Race and Gender

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Race and Freedom of Speech

Urbandictionary .com is a site where anyone can define a term or phrase in his or her own words or personal understanding of the term . It is a public forum for freedom of speech . It offers people a place to look for definitions of words beyond a common dictionary definition . This type of site is a good place for people to look to understand common slang terms and to search for meanings of words that they may be too [banner_entry_middle]

br embarrassed to ask other people

Sites like this can also be helpful in understanding how certain words are used in context – there are denotative and definitions and a list of connotative meanings with contextual examples and references included for each term

While these types of sites are protected under the First Amendments of the Constitution of the United States , there are issues that can arise from this type of freedom of speech , just as with any other public forum where individual rights are protected and enforced

Misinformation is one possible issue . While this site is not meant for academic or educational purposes , it could certainly be viewed by some as viable information . Since anyone can post to this dictionary site credentials are not required , and therefore , the information presented is not considered credible by institutions of learning . All of the information may not be true or provable and is often based on personal experience or understanding

Another problem with the site is that personal prejudices and stereotypes are often present in the entries

There is an extensive portion of this site dedicated to racist terms According to the site itself a , racist term is defined as , a word used against a specific race of people to down them because of skin color or nationality (urbandictionary .com . According to its own definition these terms are derogatory . The list included under the definition includes some more common terms such as nigger , jiggaboo , dago , wop chink , towel head , sand nigger , honkey , and cracker . There are also terms that are used less frequently like schvotza , kraut , hiney , geri hun , slope , olive nig , goombah , and cupcake

The site goes on to define each of these terms . All of the words have a definition , but some more common ones , especially those used to refer to white or black people , have numerous definitions

For nigger , the first definition listed is a word that everyone else is afraid to define except in utter seriousness , for fear of being branded a racist , in word , its characterization in popular culture , and the populations of how people use it (urbandictionary .com . This definition received 9673 thumbs up , meaning that many people approved of this definition of the n word . It received 3466 thumbs down , or disapprovals

The second definition listed is a term that is racist , as long as the speaker of it is not black . Forbidden on most all of television and other forms of public entertainment , at times referenced… [banner_entry_footer]