or are a group of malicious actors trying to change language for their own benefit?

How do you distinguish between a group of people who pop up out of nowhere saying "HEY THIS IS WORD IS BAD NOW STOP USING IT", and "natural language evolution"?

It's kind of like how all these companies are falling over themselves saying "master password is bad now because of racism, it's now called 'Primary password'" and "blacklist is bad now, so it's called ban-list" or something.
 

Worgen

Follower of the Glorious Sun Butt.
Legacy
Apr 1, 2009
15,014
3,879
118
Gender
Whatever, just wash your hands.
Just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

In any case I remembered this video I found a while ago on the subject and while a bit old it more or less expresses what I wanted to say in my previous posts far more eloquently than I can.
Hmm, I assumed that 'trap' generally refereed to feminine but male in pronouns and gender where trans was which ever gender they felt best suited them. From a perspective of this conversation, I know trans is much more complicated irl. Didn't realize it had made that much of a jump to the real world assholes.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kae

Specter Von Baren

Annoying Green Gadfly
Legacy
Aug 25, 2013
5,637
2,856
118
I don't know, send help!
Country
USA
Gender
Cuttlefish
Yeah I don't like Reddit either to be honest, while I do like shitposting it shouldn't be the only thing to do and having an earnest discussion is good from time to time, though I'll admit I'm more of a lurker for that type of stuff rather than an actual participant, but I get what you mean, to be honest what little I've seen of reddit since it isn't a platform I use seems to be purely memes.


I'm always shitposting, but I do have some opinions on things that I guess need to be stated more earneastely if I am to communicate them effectively, as fun as shitposting is , it's hard to deduce what the poster's intention's are from it.


The thing is that language is fluid, the meaning of words is always changing and as such it's impossible to keep them consistent, I mean the actual definition of the word trap has very little to do with what's actually being discussed here, the problem is that it was given a negative connotation by transphobes, then it became an anime meme and now that it's used and status as meme has been solidified it's slowly being claimed by transphobes again under the guise of it just being an anime meme, like I get it can be funny and that there's lots of good memes with that word, but due to the fluid nature of language it's impossible to restrict it's use specifically to anime.

In any case the comparison to autistic seems fair at first, but the word autistic comes from a genuine medical terminology that unfortunately gets used as an insult which was later reclaimed mostly for self-deprecation memes, however the term trap when referring to men that look like women has it's origin on people actively using it to imply that trans-women are rapists, while the use of both words is similar the etymology of one vs. the other is a bit different and considering that one actually originated as a slur, like I said before I don't like the term and it doesn't offend me when it's used against me, but I can see how it would be more offensive to a trans-woman as the term is loaded, it not only implies that she's pretending to be something she's not but that she's also doing so in order to get people to do something undesirable, so it might not hurt my feelings but I can see how it would hurt someone in that situation.

So at the end of the day we have to ask ourselves is the word really fun enough that we should insist on using it despite it's negative connotations?
Are there words that could be used instead?

But of course if you think about it that's just the natural way of language, it may seem like censorship because the fast travel of information has accelerated the speed in which words get cycled but this isn't anything new, when I was kid words like retard and ****** were completely normal to use and nobody saw them particularly negatively but that hasn't really been the case for a while.
If there's one thing I can say about modern day it's how I hate how accelerated everything is. No time for anything, and what was ok one day is bad the next, what was a word that meant one thing now doesn't mean that and so on and so on. It's not change in itself that's so frustrating but how fast everything is going, it feels like there's nothing solid to hold onto and we're just free-falling.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kae

Trunkage

Nascent Orca
Legacy
Jun 21, 2012
9,057
3,042
118
Brisbane
Gender
Cyborg
Is it really? Or are a group of malicious actors trying to change language for their own benefit?
What, like the Swastikas was maliciously turned into a pro-genocide flag?... yeah we know. It happens all the time. Maybe instead of complaining about the people who are pointing out the problem, why don't you deal with the people who MADE the problem
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kae

Houseman

Mad Hatter Meme Machine.
Legacy
Apr 4, 2020
3,910
760
118
Maybe instead of complaining about the people who are pointing out the problem, why don't you deal with the people who MADE the problem
You're right, I'm going to go give those animemes mods a piece of my mind!
 

Kae

That which exists in the absence of space.
Legacy
Nov 27, 2009
5,792
712
118
Country
The Dreamlands
Gender
Lose 1d20 sanity points.
Is it really? Or are a group of malicious actors trying to change language for their own benefit?

How do you distinguish between a group of people who pop up out of nowhere saying "HEY THIS IS WORD IS BAD NOW STOP USING IT", and "natural language evolution"?

It's kind of like how all these companies are falling over themselves saying "master password is bad now because of racism, it's now called 'Primary password'" and "blacklist is bad now, so it's called ban-list" or something.
You can think whatever you want, the fact of the matter is that hate groups like the KKK are using it, if that isn't enough for you to be convinced that's perfectly fine but to be frank I find your argument to be laughable, I have already stated why I believe the word trap when referring to men that look like women is inherently negative, in my previous posts before that video.

If you have something to say as a counter-point to my arguments I'm willing to listen, but the same argument could be made as to why people are so insistent in keeping the word around, that they are manipulating language for their own benefit, which is inherently a fact, we can use the insistence of right-wing parties on calling the Coronavirus "Chinese Virus" as an example, language is inherently political, which changes you think are good or bad says a lot about your personal politics, as it does mine, I believe mine should be very obvious when considering what I'm arguing in favour of and I personally feel no need to hide that.

