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lemmy user(ule)s: "this sign won't stop me because i can't read" (lemmy.cafe)

submitted 3 months ago by spujb@lemmy.cafe to c/196@lemmy.blahaj.zone

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https://www.specialolympics.org/stories/impact/why-the-r-word-is-the-r-slur

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[-] criitz@reddthat.com 9 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I don't agree with OP that you should never be allowed to call someone names... But I do think the r word is potentially hurtful to actually mentally disabled people, so I wouldn't use it for that reason.

In general its better to use words that represent choices people make and not unchangable aspects. I wouldn't use terms "black", "retarded", or "gay" as insults, for example. Someone below suggested "foolish" as a good example since it's not an inherent trait but a behavior.

[-] spujb@lemmy.cafe 6 points 3 months ago

i don’t think you shouldn’t ever be allowed to call someone names, not sure where you got that lol. for the record i 100% agree with your comment :)

sorry if i come across any other way i just personally find it important to sass people who vehemently defend “muh rights” to use established slurs

[-] ealoe@ani.social 13 points 3 months ago

It's only an "established slur" to some people (mostly in online niche communities), to a lot of people it's just everyday speech. Words such as retarded, special needs, intellectually disabled, moron, imbecile and more are all terms used to describe a disability, just like "blind". I'm tired of this artificially accelerated pejoration sped along by people who just want to correct others to feel good about themselves, the euphemism treadmill for people with intellectual disabilities in particular spins faster than for any other topic. We haven't invented 15 different phrases for blind in the last 50 years, there's no reason to do it for disabled brains any more than for disabled eyeballs.

Instead that energy should be focused on ensuring people don't use someone's disability to put the disabled person down. Those people are the real problem, not normal folks criticizing people for their shitty behaviors they can control, not immutable characteristics about themselves.