Flaming Faggot?

I’ve never used the word faggot. The only time I used the word fag was when I was referencing to a cigarette. As we all know it’s quite common to call homosexuals derogatory words -all around the world.

I was recently watching “Louie”, the tv show starring Louie C.K. He makes me depressed -in a good way. I like Louie C.K. because he’s usually so dark and harsh and right it smacks me in the face.

The last episode had Louie and his friends playing poker. One of the guys, Rick is a homosexual. The guys ask him questions about gay sex and orgies and so on. Towards the end Louie asks Rick if he gets offended when he uses the word “faggot” on stage. Rick replies with etymology of the phrase. It is so shocking and disgusting that it made me cringe.

Here’s what he says:

Well, the word “faggot” really means a bundle of sticks used for kindling in a fire. Now, in the middle ages, when they used to burn people they thought were witches? They used to burn homosexuals, too. And, they used to burn the witches at a stake, but they thought the homosexuals were too low and disgusting to be given a stake to be burnt on, so they used to just throw them in with the kindling, with the other faggots. So that’s how you get “flaming faggot”.

He also adds:

You might wanna know that every gay man in America has probably had that word shouted at them while they’re being beaten up, sometimes many times, sometimes by a lot of people all at once. So, when you say it, it kind of brings that all back up. But, you know, by all means, use it. Get your laughs. But you know, now you know what it means.

I can’t ever imagine someone using the word knowing where it comes from. But I can’t imagine beating up someone because they are different than me.

You can watch the video of the scene here, the part which I talked about starts around min5.