Gearslutz is changing its name. GOOD.

I do not want to talk politics on this site, and I won’t.  But it saddens me that some areas of common interest and concern have become “political” and some people don’t want to see them discussed.  It’s not right for anyone to riot and bash in a storefront window (or steal a laptop from a Senator) and I applaud the fact that Gearslutz is changing its name.

What is a slut?  It is a person, usually a woman, who has many casual sex partners.  It is meant as an insult, much like the word “whore,” which is a negative term for a prostitute.  Our attitudes about sex aside, a gear slut was obviously a play on words that was designed to be funny.  It never offended me, personally, but it offended several thousand other people.  So in order to show them some respect, I will say that I am glad the site is changing names.

Balancing respect with free speech can be very difficult.  One can easily see this scenario being played out to the extreme and how bad that might be: Imagine a movie called “The Red Dress” being boycotted because it contained the word “Red” in it, and “redskins” was an insult aimed at Native Americans at one time.  There’s a limit to this.

But what I think people need to do is to think about others and to think about the big picture.  This reminds me of the debate in my home town of Avon, NY.  The Avon High mascot/nickname is “The Braves.”  Some people want to change the name, some don’t.  Those who don’t do not understand the argument for wanting to change it.  A “brave” was a tribal warrior, someone respected for their courage, they say.  What’s wrong with that?

Hmm.  Would it be OK to call your high school football team the Green Berets, or the Navy Seals?  No… because you don’t really have permission to repurpose those names.  It would demean the name of the Navy Seals if everyone used it.  The same argument could be made for the Braves.  What about the Ninjas?  Is that OK?  I would say that I can see two sides to this discussion, and as long as it is a civil discussion, that’s fine.

The Florida State Seminoles did an interesting thing – they are named after the Seminole tribe, but they use the tribe’s name with the tribe’s permission.  And, naturally, money is changing hands in that deal.

I’m not here to argue about the Braves or the Ninjas – just that in those cases, dialog makes sense.  You can make an argument either way.  It’s hard to make an argument in favor or the words “slut” or “whore.”

So again, the name Gearslutz did not personally bother me, but I applaud the name change.