@ChooChooDennis...
I understand your point. You are free to apply whatever demeaning and insulting terms to yourself that you want to and that will "lessen" the impact of the words. Except it only works when you're a member of "the group" and use it on yourself or another member. To follow your logic, it should be "OK" to use the "n-word" freely by now because people have been calling themselves that for decades. Clearly, that isn't the case. I'd say people are more sensitive to it than ever.
Making a joke out of insulting or demeaning behavior just encourages it.
If every railfan used the word foamer to describe themselves, then it would lose any insult and become the joke it should be. Apparently instead you want to keep words like foamer and n-word around only so they have the power to hurt.
I cited the use of the n-word by young blacks amongst themselves as an example of defusing the power of a word by the the very people it was meant to hurt. I am certainly not advocating the general use of the word. That should be obvious to most anyone.
I am not sure how you could say I was encouraging bad behavior. Indeed, doing what I advocate does the opposite.
My main point it that is is ridiculous to care about being called a foamer. It's just a name. Making the word a joke rather than a badge of shame, makes life better for everyone.
As a conductor trainee, I have seen recently the bad behavior of supposedly intelligent human beings, foamers or not, who decided to cross the track less than two car lengths of my train bearing down on them. So I have seen for myself from a railroaders view what people can do. And they were simply idiots.
Your logic is flawed. You suggest that we (railfans) refer to ourselves with a derogatory name so that it "will lose any power to insult and become the joke it should be". Then you cite the example of the "n-word" as if it proves your point when it does quite the opposite. The act of people calling each other that derogatory name has done nothing to defuse the insulting nature of the word. Therefore, your claim that if we all call ourselves "foamers" it will somehow destroy the derogatory nature of the term is false.
Your assertion that I want to keep certain words around "only so they have the power to hurt" is ridiculous and insulting. I'm challenging your argument on the lack of merit and am not making things personal. There is no reason for you to make them so.
It's the USA and and we stated our opinion which is our right.
You don't agree with mine. I don't agree with yours.
It's the OGR Forum; we talk about the hobby of toy trains.
Lets just leave it at that.
Dennis
