this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2025
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A government official known for performing a nazi salute just broadcast an ableist slur.
Cool cool cool
"Political appointee"
alien invader
Gotta keep play to the cheap seats, these clowns
Civilized people should really coopt the word "removed" to mean Republican. I mean, they have the (R) next to their names to remind us already.
Then when someone takes offense you can just say
Way to throw disabled people under the bus because you aren't clever enough to find another way to insult their intelligence.
Also using the phrase "civilized people" makes you sound like you'd fit in with the other Republicans.
Jesus Titty-Fucking Christ, Carol. Just because someone has a mental disability doesn't make them a Republican.
btw do you know why it was decided to treat the r-word as an ableist slur? And why didn't they also make "idiot" a slur, since it has basically the same etymology? Is this a lemmy-specific thing? I've never seen anyone use or interpret the r-word as a slur outside of lemmy
In contemporary language, that word (among others) is almost entirely used as an insult by way of equating somebody's intelligence with those who have intellectual disabilities, which creates a negative connotation. Similarly, this is why we don't say things we dislike are "gay" anymore. It's disrespectful to the people who actually fall under the definition, and it proliferates negative associations with traits that people are stuck living with and had no choice in acquiring.
The only reason "idiot" hasn't followed suit is because it's much more culturally ingrained, and there's hasn't been as significant of an attempt to change it as with other words.
It's not exclusive to Lemmy, but it is mostly left-leaning spaces or gen Z individuals who see it that way. Center and right-leaning spaces see treating the word as a slur to be censorship (as opposed to being respectful of others) and keep using it or actively push back by saying it more.
thanks for the writeup, makes sense!
Not Lemmy specific. There was US legislation related to the word being deemed offensive fifteen years ago (given the slow nature of Congress, it wasn't a new sentiment then, either): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa%27s_Law
Fair enough that plenty of insulting words could be cast as abelist: but my guess is that a word like "idiot" is old enough that most folks called that in a medical context aren't around any more. Maybe I'm wrong though: plenty of folks do push against saying things like "crazy" in an insulting manner.
TIL about the legislation, thanks!
You must not be close to anyone that has any sort of mental illness. It's a very broad and hurtful term. It has been for a long time.
Edit. Found this online
https://www.spreadtheword.global/resource-archive/r-word-effects