Note to the religious right: auto-replace is not your friend

June 30, 2008

Auto-correct can be a very helpful feature of any word-processing program. But when conservatives use it, they run the risk of embarrassing themselves.

Some far-right sites that subscribe to the Associated Press feed, for example, will use auto-correct to change “Democratic Party” to “Democrat Party.” This, of course, is because they have the temperament of children.

But the American Family Association’s OneNewsNow website takes the phenomenon one step further with its AP articles. The far-right fundamentalist group replaces the word “gay” in the articles with the word “homosexual.” I’m not entirely sure why, but it seems to make the AFA happy. The group is, after all, pretty far out there.

The problem, of course, is that “gay” does not always mean what the AFA wants it to mean. My friend Kyle reported this morning that sprinter Tyson Gay won the 100 meters at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials over the weekend. The AFA ran the story, but only after the auto-correct had “fixed” the article.

That means — you guessed it — the track star was renamed “Tyson Homosexual.” The headline on the piece read, “Homosexual eases into 100 final at Olympic trials.” Readers learned:

Tyson Homosexual easily won his semifinal for the 100 meters at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials and seemed to save something for the final later Sunday.

His wind-aided 9.85 seconds was a fairly cut-and-dry performance compared to what happened a day earlier. On Saturday, Homosexual misjudged the finish in his opening heat and had to scramble to finish fourth, then in his quarterfinal a couple of hours later, ran 9.77 to break the American record that had stood since 1999. […]

Homosexual didn’t get off to a particularly strong start in the first semifinal, but by the halfway mark he had established a comfortable lead. He slowed somewhat over the final 10 meters-nothing like the way-too-soon complete shutdown that almost cost him Saturday. Asked how he felt, Homosexual said: “A little fatigued.”

Now, the AFA has since changed the article back to the way it was originally written by the AP reporter, but don’t worry, Kyle got the screen-grab before the AFA edited the piece back.

There’s just something helpful about starting a Monday morning on a hilarious note.

That is enormously hilarious, but it begs the question, does fair use allow for this?

I can’t even imagine a centrist of left leaning organization even thinking of doing something like this, let alone implementing it.

  • I have no idea some sites change the AP’s wording around like that. That’s pretty pathetic..

  • Reminds me of the famous song from Bernstein’s candide:

    “Glitter and be homosexual,
    That’s the part I play…”

  • I wonder if originally instead of “A little fatigued” homosexual said he felt “a little fagged.”

  • Oh, that’s too funny, thanks for the comedic relief. And Danp, that was priceless. Too bad Stewart and Colbert are off for a few weeks. Someone send it to Olberman.

  • Left-leaning publications have made similar mistakes. Substituting the phrase “African American” for “Black,” for instance, gives us such jems as “the pot calling the kettle African-American.” A gift from my alma-matter’s student paper.

  • Hi, this is Jim from Outsports, a gay sports website that first discovered this:
    http://outsports.com/jocktalkblog/?p=1174

    I am not sure the actual AP content was ever changed from Gay to Homosexual, but all referring headlines from Google and other news aggregators on the website did make the change. Pretty hilarious. At Christmas, do these people sing, “Don we now our homosexual apparel.”?

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  • When you’re with Flintstones
    You’ll have a Yabba-Dabba-Doo time
    A Dabba-Doo time
    You’ll have a homosexual ol’ time!

  • Oh my…too funny! 😀

    @ Danp: That reminds me of a website I used to frequent which replaced potentially offensive words with slang terms. On one occasion, someone posted a picture of a rooster with the text “Cock-a-doodle-doo!,” which would have been fine and dandy, except the filter changed it to “Man-meat-a-doodle-doo!” Hilarity ensued.

  • These are the same kind of morons who run ‘family-oriented’ video stores and see no copyright-related issues with clipping out the “naughty” scenes of a movie that their pure, or puerile, clientele nonetheless wish to titillate themselves with.

  • So just think of the confusion and laughs if the AFA had picked up today’s headline out of the San Jose Mercury News re: the same subject. The Merc’s headline reads, “Gay blows to 100 victory.”

  • AFA can kiss my donkey (finally, I see one reason for changing the good, old, earthy, Brit “arse” to the namby-pamby US “ass”)

  • On the plus side, they do honor capitalization, so for instance Mr. Gay’s last name was not butchered into homosexual, but preserved the proper respect of capitalization as Homosexual.

    Sad… Funny though 🙂

  • Funny? Yes.

    However, the AFA is not a “fundamentalist” group. They may be conservative or right-wing, but not fundamentalist.

    There is a huge difference.

  • > The far-right fundamentalist group replaces the word “gay” in the articles with the word
    > “homosexual.” I’m not entirely sure why, but it seems to make the AFA happy.

    I couldn’t say for sure why, but I have a reasonable guess.

    Many people who are Gay or Lesbian tend to avoid using the word “homosexual” because that term was originally used by psychologists as a diagnosis of illness (the APA classified it as a mental illness in 1973 in the DSM-2).

    Those who want to avoid the suggestion that other’s sexual preferences are a medical condition usually avoid the term as well.

