Long ago, my father would inspect hospitals and would have to call in his reports and I'd frequently hear the r-word - in its original form - in those instances, at least originally. And like you say, that word was originally meant as a euphemism since it just means "slowed".
A term that was more frequently slung around on our playground, probably more than the r-word was "sped", which took me a long time to connect with the shorthand for saying SPecial EDucation.
The reason good people don't need rules is because they wouldn't violate them even if they did. Using that to rationalize being a jerk is misapplying it.
If you're a "good man," you wouldn't be using the r-slur in the first place. The exact cognitive dissonance which allows fascists to be fascists is that they believe themselves to be good people and therefore don't need rules. But instead of actually being good people, they use this as an excuse to be terrible to others.
Go look at the mod's profile page. That's where I got that.
Honestly, I think its a bullshit statement, so I called him out.
And then you ate the onion.
I can get over minor things and words that don't matter just fine. Can you?
Thick skin and resilience matters a whole of a lot more than nagging other people about certain words.
If you can really get over minor things then why did you post this? Seems like you’re still nagging people over word choice. Some thicker skin would avoid this problem.
I feel myself lose control of my bladder and sphincters all the time. How would I feel myself lose control if I didnt have control to begin with? Checkmate. /s
so calling him any slur is okay, or just this one?
i mean, fuck that guy, but that word has a heavy and hateful impact on some people. i just think it's easier for people to ignore that one than to ignore several others, unfortunately.
For the record the Twitter page that article is talking about ('I Find Retards') is a right-wing Twitter page. Previously considered retards: trans people and those with Down Syndrome, and anyone remotely left-wing. They use 'retard' because they don't care about minorities and like 'edgy humor'. Why do you use it, then? Don't make your hatred of fascists make you forget about your fellow disabled Dems, like me.
One of my daughters has CP and we use the term ironically often… is retard really becoming a slur? We think it’s fine if you’re not special needs around these parts. However if you called a special needs person retarded then its basically fighting words.
A slur is any insulting or disparaging remark. The r-word used as a way to make fun or tear down any individual is a slur. It hasn't even been used as a medical term for decades now. It doesn't matter the company you keep or if the recipient of said remark is "okay" with it. It's a slur and has been distasteful for a long time.
Technically, one of the things that makes it worse - some of the folks I used to work with still had MR as their official medical diagnosis - less than a decade ago, and since most of them were young enough to probably be still alive, they still have it.
"All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed."
How you execute a consistent set of policies when the rules say you don't have to be consistent is beyond me.
LOL! I think it's one of those "read the room first" situations.
I've always said Kash Patel deserves 100% of the shit the GOP spews thrown right back in his "special needs" face.. but that IS a slur against the actual people that are disabled, since Patel isn't really needing of any special treatment or help.. beyond the karmic swift one in the pants he so deserves.
Which should be given with extreme wit, vigor and prejudice.
Consider the actual definition of the word not just how it makes you feel...it applies to both Patel personally and his role in the current administration, he is actively retarding our entire law enforcement system as well as the investigation against the single largest, most vile, and most influential criminal organization to ever exist. It can be a slur but it's not inherently a slur.
Because they were using the r-slur? That only makes sense. It's against the community rules, is it not? The mods here never claimed to be free speech absolutists.
If you think the problem here is that people aren't allowed to use the r-slur, you completely missed the point of the article.
The hypocrisy is the main issue. This admin cries about how people can't say the r-slur anymore, and then they get butthurt and threaten abuses of power when it's used against them.
Weaponizing the FBI against some jerks on the internet is a huge part of the problem too. Enforcing conduct and language standards falls on content moderation teams, not federal law enforcement. That doesn't mean the whole internet should be the wild west. Unless you're okay with nazis spouting hate? Because that's what you'll get with free speech absolutism.
So honestly I really don't get you're point. Should the mods not remove comments that use slurs, and ban repeat offenders?
I suggest using the power of your free speech to walk up in person too anyone of color and using any of those words to their face and see how your "free speech" goes.
Furthermore, a little reasearch on what "free speech" means and doesn't mean might be in order.
What I find interesting is that so many people seem to want to stand up on the side of bigotry and demand their "right" to be a bigot and use bigoted language. I'm not sure that's really a great look.
We've made a bit of progress. In the past, such a post would be immediately banned, simply for having the word in the title. As if the word itself is magical apart from context and intent.
Hey mods, I didn't direct the r-word at anyone, specifically mentioned that it's offensive, and suggested the alternative and legally defensible term googly-eyed chud. I think the automod needs to calm down a bit.
I wasn't the one who did it, and personally, I think it could have gone either way, but while I don't think I would have removed that one, I certainly would not argue against its removal. I don't think the moderator needs to calm down at all. A ban for that comment might've been rather much, but a simple removal is perfectly fine.
Well, this is simply incorrect. I ran across this thread and reported several comments, bringing it to the attention of the moderators, who took action.
And you are free to have yourr opinions, but again, I suggest complying with the Lemmy.world TOS. If you think the TOS is asinine, that's fine - as long as you comply with them.
Do you watch police brutality and think, "THIN BLUE LINE! HUAH!!!!"? Let's discuss other stupid things. Or maybe you might stop standing up for bigotry.
