Were you offended?

confused

As you know very well, I was referring to your post of 19.03 Penstemmon.

farnorth you are of course right! I try so hard not to get caught up in squabbles which do not further debate!
I try to only post about the OP but sometimes get sidetracked.

What an entertaining squabble you are all having.

In my post of Sat 01-Aug-15 18:37:47 I was saying what I thought DC was doing. I was not linking my comments to anything other than the OP. This unpicking of who said what when is not particularly constructive.

If you do not consider yourself the opposite of a 'bleeding heart liberal' then don't include yourself! Ignore what I am writing ..it is entirely up to each of us to take offence or not!

Because your original post seemed to be implying that all those who felt the use of the word 'swarm' was not offensive fell into the same category as someone who would condemn those with the opposite view as being 'bleeding heart liberals'.

I'll ignore the 'hard hearted and narrow thinking' jibe.

You are right ana I did see that quote and I did use it. I had not attributed it to anyone in particular in my mind i had not registerd belini's name..I just saw the phrase. I am not sure why anyone who had not written it would think that they were included in my riposte ? If the hard-hearted and narrow thinking ( opposite of bleeding heart liberal?) chose to do so I can't be responsible for that.

Had to read my own OP then.

Still, you used the phrase 'bleeding heart liberal' which is a direct quote from Balini's post and was certainly not used in the OP.

Sorry I had not read previous comments as I had just come to a long thread and so was commenting on the OP only. I did not have time or inclination to read 10 pages.

So the third paragraph of your post was all about DC's choice of words, Penstemmon? I thought you were referring to the view expressed by Balini.

Ana I didn't. I just expressed my thoughts on DCs choice of words.

As this is a country of free speech then anyone is free to say they consider the use of swarm does dehumanise the asylum seekers , those who spout that those who condemn the use of the word should leave for another country obviously doesn't believe in free speech and should move to a country which does not hold with freedom of speech

I don't believe the word was thoughtfully chosen, but we'll have to disagree on that.

It seems rather unfair, though, to associate all those of us who think that the word 'swarm' in the context it was used was acceptable with the one discordant post on this thread.

It is still a dehumanising term and I believe thoughtfully chosen.

Those who think language is powerless and 'it's just a word' are being duped.

I am confident in my 'bleeding heart liberal' convictions and am not offended by those who try to use it to undermine me and my opinions. Those who use the term 'politically correct' when they hear a view they are opposed to are also trying to belittle. They appear to feel unnerved by the idea that some members of society care about people's feelings and think about others, different to themselves, as human beings capable of the same feelings and emotions.

So do I, eloethan. One out of two hundred and forty odd is very, very little, as I said. Brush it aside.

'swarm', not 'swam'!

He didn't say 'a swarm of migrants' Penstemmon. He said 'a swam of people'. There is a difference, as I'm sure you'll agree.

That was the post I referred to Eloethan. I agree that it was unnecessarily unpleasant.

I am not offended by his use of words. I think it was not said in error I think it was calculated to appeal to those who want to hear the 'hard line' language of send 'em back where they come from' section of society. Swarm is a word, usually used to describe insects. By using that kind of language it helps to dehumanise these unhappy people and make it more palatable to take a tough stance.

If he had said this 'mass of desperate people' rather than 'swarm of migrants' it would have sent a different message. Language is very powerful.

I consider these comments to be nasty:

These bloody bleeding heart liberals, should swarm off to another country.

When will these politically correct po-faces get a life ?!

I was wondering about the 'nastiness' too. Apart from a rather unpleasant post at 17.01 I can't find any evidence of it, but I suppose that's subjective, too...

Give me strength !!!!!!!!!!!! When was a Football Commentator last taken to task for saying "the fans swarmed onto the field"? One dictionary definition of swarm is "a large crowd of people". When will these politically correct po-faces get a life ?!

I agree. Her comments were pure below the belt political point scoring. She has lost points from me for doing it though.