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Aww, stephen77 we're buds, air buds even.

There are things I like about that Louis clip and things I didn't like. There are actually two clips, and I'm going to talk about both. My primary problem (although I have several lesser ones) with the one that appeared on Louis, was it was that Louis was the author of it, which makes it quite disingenuous. It's actually an apology for this clip, which is really, really offensive. In it, he is complaining about how his privilege as a heterosexual to say "faggot" has been revoked (or, more accurately, his privilege to say it without suffering social consequence has been revoked). The idea that he should be free to say "faggot" without actually having to think about the people who that word derogatorily insults is far, far, far more offensive than simply saying it as a derogatory insult.

When it comes to the clip that appeared on Louis, the main problem is that Louis is God as far as the clip goes. He is the writer, therefore the conversation reaches whatever predetermined conclusion he wishes. Which is, specifically, that it is okay for him to say "faggot" on stage. I don't know if this was based on actual discussions or not, but either way, it is the exact same example of entitlement and privilege as the first clip. This time he has a puppet there to explain how he uses "faggot" in the good way. (I still say the South Park episode about the word was the most offensive thing I've ever seen on TV).

A secondary problem that I have with it (and this is more of a problem for Loki who is a linguist as opposed to Loki who is gay), is that the enytmology of "f" presented in the clip is completely false. It has nothing to do with witches or burning at the stake. "Faggot" was a derogatory term for women in the 1600s. The current theory of its evolution is that over the next two centuries it became associated women's work, and in all male dorm's the young male students did "faggot work" or "fag work." We know that for a fact. We think Americans saw this, and heard the term, and thought there was a sexual component to it, and brought it back to America where the word was devoid of the context of work, and became just a derogatory term for men who have sex with men. After that, the new definition crossed back to Britain.

I loved the clip with Chang, because it is specifically making fun
people who use the word "gay" derogatorily. Chang is an immature internet troll given form, and of course he would respond to Jeff giving a heartfelt speech about respect by calling it "Gay." It's a joke about the kind of person who responds to a message board post with "gay," by having the worst person in the show scream it in the middle of Jeff attempting to give a Winger speech. It's purposefully obnoxious, irritating, and stupid and is mocking obnoxious, irritating and stupid behavior. But, of course, the people who are watching it are probably using it sincerely. Which as wonderfully dripping in irony as it is that people who sincerely using a clip that makes fun of them without realizing it, kind of pisses me off.

The reason why the word "gay" means "stupid" (and the same reason that "faggot" means "stupid" to Louis CK), is because of decades of social belief that gay people are bad. Children and teenagers just hear that "gay" means something bad, without actually understanding what that bad thing is, so they use it to refer to bad and/or stupid things. This is actually much more offensive to me than someone saying it to genuinely insult a gay person. Because it means that the person saying it does not think about the words they are saying, actual gay people and their feelings aren't even a concern to merit a moment's thought. Again, it goes back to privilege, they have the privilege to be in the majority and not even consider anyone who is not a part of that majority.

Personally, I use "gay" in an ironic way quite a lot. It's actually useful to me. For example, I say stuff like, "RuPaul's Drag Race is so gay," often. I need a handy word to mean "high degree of homosexual themes and content," but I never use it in that way around anyone who might actually think I'm using it to mean "stupid" or "lame."

You can use the words any way you like, but just think about it beforehand. And don't arrogantly assume that you are entitled to use them however you like, and no one else should criticize you for it.