If there's one thing I can say about modern day it's how I hate how accelerated everything is. No time for anything, and what was ok one day is bad the next, what was a word that meant one thing now doesn't mean that and so on and so on. It's not change in itself that's so frustrating but how fast everything is going, it feels like there's nothing solid to hold onto and we're just free-falling.
I can understand that, the fast pace of modern society is difficult to get a grasp off, often when you learn of something it's already obsolete or disproved and it can be quite stressful to keep up to date with everything and oftentimes it requires a great amount of effort just to know what is even happening today.

Honestly it's all quite overwhelming at times and I can understand the need for comfort by trying to keep things the same even if it's just for a bit longer.
 

Trunkage

Nascent Orca
Legacy
Jun 21, 2012
9,057
3,042
118
Brisbane
Gender
Cyborg
If there's one thing I can say about modern day it's how I hate how accelerated everything is. No time for anything, and what was ok one day is bad the next, what was a word that meant one thing now doesn't mean that and so on and so on. It's not change in itself that's so frustrating but how fast everything is going, it feels like there's nothing solid to hold onto and we're just free-falling.
I agree with this..

But, I'd point out that 'old racist grandpa' is a troupe for a reason. Older people not changing is quite common. I remember having to explain the difference between pedophile and homosexual to my grandfather. He just never cared to tell the difference.

We are probably going to be those old racist grandpa in a few decades who have just stopped giving a shit about keeping up with society
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tireseas and Kae

Kae

That which exists in the absence of space.
Legacy
Nov 27, 2009
5,792
712
118
Country
The Dreamlands
Gender
Lose 1d20 sanity points.
I agree with this..

But, I'd point out that 'old racist grandpa' is a troupe for a reason. Older people not changing is quite common. I remember having to explain the difference between pedophile and homosexual to my grandfather. He just never cared to tell the difference.

We are probably going to be those old racist grandpa in a few decades who have just stopped giving a shit about keeping up with society
Oh man!
That brings true existential dread to me...
 

Houseman

Mad Hatter Meme Machine.
Legacy
Apr 4, 2020
3,910
760
118
the fact of the matter is that hate groups like the KKK are using it,
Citation needed because that sounds made-up.

language is inherently political,
You yourself said it. Every word has the potential to be another theater of war. Every word has the potential to be taken over by malicious actors who want to try and use it for their own benefit.

So what is one to do? Just roll over? Let them take something fun and innocent and turn it into a weapon?

What if I said that "weeb" was offensive? What if I said that terrorist groups like ISIS uses the word "weeb"? What if I said that roving bands of "weeb hunters" go around killing people at anime conventions? What if I said that 1000s of suicides are caused every year from "weeb-related bullying?"

You'd tell me to stop making things up and go away, right?

Good. That's what you're supposed to do. You resist. You say "No, I won't let you. You don't get to do this. It stops here."

When people try to "gaslight" you and tell you that up is down and left is right, you tell them to peddle their snake oil somewhere else.

Language only becomes weaponized and politicized because people roll over and let it happen. If there had been a world-wide push-back to change the swastika back into its original meaning, it would have worked. You talk about it like it's a lost cause, but it never was. You just lost. They created an enduring symbol of hate for others to rally around, and this was allowed to happen because nobody fought back against it.
 

Specter Von Baren

Annoying Green Gadfly
Legacy
Aug 25, 2013
5,637
2,856
118
I don't know, send help!
Country
USA
Gender
Cuttlefish
I think the issue is that people are assuming that everyone knows everything about everyone. Let us just take the animemes on its own, I bet you almost none of the people that visit that subreddit even had any idea that anyone was using the term maliciously but then suddenly its bad to use a term and from the view of the people being told that it looks completely arbitrary.

I'll use a situation from a book I'm reading. In the French revolution there was a point where it was asked of various clergy leaders to swear to the Clerical Oath and while it was expected that the upper echelon would reject it, the government (As it were at the time) was shocked at how there was an almost 50% split in the rest of the clergy on taking or not taking the oath. The people in the capital had no context for how things were perceived outside of what was going on there, and what they saw as purely a political matter was not seen that way by people outside for reasons of distance and different ways of life and views and everything else that makes one man different from another.

Everyone has a limited view of the world and there is only so much that any one person can keep track of. The internet has made it possible for small communities to be "invaded" by people from outside that have different contexts from them and no understanding of why things are the way they are for them. It's like colonialism. People that don't live there coming in and enforcing their way of life on people that do things differently, or like someone going abroad for a few years and then coming back with different ways of seeing things but everyone back in their home still does things the same way.

It's the problem with scale. It's like... there's a level of intimacy between people on these forums that is nowhere to be found on a subreddit because there's far more room to express ourselves here, we have more ways to express ourselves through avatars and locations and funny titles under our names, and we know more about each other through years of interacting with one another and understanding the unique aspects of one another. The site is currently under what looks to be good leadership but what if that other person and their wife had taken over and changed things how they wanted? That would have been an example of someone coming in and reshaping a community to how they thought it should be without having any connection to that community and how it worked.

I know this topic is ultimately about something pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of the world but the reason people are defensive isn't because of a single case of something like this but from perceiving things like this as ongoing and never ending. People see it as a question of, "Ok, how many words do we have to give up before you people who don't even care about or interact with us will leave us alone?" and the answer seems to be, "As many as we want and as many times as we want. Whenever we want"

If the people of the group themselves decided to mutually agree on what terms and phrases should be used is one thing, but having it decreed by a small group of people who are far removed from them is another thing...And now I've ended up in the American Revolution... This is not where I was expecting this topic to go...
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.