i do not believe these words should be abandoned!

my intent is to point out and critique society’s weaponization of words, not the words themselves.

also! this is a descriptive post, not perscriptive

what that means is just that i want ppl to be aware that this pattern has happened in the past and of course the forces behind those happenings haven’t just disappeared. i think pride in being ND and the fact that “neurodiverse” is a word that is created by its own community are powerful reasons to doubt that the word will have the same fate. perhaps i would call this a “call to awareness” post rather than a call to action.

(making this disclaimer because a couple people are violently adamant that i am just trying to make an argument saying all these words are the same and predicting the future, which, sorry you got that impression it’s not true. but now you know!)

  • Walk_blesseD@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    131·
    5 days ago

    Why “regarded”? I don’t get it tbh. To me it just says that you want to call someone “retarded” but you’re just too much of a coward to commit. Like, it communicates the exact same contempt for someone’s cognitive abilities but also an aversion to using a proper No-No Word™ because you don’t wanna transgress some sorta social taboo against them while doing so. Cuck behaviour, ngl chief.

    • Malfeasant@lemm.ee
      3·
      5 days ago

      Or, it might be because some communities silence those who use certain words, regardless of context, and this person is trying to avoid that…

      • Walk_blesseD@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        3·
        5 days ago

        Yes, and I still think that shitlordy behaviour of “teehee I didn’t technically break the rules-as-written despite it being blatantly obvious to everyone around that my intent was to do exactly that because I’m scared of getting a comment removed on the internet” is a pathetic display of weakness.

        Idk, I find all three alternatives preferable: either say the slur we all know you mean and just cop the consequences, be more creative with your insult game, or idk, maybe just don’t use cognitive impairments as a punching bag???

        • spujb@lemmy.cafeOPEnglish
          3·
          5 days ago

          honestly i support more shaming of this kind of behavior. i can even identify areas where this would have been more rhetorically effective in my own experiences.

          instead of getting defensive: “what do you mean by that?” “no no i don’t understand please explain what ‘acoustic’ means?” “what is restarted?”

          unserious ableists deserve unserious conversations