Isn't 'commie' derogatory?

[Blanquist]

I see people here use that word liberally. While I always saw it as very derogatory.

I've also seen 'Trotskyite' and 'Trot' but that could be understood coming from Stalinists, but I think (can't look around now) I've seen some people claiming to be Trotskyists use it as well.

Explain this to me, please.

[MotherCossack]

gawd n'h bennett... i for one am proud to be a commie ... red... loony lefty...
i would prefer that only like-minded folk use this terminology though.... being called a commie by another commie is very much more agreeable than being refered to in that way by a capitalist pig or liberal apologist wimp or pig -ignorant non-political clever dick

[Bostana]

I love that nickname.

You Trot.
;)

[Ocean Seal]

I see people here use that word liberally. While I always saw it as very derogatory.

I've also seen 'Trotskyite' and 'Trot' but that could be understood coming from Stalinists, but I think (can't look around now) I've seen some people claiming to be Trotskyists use it as well.

Explain this to me, please.
Everything can either be derogatory or nice. If you call David Duke a racist or a Klanner, he probably doesn't take much offense, and I'm sure if you call Golden Dawn members white supremacists and xenophobes they would take it as a compliment. Anyway if you call most people those things they are likely to get offended, same way that they will get offended if they are called communists.

[Comrade Samuel]

As far as I know it's just how ultra-right scum in America refered to the Soviets and people from other eastern bloc countries during the cold war.

As for trot I always though that was just a phrase used only on revleft (mostly by MLs but I've seen others use it) so it's hardly derogitive.

[Magón]

There's nothing to explain. It's a word turned into a joke. Just like "Pinko", but more often used. I don't know any commie who's been offended by either, myself included.

If I was a Trot, I'd just trot away.

[Blanquist]

As far as I know it's just how ultra-right scum in America refered to the Soviets and people from other eastern bloc countries during the cold war.

As for trot I always though that was just a phrase used only on revleft (mostly by MLs but I've seen others use it) so it's hardly derogitive.

A lot of derogatory language is widely used. The N-word comes to mind, for example.

[Bostana]

Derogatory terms is just simply the means of playing the role of Darwin's theory of Evolution. As animals we have come from, animals we still are. As to say, we as Humans use derogatory insults for either to reasons: A) To prove their 'dominance', or B) To put somebody in their 'place.' Insults for people is simply to make our selves feel better. Which in itself is Human and Animal nature. However that doesn't justify it.

And before you ask, yes, this lecture was necessary.

[Sixiang]

I see people here use that word liberally. While I always saw it as very derogatory.

I've also seen 'Trotskyite' and 'Trot' but that could be understood coming from Stalinists, but I think (can't look around now) I've seen some people claiming to be Trotskyists use it as well.

Explain this to me, please.

Stalinist is also a term used to attack certain people. I believe Marxist was also a term used by Marx's political enemies to attack him and his comrades. Same goes for a lot of political terms. If a right-winger calls me commie or Marxist I shrug and I'm like "Yeah, what do you want from me?"

[Zav]

If a "white" person calls a "black" person a "nigger", what happens?
If a "black" person calls another "black" person a "nigger", then what happens?
The word can be a severe insult or a term of endearment or general description depending on the context. "Commie" was used derogatorily in the past (and still is, a bit), just like "queer", "faggot", "nigger", and numerous others. When used in address of a person in a group by a member of the same group, it expresses solidarity, kinship, and a shared sense of pride in belonging.

[Blake's Baby]

Trotskyists don't use use 'Trotskyite' to each other or as a self-description, any more than Stalinists use 'Stalinoid'. In fact, I think Stalinists don't even call themselves 'Stalinists', they call themselves Marxist-Leninists.

But who gives a rat's ass if we get called 'commies'? Really?

"Oh, I'm so childish I'm going to shorten and therfore by implication belittle your political philosophy, you insignificant 'commie'!"

Yeah? Laugh it up you bourgie bastard, let's see how you like it when the morlocks tear your world down.

[OHumanista]

I am a "commie" and a "trot".
No, though there may have been some intention to offend with "trot" in the past I couldn't care less lol :D

[Q]

In an online game community I'm part of a leftwing alliance. Every time we would announce something, the standard reply by quite a few was "lolcommies".

Then we took that term and made it into our nickname and registered lolcommies.com to point to our site.

Suddenly a derogatory term became a cool way to describe ourselves :cool:

[erupt]

I'm from a part of the States where there are quite a lot of people who claim heritage or nationality from countries in Eastern Europe, specifically the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and Poland.

Around where I live "commie" is a derogatory word for anyone from those places in general; "pinko" is used even more.

[Blake's Baby]

So, if one isn't a Communst, but came from a country formerly ruled by a Communist Party, then I can see being labelled 'commie' as an abusive a synonym for 'generic Eastern European, we don't really care what kind, you're all backward' would be annoying and degrading.

But if a Communist is called a commie? How is that an insult?

[eyeheartlenin]

On reflection, I find that I have used "commie" lots of times, and, since I think of myself as a "commie," I never used it in a derogatory manner. Surely, there is enough speech-control in society, and more than enough here on revleft, so there is no need to call for punishing use of a term that is neutral, at worst, IMO.

[honest john's firing squad]

"lolcommies"

a cool way to describe ourselves
Believe me when I say that's entirely a matter of one's own opinion.

[ВАЛТЕР]

Only we're allowed to use it! That's our word!

[Q]

Believe me when I say that's entirely a matter of one's own opinion.

Yes, yes it is (http://oi56.tinypic.com/3522ccz.jpg) :cool:

[Blake's Baby]

Is this thread in 'Learning' rather than 'Chit-Chat' for any reason other being able to thank Q for awesome?

I mean, really, if it's a question about discrimination (it isn't because there's nothing intrinsic about being a commie, as an insult it's right up there with 'God-botherer' in terms of its irrelevance) it belongs in 'Discrimination'. Otherwise, what is it about?

[honest john's firing squad]

Yes, yes it is (http://oi56.tinypic.com/3522ccz.jpg) :cool:
why... why would you do that?