Replacing the word "lynch" in mafia games

Author: David

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David
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In light of recent events, and in light of the historical connotations of "lynch", MafiaUniverse and MafiaScum have replaced the word "lynch" in their games. MafiaScum went even further than MU by banning moderators from using that word, but not punishing players. The moderation team does not moderate mafia games and we make no plans to enforce such a chance, I want to open it to discussion on using a different word such as "eliminate." 
RationalMadman
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@David
Buddy, there's a few words that need changing in Mafia games and lynch is only one of them.
Vader
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Strongly disapprove 
ILikePie5
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I second Supa.

Strongly disapprove
Intelligence_06
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So, what would VTL stand for? or would we use another abbreviation?

I don't necessarily approve or disapprove, but I am just confused. There are the theists and there are the atheists, and I am agnostic.
BearMan
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VOTE TO HANG BearMan.
RationalMadman
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I approve if we also change the terms like weapons used, 'killing' etc.
Bullish
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Vote to enslave Virtuoso
Lunatic
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This topic was talked about in length in the discord already and ended in some drama. But my opinion is that the context in mafia is not racist, and lynching also happened to all races so its not racist in general. That said y'all can use whatever word you want but I will continue to use "lynch" because I'm familiar with it.
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@Lunatic
it's amazing how one group of people can "own" a word.  would really suck if your last name was lynch, which IS an actual last name.
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@TheDredPriateRoberts
the word lynch comes from the name Lynch. The vast majority of people with the last name Hitler changed their name after WWII. Although I don't think the word lynch amounts to nearly the same gravity.
WaterPhoenix
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bro its a game if you're gonna get triggered enough over a game to chang the name of its most basic components don't play it.
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@Lunatic
@Vader
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@Intelligence_06
I hereby propose that 'lynch' be changed to 'put a cap in dey ass' and 'night kill' be changed to 'shank'.

All in favor?
Intelligence_06
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no.
Discipulus_Didicit
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Vigilante night kills can be referred to as 'cancelations'

Instead of saying 'Y was vigilante killed by X' we would say 'Y was cancelled by X'.
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@David
Only scum would bring up dark historical connotations in an appeal to one’s emotions to try and distract town.

VOTE TO HANG, DRAW, AND QUARTER VIRTUOSO
Crocodile
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Bruh. How the fuck is changing the word "lynch" gonna stop racism.

Black protesters are asking for EQUALITY.
Not changing words like "lynch", and "master-bedroom".

How the fuck is that supposed to stop racism?
Crocodile
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I STRONGLY disapprove.

VTL Virt
oromagi
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@David
I generally oppose all censorship of words, including self-censorship of words with a historically unjust and racist association.  The word evolved to mean extrajudicial execution by mob and its use in the game is entirely appropriate.  Anybody who has played the game can attest that the game does not serve as an endorsement of the practice as the main dynamic establishes that mobs are bad at findings of guilt and more innocent lives are lost to lynching than guilty. 

We don't amend our past national crimes by cover-up.   Tearing down statues does not bring increased justice to ancient harms, instead it covers up evidence of those ancient harms, increasing the likelihood that future generations forget the cruel truths of our racist slave economies.  Likewise, pretending the word lynch is somehow inherently offensive brings no increased justice to those thousands of Americans stripped of their rights and victimized by racist mobs, rather it suppresses evidence of those crimes.  For example, lynch is a uniquely Southern word, from the notion of lynch laws, first claimed by Charles Lynch of Richmond during the Revolutionary War.  The original intent of lynch laws was national security- extrajudicial suppression of  enemy forces during a time of war.  This notion informs the evolution of the word to mostly mean extrajudicial murders of black men by white men.  The recent murder of Ahmaud Arbery is properly described as a lynching; white men acting extra-judicially but with some loose state sanction.  If we just call it murder, we lose several important connotations- the history of white on black violence in the South; the tacit approval of the mob, of the establishment; and we lose the old context of "enemy forces" which decidedly informs the white supremacist's outlook, even today.   The word lynch evokes a history that the word murder simply can't.  To suppress the word is to suppress that history.

Let's hold on to all the words of our rich language and learn their meaning and use in context.  Forbidding any word's use changes the word's meaning and use and distorts the context.  Let's remember the history of lynching is the US, the violence and injustice of that act, by preserving the word and its use in its context, including the games of Mafia we play here.
Vader
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@Discipulus_Didicit
I genuinely laughed at "put a cap in dey ass"
Vader
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@Crocodile
I believe they aren't suggesting that they will. From my discussions, that isn't the route they are going to take at all. 
Vader
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@oromagi
Tearing down statues does not bring increased justice to ancient harms, instead it covers up evidence of those ancient harms, increasing the likelihood that future generations forget the cruel truths of our racist slave economies.
Can you say that louder for the people in the back?
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lynch
/lin(t)SH/
Learn to pronounce

verb

  1. (of a mob) kill (someone), especially by hanging, for an alleged offense with or without a legal trial.

That's all it means. It doesn't have to refer to an era of widespread racial prejudice. In the case of the game "Mafia", it has nothing to do with racism at all. Instead it has to do with the result of widespread suspicion of an individual not based on race, but on alleged unusual behavior, roles, characters, and sometimes process of elimination. Remember that context makes all the difference here.