    Thus, one could assume that the AFA changes the word “gay” to “homosexual” because it is more offensive and/or because it suggests that gay/lesbian people can be “cured”.

    It’s a little more subtle than “Pro Choice” vs “Pro Life” but it’s the same kind of word play.

  • “However, the AFA is not a “fundamentalist” group. They may be conservative or right-wing, but not fundamentalist. There is a huge difference.”

    You’re kidding, right???

    According to the mission statement that comes up on their site, “The American Family Association exists to motivate and equip citizens to change the culture to reflect Biblical truth and traditional family values.”

    Change the culture to reflect Biblical truth? Whew, nothing fundamentalist there. And I won’t even go into the entire section of their website entitled “The Homosexual Agenda.” Or the random sentence I just snatched from a random article on the AFA site: “How many times have you not believed what God told you He would do for you and then He comes in spite of your unbelief to increase your faith and help you to see that He is who He says that He is?” (Of course!)

    You’re right. They’re not fundamentalist, just a bit looney.

  • I wouldn’t be surprised if the auto-correct was in place as a safety net to catch slurs before they publish articles. These are people who use expressions like, “You know who’s responsible for the mortgage crisis don’t you? The Gays!” Maybe that way, when they’re ranting about “the gays” in a story, it will auto-correct so they sound slightly less bigoted.

  • “These are people who use expressions like, “You know who’s responsible for the mortgage crisis don’t you? The Gays!” Maybe that way, when they’re ranting about “the gays” in a story, it will auto-correct so they sound slightly less bigoted.”

    Please send me a million dollars. I have a bridge I want to sell you.

  • Ok, so let me get this straight – this website is the news authority for the “religious right”?

    I would first like to point out that if the word “gay” gets changed to “homosexual” in a normal news article its doing so for the purpose of being politically correct and not to sanitize anything for those that worship the make-believe person in the sky. Its another example of how much people on the right have been made to believe how sensitive you are and how bigoted and angry they are by nature and must adjust.

    If this article illustrates anything, its the length to which homosexuals will go to portray themselves as victimized. Hey, you can’t change a law to make their religion accepting of your behavior – deal with it. You like to suck penis in the privacy of your own home – I could care less. These people’s belief’s aren’t accepting of your lifestyle – what’s new? A majority of the world doesn’t agree with your lifestyle and that’s not even including the majority Islamic countries that would execute you publicly for winking at another person of the same sex.

    Hey, whens the last time you saw a positive portrayal of an evangelical christian on TV? Tell me where there’s a public school that doesn’t have some kind of club based on sexual preference – and also allows christian based clubs?(which have been ruled as unconstitutional btw).

    Why don’t you just grow a set, quit acting like a spoiled kid, and try to make these people understand that you’re doing your best to live a life just like they are and you don’t want any obstacles just as they don’t want any. Or you kid just keep pointing your finger a them and making fun of them for their silly beliefs – except for African American Christians because they don’t know better and their Democrat vote is a bonus.

  • scott m at 21, you beat me to the punchline!

    but it does remind me of a great screen name for an actor in tranvestite porn: marcia gay hardon.

  • Hmm, what about: a b 29 bomber called “enola homosexual” dropped an atomic explosive device over japan this morning….

  • Benito MussoGonzalez: Why don’t you just grow a set…

    Going out of your way to offend 51% of the human race, Benny? Or just forgetting that people you don’t like actually do get victimized by jerks like you?

  • The Olymic Trials are taking place 9 blocks from my door. I could hear the roar when the world’s fastest homosexual won his race. But I refuse to sit on his victory lap.

  • Benito Gonzalez whinges “Tell me where there’s a public school that doesn’t have some kind of club based on sexual preference – and also allows christian based clubs?(which have been ruled as unconstitutional btw).”.
    Sadly for you, Benito, the First Amendment says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”, not “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of sexual orientation”.
    Of course, you could always define being gay – er, homosexual – as a religion. Or maybe your head would explode. How about that?

  • Hey, whens the last time you saw a positive portrayal of an evangelical christian on TV?

    Unintentional? Here in Dallas we have 3 24-hour Christian television stations that broadcast in English. I’m not sure how many there are in Spanish.

    This will come to a shock to you, I know, but there is not a single homosexual channel in the U.S.

    Quit whining about people who won’t let you practice invidious discrimination.

  • Benito Gonzales wrote:

    I would first like to point out that if the word “gay” gets changed to “homosexual” in a normal news article its doing so for the purpose of being politically correct…

    But you’d be wrong. “Gay” does not get changed to “homosexual” in any normal news article. Also, how could that be about political correctness, when “homosexual” is the politically incorrect word, and “gay” or “queer” are the politically correct words?

    You seem to have it all backwards. Likewise, discussed wrote:

    I wouldn’t be surprised if the auto-correct was in place as a safety net to catch slurs before they publish articles. These are people who use expressions like, “You know who’s responsible for the mortgage crisis don’t you? The Gays!” Maybe that way, when they’re ranting about “the gays” in a story, it will auto-correct so they sound slightly less bigoted.

