elspethdixon (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
elspethdixon) wrote2009-01-29 12:44 am
elspethdixon) wrote2009-01-29 12:44 am
Entry tags:
Holy mother of God *is horrified*
Oh my God, every time I wincingly look back at the ongoing Cultural Appropriation bitchfight of doom, it gets worse. I'm not otherwise going to get involved, but here, I just couldn't help myself.
So, for those, like me, who hadn't seen or heard about Teresa Hayden's post wherein she expresses her anger over people badmouthing her husband (at least, that's what I assume she was doing from the descriptions - I haven't read any of the stuff involving him, either, but apparently he said things that offended people, refused to appologize when called on it, and then deleted his journal because people were yelling at him): Holy fuck, she calls fans of color and those who support them nithings.
In terms of offensiveness, as a former student of old English? Fuck, people, that's, well, not as horrible as the other n-word (which, please God, I hope no one's actually said), but it's pretty god-awful. Like, enough that I was reduced to staring at my computer screen in horror.
She has basically stated that all the people who disagree with her husband (including but not limited to, fans of color) are hateful, malicious, deformed, insane, sexually deviant, possibly cannablistic, sub-human or less-than human things. Because that's what that word means. It means monster. It means Not-a-Person. It means Grendal in Beowulf, the Ring-Wraiths in LotR, the in-bred, cannabalistic degenerate monsters in Lovecraft's "The Lurking Fear."
That's what she's saying fans of color are. Maybe she doesn't really know what the word means and implies, but even if she just thinks it's an old spelling of "nothing" that would be offensive all on it's own.
And to think I used to respect her so much...
ETA: Apparently, there are differences between the Old Norse and Old English definitions, with the Norse one being a far worse insult and the Anglo-Saxon version being a little less on the digusting monster side and more on the outlaw side (see the discussion of several people with more expert knowledge than me in comments). Both versions are still insults, though.
So, for those, like me, who hadn't seen or heard about Teresa Hayden's post wherein she expresses her anger over people badmouthing her husband (at least, that's what I assume she was doing from the descriptions - I haven't read any of the stuff involving him, either, but apparently he said things that offended people, refused to appologize when called on it, and then deleted his journal because people were yelling at him): Holy fuck, she calls fans of color and those who support them nithings.
In terms of offensiveness, as a former student of old English? Fuck, people, that's, well, not as horrible as the other n-word (which, please God, I hope no one's actually said), but it's pretty god-awful. Like, enough that I was reduced to staring at my computer screen in horror.
She has basically stated that all the people who disagree with her husband (including but not limited to, fans of color) are hateful, malicious, deformed, insane, sexually deviant, possibly cannablistic, sub-human or less-than human things. Because that's what that word means. It means monster. It means Not-a-Person. It means Grendal in Beowulf, the Ring-Wraiths in LotR, the in-bred, cannabalistic degenerate monsters in Lovecraft's "The Lurking Fear."
That's what she's saying fans of color are. Maybe she doesn't really know what the word means and implies, but even if she just thinks it's an old spelling of "nothing" that would be offensive all on it's own.
And to think I used to respect her so much...
ETA: Apparently, there are differences between the Old Norse and Old English definitions, with the Norse one being a far worse insult and the Anglo-Saxon version being a little less on the digusting monster side and more on the outlaw side (see the discussion of several people with more expert knowledge than me in comments). Both versions are still insults, though.
no subject
I hadn't been aware of the usage and connotations in other Germanic languages, and I've just now read your reply above and the post you linked to, having missed it the first time. I didn't know "nithing" was in current use, and I appreciate your post on insanejournal; I've certainly learned from it.
no subject
I don't know TNH, nor the racist Asatru groups, well enough to sort out whether the word includes racist overtones, or just happens to be part of a language associated with a group associated with racist activities. (Mygods, that's too many layers of meta.) I know there are racist Asatru groups (the keyword to search for is "folkish"--not all "folkish" groups are racist, but all the racist ones ID as "folkish"); I don't know if they're more likely to declare people "nithing" than others, and have no idea if it's use on people outside of the groups themselves.
Plenty of modern Norse/Germanic Pagans won't have heard of the term--but none of the ones who do, think it means "lowlife scumbag." They have plenty of more colorful words for that.
As far as "current" use--there are Pagan groups working to revive/reconstruct the religions of the Norse, Egyptian (Kemetic), Celtic, Slavic, Roman, and Greek cultures. This includes active use of a huge collection of words that were never translated to English, or the translations were so mangled through the Christian filter that they're useless. (Most non-Christian forms of clergy, for example, don't translate well.) So all of those groups have at least a handful of words that are considered archaic, but are widely known within the group. Words dealing with religion and magic top the lists.