Is "commie" an inflammatory term?

[BurtWorm]

[savior93]

1. you are what you are

[BurtWorm]

2. Huh?

:insert puzzled looking smiley:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

3. i am a commie liberal pinko queer!

and i love other commie liberal pinkos...

[BurtWorm]

4. What if a freeper called you that?

What if a DLC-type Democrat called you that.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

6. its true...

i would say "AND..."

[BurtWorm]

7. Does that mean it's not inflammatory?

Does it depend on how it's intended or how it's heard?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

9. its not inflammatory if said to me...

5. showing my age ....

Oh Mommy I ain't no Commie
I'm just doin what I can to live the Good All American Way
It says right there in the Constitution
It's really a-okay to have a revolution
When the leaders that you choose
Really don't fit the shoes


(Brewer and Shipley)

[felonious thunk]

8. It's probably meant to be inflammatory, but it's not

If you let it be, it is, but if someone is stupid enough to call you a commie, are you really worried about their opinion of you?

[BurtWorm]

10. I'm just having a debate with someone who tossed it off casually

and now claims that it's just a common term for communist. I'm trying to determine if most people at DU would take it as I did. (It was in reference to a socialist Web site--a "commie" Web site, my opponent said.)

[felonious thunk]

11. Yeah, but we may well do the same thing

If for instance we refer to a "fundy" web site.

[BurtWorm]

14. Well, obviously, fundy is inflammatory if you're talking to

a fundamentalist, or even to some other kinds of Christians who might think you're referring to all Christians. The point is, there are some words that serve less to clarify a point in a debate than to stir up the passions. "Fundy" and "commie" are two of them, I think.

[felonious thunk]

15. Ok, I'll buy that

I guess I was thinking along the lines of personally offensive. I wouldn't find the term to be personally offensive, but in debate those words will only lead to argumentative results.

[Go Eagles]

12. yes

It is because those who through the term around are trying to discredit an individual by equating any left leaning position with the actions/policies of Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and other despots that were actually far from what Marx advocated in Communism. Those who attach such a label are usually stupid freeper types that can't argue an opinion and have to polarize every issue into a black and white perspective. Surprisingly, they get really angered if you through their reasoning back at them and call them fascists, Nazis, brown shirts, etc.

[KG]

13. been called a commie before, right here on DU

they said it almost like it was a bad thing! :)