Flickr?

The discussion on Flickr has quickly captured my attention because you can see the war with words that people had. With a simple word such as "boy," I wasn't too aware of the fact that it could offend people. I actually thought it was a joke at first until someone put the word "boy" into context. It made me realize that sure it may be a part of racism, but to be honest, it is only that way if someone decides to interpret it in such a way. But banning every word as one person is offended by it, will eventually create a void of words to describe a person, whether it be "woman" or "boy" or even "person." Once you start the snowball, it will continue to grow, and people of all cultures, races, ethnicity, and gender will be offended by anything other than "it," even "it" is pretty offensive in itself. I see the world as incredibly sensitive beings, those that need to be taken care of constantly, with every word we say under surveillance. Kyudos says, "Flickr is not going to change the way people use English," which I believe is extremely true, with people trying to fight arguments online, people are never really taken seriously. Either way, relating it to the language given by our textbook, I feel that it is more of finding out whether or not to use a certain word in its context. Depending on the subject and idea that is being presented in either a speech or presentation, one should watch what he or she says, in efforts to please the audience.