Are you as confused as I am as to what words are now deemed 'offensive' - is there a 'dictionary' to which I can refer and, if so, who decided which words merit inclusion? Haven't we just witnessed the relevance of curbing freedom of speech in France? Sorry, but I don't want to live in a world full of Nadias calling the police every time she decides something is offensive.
No wonder my son (policeman) spends most of his shifts being called to such ridiculous 'domestics'.

According to Katie H it's Nadia as head of 'The God Squad'. Although she didn't run round having a hissy fit at the mention of faggot.

OP - exactly my thoughts.

If the world is up in arms because cartoonists should be able to mock anyone for their beliefs it seems odd that we can not choose the words we want to use.

Understand - I am not by any means condoning the murders of those who were killed in France. But I also do not condone their means of upsetting others.

seems Perez is confused also
Here he is defending the word
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAI-VyEVocM

"rudeness is in the province of the recipient" is a good saying. If you say something that offends, you apologise. Don't argue the toss or semantics or get into PC this and that, just say sorry and move on.

Not straight white men, that's for sure.

context decides what is "offensive", but "offensiveness" is just a useful phrase that means nothing but which people use instead of thinking... in that way it's exactly the same as "free speech".

No, not really. It's quite simple, if I hear, in real life or through the media, that a certain person or group of persons is offended by a certain word, I choose not to use it...unless I really don't give a toss about their feelings or really want to be offensive.

If I make a mistake and use a word I didn't know was offensive, I apologise profusely , learn from it and get on with my life.

Don't get the confusion really

You are a member of DS and you cannot say exactly what you want on here which IMO is a great idea. Deciding what is and what is no offensive is done by giving a moments thought to what you are saying and to avoid using insulting or degrading language. It however seems that this is much for difficult for some people than it is others.
You say you don't want to live in a world full of Nadias so would you prefer to live in a world full of people racially abusing others for instance?

Well said but BB is dictating words as offensive not rude so far as I glean. My query was how does Joe Public know which words are offensive? For example, I had no idea n*gr** was offensive although I knew n*g*e* was. Another example, I have my old 'rag doll' ('Robinsons' to give as a clue as, apparently, I can't call him what I always had as my twenty year old niece told me I should burn him as he is offensive to Africans - What? I've had him since I was two and love him - never had any racial connotations for me - he's just my old pal whom I cuddled up to as a kid?

Yeah, no mention from Hopkins that Alexander was wrong to say faggot.

The politically correct brigade can suck my Richard.

There is a vast amount of information out there which we can use to educate ourselves with- especially if you have genuine concerns over whether words you use or the things you say etc are deemed offensive.

You have the internet so a couple of clicks of the mouse and you'll be bang up to speed.

In two years you will be wondering if there is anything you can say when you see what is to be defined as extremist or not to be tolerated. Make the most of it now. BB wouldn't survive.

You have missed my point completely and gone off on a tangent!

My thoughts too! not that I am saying what Alex said was right, however people also need to look at the situation too. He was very angry at Perez and when you are angry things are said in the heat of the moment. Alex being an intelligent man, obviously knew what he said was wrong as soon as he said it.

IF Perez was any normal human being, he would have allowed Alex to apologise for saying the F word, and hopefully move on from the situation (just like Alex said to Ken about the N word) but obviously things escalated.

What is it you'd like to say that you feel unable to?

If their was a dictionary u'd not use it i think. You want to be able to call your dolly Golly Wog, you also want to use the word Negro, and u likely wish to offend the prophet mohamed...

Stop moaning that you can't and that you don't understand political correctness, be brave & be yourself.... Say what you want to