    That would be very surprising. See above. “Homosexual” is a much more bigoted term than “gay”. How would it be sanitizing the text, or guarding against slurs, to make it more offensive than it already was by including a stronger slur?

  • Left-leaning publications have made similar mistakes. Substituting the phrase “African American” for “Black,” for instance, gives us such jems as “the pot calling the kettle African-American.” A gift from my alma-matter’s student paper.

    Most likely you’re lying. And the word is “gem”.

  • Auto replace “religious right” with Taliban and “minister” with mullah and you get some perspective… on both the nature of the religious right and how easy it is to inject propaganda slants into stories about Iran…

  • In the sport of cricket (don’t ask me how it’s played; I don’t have the hours needed), when a batsman gets dismissed (out), it is referred to as a “fall of wicket”. The autocorrect function at an Australian newspaper “corrected” that to read “autumn of wicket”.

  • Do they do this to all of popular culture?

    Does Marvin Homosexual sing about Sexual Healing?

    Do the Flintstones have a homosexual old time?

    What next?

  • Now that I’m done cackling…

    @Ed Darrell … there is Logo, and something called here! Combined they reach about 40 million cable-subscribing households. Meanwhile I don’t think there is a household anywhere in this country that can’t find an evangelist TV station or eight.

    “Fundamentalist” means that you believe in the infallibility of something (here, scripture exactly as written) and refuse attempts to reconcile it with whatever is currently the social / political ethos. AFA qualifies.

    “Homosexual” is also considered offensive (or just irritating) by those it is applied to because it emphasizes teh omg sex. Conservatives like to portray gay people as being about nothing but sex, because it downplays their humanity and because making straight people think about gay sex often squicks them even if they’re otherwise tolerant. Once you get that sense of separation established it’s much easier to make the case for treating gays differently – perhaps along the lines of “if they just try to fit in we have no problem with them … but when they want their relationships recognized, they’re asking for special treatment”.

  • This proves the nuttiness of this and other right wing associations. Family my ass. They should change their name to American Hate Association.

  • Normally, AP subscribers can edit AP copy, but the nonprofit cooperative frowns on wholesale changes that distort meaning. Some news outlets routinely substitutred “terrorist” for, say, “militant” in copy, depending on who was being identified. Not permitted, the AP told them.

  • I’m gay and have to admit that, at age 60, I have also had my moments of fatigue. usually, however, they have nothing to do with sprinting. Just endurance, if you know what I mean.

  • Really, the fact that they change gay to homosexual is funny, but not bigoted. They honestly believe the word homosexual is less offensive than gay, and more particularly, gay is not always appropriate IE when talking about female homosexuals. Gay is also ambiguous in meaning, it is an adjective meaning happy or a male homosexual. However homosexual has no such double meaning. As for software programming word replacement isn’t going to look for context to check for the usage as a proper noun. Although I agree replacement is not the best option, personally I don’t think trying to be politically correct is either. Someone is offended by an epitaph used to describe them, perhaps they should ask if the epitaph is correct. Am I a redneck.. YES I AM so do I get offended.. no. If your offended by a description of yourself, perhaps you should re-examine your belief structure and seek some kind of therapy. Not to change yourself, but to accept yourself. If someone else doesn’t like you and they call you names you should be a little more mature and realize their opinion doesn’t matter to you, or at least ask yourself why it does matter so much.

  • FUNdamentalist said: Someone is offended by an epitaph used to describe them, perhaps they should ask if the epitaph is correct.

    I think if someone is getting upset about their epitaph and is able to question it, they probably have bigger problems to worry about than whether it’s correct.

  • “Some far-right sites that subscribe to the Associated Press feed, for example, will use auto-correct to change “Democratic Party” to “Democrat Party.” This, of course, is because they have the temperament of children.”

    It has nothing to do with the “temperament of children”. There are two reasons we do this. First: its accurate. There is no such thing as the Democratic party. Its improper use of the word. Second: And by far most importantly, it totally pisses of those sniveling little leftist wieners! And we far right wing radicals take so much pleasure in that. We just cant help our selfs.

  • Benito, there are idiots in the world that go to sites like the AFA and think they are getting ACTUAL NEWS, filtered, edited, and homogenized for their reading convienence. So, it is not about victimization, its about a National non profit changing news stories to fit thier agenda. All news agencies write with some spin, but this is actually changing the outcome of an already existing stor, ala’ Tomorrow Never Dies.

  • Most of these organizations such as American Family Association, indulge in whisper racism, they being so allied with christian bigots of the southern babtists sort. They probably don’t care if they insult a black man, other than being seen for incompetent editors.

    One thing for sure; they wouldn’t dare say anything face to face. They are much too chicken caca.

  • {First: its accurate. There is no such thing as the Democratic party. Its improper use of the word.}

    So I guess http://www.democrats.org which has “The Democratic Party” on the main page, is wrong?

    Democratic (adj): 1. pertaining to or of the nature of democracy or a democracy. 2. pertaining to or characterized by the principle of political or social equality for all: democratic treatment. 3. advocating or upholding democracy.

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