I would bet on it being a little bit (well, a lot) of ablism mixed with people wanting only answers that they personally can use. Which circles back on the ableism… people don’t want to believe that they could suddenly join this minority group at any time.
I had to be in a wheelchair for a year. The internalized shame from pervasive background ableism is horrible.
Person A quietly swipes a pen off your desk.
Person B robs a bank at gunpoint, and it goes bad, murdering 12 people in the process, including kids.
“Obviously both sides must be talked about with the same weight of seriousness.” “That was my favorite pen, how dare he!!!” “They’re both thieves, and there’s no difference between them.” “They’re both the same.”
Fuck that.