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[Mindmaker]

They may have not fought in the line, but it's not unheard of that germanic tribes used their women to demoralize their enemies.
Even though mostly known for their warcries, they joined the battle a bit after the initial clash.

[freeformschooler]

Actually it doesn't mean they were fighting in the line. It means women were buried with swords and shields as well as men. Furthermore she may have never touched the sword she was buried with her whole life and it was just a funeral gift, or maybe she used it to chop carrots. Further evidence is required before we go assuming viking women were out raping the English countryside.

Further evidence also required before we assume their purpose was baby-makin'.

At this point, then, further evidence required before we assume anything about them other than being female.

Though if we had Anne Bonney and Mary Read such a long time ago, I don't doubt we could have historically had raping, pillaging, murdering vikings of both sexes.

[Leafsnail]

Yeah, one is degenerating (because the guy saying it is white, for some invisible reason) and the other is "reclaiming" (because the guy saying it is black, or it's self-deprecating (even though he's also deprecating all other black people)). It's Logical, Nor Fair, and even worse, by extension, telling me I can't say the N word is fucking racist. Excuse my english.

Yeah just ignore the actual answers to what you're saying and focus on something irrelevant to continue your soapbox rant.

I will explain one more time.  The thing that's offensive about using a derogatory term is that you're implying the group you're talking about is beneath you.  This implication exists if you're insulting another group.  It isn't there if the term insults your own group (because you're bringing yourself down with them).  It could be that you go on to do so by separating yourself from your own group, but it means the initial assumption isn't necessarily as damning.

What you're doing isn't "autistic".  It's just a hard headed refusal to acknowledge that context is important.

[Grakelin]

This whole argument is stupid. If you guys would just go read a book, you would have the further evidence which would settle this.

[Vector]

This whole argument is stupid. If you guys would just go read a book, you would have the further evidence which would settle this.

Is there a specific book you are referring to?

[freeformschooler]

This whole argument is stupid. If you guys would just go read a book, you would have the further evidence which would settle this.

Is there a specific book you are referring to?

I too would like to know this, considering that picking up a book on this matter would likely (and has in the past) lead me to reading of mostly male vikings pillaging and warring, which has been now proven less than true. Also, a lot of non-fiction history books I've read don't cite enough sources for their claims (or in some cases, hardly any at all) for the books themselves to be used well enough as evidence.

I would love a recommendation.

[Siquo]

Edit: You know what: nevermind.

[Grakelin]

Here, I'll Google it for you.

You're a student in an academic institution, Vector, so I imagine you probably have the same access to academic literature (including a search engine) that I do at mine. It's easy to find this stuff.

[SalmonGod]

Why is my freedom curbed because other people have some weird fantasy about what goes on in my head?

I'm an anarchist.  I'm believe in freedom to a much greater extent than most people.

I still don't understand why some people obsess over stupid details like this.  Various people are offended by various words in various contexts.  Yeah, our culture encourages you to avoid making such offenses.  In a purely technical sense, this does encroach on your freedoms.

So what.  It's not asking much.  It's not worth throwing a fit about.  You don't have to understand other people's wishes in order to be respectful of them.  If you can't do that, you're just a jerk.  It would be hard to more clearly fit the definition of being a jerk.  And here's the thing about freedom... you're free to make that choice, just as others are free to think of you as a jerk for making that choice.  Freedom is intrinsic.  You have the physical ability to make whatever choice you please, unless you're somehow subject to mind control.  Other people have the freedom to react to your choices however they see fit.  Whining about this is hypocritical (though you have the freedom to do so anyway).  If it were illegal to use the N word (saying it that way makes me feel like I'm saying he-who-shall-not-be-named, btw...) then you might have a case.

[Vector]

Here, I'll Google it for you.

You're a student in an academic institution, Vector, so I imagine you probably have the same access to academic literature (including a search engine) that I do at mine. It's easy to find this stuff.

I thought you were talking about the argument with Siquo and had some sort of fascinating rhetoric book outside of the standard literature, which would enlighten both of us deeply.  I didn't consider the discussion on the Vikings an "argument."

Please forgive my confusion.

[Siquo]

I still don't understand why some people obsess over stupid details like this.

Meh, I just can't stand people or "culture" being irrational, inequal or inhumane. Yes, I know that makes me annoyed 99.9% of the time that I am alive and yes I'm living with it.
Aaaand we're back on topic

[Leafsnail]

It's not irrational or inhumane.  It's people interpreting an offensive thing you're saying as offensive (note that the word isn't banned, and you're free to say it as much as you like).

[Willfor]

"I want to be offensive without anyone taking offense to my offensiveness."

[ChairmanPoo]

For what it's worth, I don't like this whole "reclamation" processs. I think it leads to odd taboos and double standards, and it would be better NOT to use the term in any polite setting whatsoever (I think it encourages offensive usage of the word as well, as I said before). Maybe the (parodic?) usage of the term by a discriminated minority is not quite as bad as when it's used by someone not of that minority, but it's still not something good that should be encouraged.

I think the men from the pic  KaelGotDwarves posted had the right idea about how to approach these issues. There is a lot of dignity in the "I am a man" slogan.

[SalmonGod]

I grew up surrounded by people who would tell me "You're such a nerd" and meant that it as a way to elevate their social stature relative to mine, and isolate me from groups by assigning me a label that separated me from everyone else.  It was devastating.

As I grew up, and especially when I entered into college cultures, I found groups of people who would tell me "You're such a nerd" and meant it as a complement when I said something smart, a signal of belonging because they were also "nerds", and a big fuck you to the mentalities that once used that word against us.  It was liberating.

And I can still recognize when someone is using the word against me, rather than with me.

Make sense?