democratIC party...

So I'm in this online simulation for the US government, focusing mainly on the Senate aspect, and this is a conversation that came up recently.

People in the Republican Party (and possibly the Libertarian and Personal Choice parties) have often been referring to those of us in the Democratic Party as the Democrat Party. Do a double-take, I'll give you a moment to find the typo.

Now, this has been a problem in US politics for decades, but has more recently reared its head with Bush and his current Republican Party, as well as the mouthpieces on the talk show radio circuit and right wing-controlled mainstream media. Those of us in the center-left party of these United States are called Democrats, yes, but we belong to the Democratic Party and have done so for the more than 200 years we've existed.

This is a slur meant to demean those members of the Democratic Party. Some in the simulation, and I'm sure in real-life as well, don't see what the big deal is. Problem is, those folks are not in the Democratic Party and therefore couldn't care less what the image is, or what we are called.

Another member of the simulation (right-wing I must mention) has pointed out that calling it the Democrat Party versus Democratic Party doesn't change the meaning of the word. Touché. Problem is, it's not meant to change the meaning of the word, but rather to slur those of that particular party. George Bush, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and the like have used this particular non-phrase to piss the Democrats off. The simple fact of the matter is, they say it meaning it as a slur, not to change the meaning.

The big problem I have is that those who say they didn't know it was a slur are idiots for one of two reasons. All in the simulation are quite intelligent, though some may be very misguided. Those that say the slur either mean it as a slur, or have gotten so used to those in the right-wing saying it (and they are definitely are using it as a slur) that they use it interchangeably with the real phrase. One can look at it as Internet vs. Web. Both are different, and the words mean different things, but folks these days use them interchangeably and do so incorrectly.

So it comes down to either they are using the slur intentionally or they are ignorant to the fact it is meant as a slur, not as a substitution, like GOP is the same as Republican Party.

Wake up, idiots.