Imagine growing up knowing you wanted to be in the FBI to be part of a crack team working on real crimes and then....getting assigned a task like this?
I imagine half the people who grow up wanting to be in the FBI would have been caught up in the propaganda/entertainment shows like 24 growing up. The run around shoot bad guys and stop nuclear bombs from being snuck into the country before they blow up (insert large city here). Unless they were really into forensics and like lab work, but there can't be to many people out there that love science and think the FBI would be the best place to study/learn cool new things
Unless they care about things like countering human trafficking and get into it because they legitimately want to stop evil people and save lives or rescue innocents...
but there can’t be to many people out there that love science and think the FBI would be the best place to study/learn cool new things
On a serious note, in the past few decades, the government has gone to great lengths to attract people like that into these agencies. In the earlier 2000's, the government realized it had a significant lack of talent compared to the private sector when it came to technology and especially cyber security. The government has a lot of close connections with the private sector, but also worked to directly attract talent too including allowing more competitive salaries or benefits.
Years ago there were a ton of articles talking about how the FBI had wanted to do away with the federal drug testing requirements when it came to marijuana, because it prevented them from recruiting certain groups.
Revelations in November 2025 that Mr Patel, 46, was using taxpayer-funded jets to watch performances by his girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, a 27-year-old country music singer, also prompted widespread criticism.
Counterpoint: I'll use whatever accurate term I want to describe this googly eyed fascist dipshit cuck I want in real life and this type of finger wagging is detrimental in the long run. I don't love the word but if you've ever called someone lame or an idiot, you've also used ableist slurs. Don't be an asshole in general but this isn't as big a deal to most people in the meatspace and it's mostly fine.
These cunts literally want to disassemble what remains of our democracy and put certain groups in camps, its fine if somebody calls them something that actually hurts their feelings. Because calling them Nazis certainly doesn't.
The problem is you're not hurting the ones you want to, and you are hurting people - real poeple - who do not deserve it. It's like bombing a wedding or school when you want to bomb the terrorists.
And do we need to discuss how language works? "Colored" used to be the preferred term for people who are Black - the NAACP still has the term in their name from that time. But try calling someone that. In the same way, many of the people who are "retarted" still have the medical diagnosis of "mental retardation". It doesn't make the word any less offensive in the same way that calling someone of colour "Colored" is. That's just how language works. The words you mentioned have passed into common usage.
So at the VERY BEST, your argument is "I should be able to use offensive and hurtful words because they might become non-offensive in the future" while causing actural, real harm now, and not even accomplishing the goal you want to accomplish anyway.
As far as how to rescue our country, here are some brief thoughts:
The best way, but one of the hardest, is to try and break through the relentless fascist propaganda and change the minds of those who do actually understand progressive ideas - when it affects them personally. Countless times we hear of them suddenly realizing that abortion is a right when THEIR family needs one, that social safety nets are important when THEIR family needs them. It's difficult to break through, but this would be the best way if we could.
The second best way is to do the same for all those who have bought into the "both sides" and "politics doesn't matter" and don't vote, and get them to vote blue. Even with the current state of the Democratic party with its large establishment contingent that are beholden to the oligarchs like the Republicans all are, we'd see SOME progress with a Democratic super-majority
Encouraging progressive politics. It seems that the DSA is currently becoming a center of power and interest with this idea - enough people are becoming comfortable with the idea of democratic socialism (as opposed to Socialism) that there's some progress possible here, so we should support that - because the time for progressive politics is the primaries and before that - in the general, it is time for "vote blue no matter who" because the progressive battle might've already been lost, but red vs blue is still worth fighting.
The least lovely way for change is by enough people having enough and standing up and taking back our government. This requires MUCH risk. People WILL die almost certainly, and it might not work. But what you NEED for that is enough people out on the streets shutting everything down that action must happen - and you need a plan - and you need people ready to go take over. And to get there, you need massive protests. And to get massive protesets, you need sustained and growing protests. And to get there, you need organization and you need people getting other people to get out and protest, and for that you need people convincing others that it's something worth our time to do, and to convince others that we CAN make a change and get progressive politics/laws in place. So ti's a big process. Oh, and most likely, you need some sort of spark for the fire - once everyone is out on the streets, ideally something happens that causes people to lose their shit and stand up and take over.
So there's all these things we need to be working on, and none of them involve using ableist slurs that don't help.
Use perfectly legal means to exterminate conservatives on an industrial scale. Conservatives despise regulations that protect their water and air. They have removed those "woke" regulations in countless conservative communities, making it perfectly legal to give millions of nazis various forms of rare, difficult to treat terminal diseases. No laws need to be broken to solve the infestation of nazis in these cases.
why did we pick this word? Why is moron, imbecile, idiot, etc.. all of those are perfectly a-okay as an insult and no one gets their panties in a bunch. Feels arbitrary.
Feels more like a empty issue to take up arms for so that people can FEEL like they're doing something, while doing next to nothing. It's so easy to word police, it's hard to read up on social causes and systems of oppression. So, instead you get armchair keyboard warriors going "you can't say that!!!!!" and feel like they're making a difference... it's a lazy cause to pacify people, artificially inflated. On the same wavelength as latinx.
imagine it's you. imagine you have to hear it all the time. imagine it's your loved one, or nearly everyone you work with professionally, and you have to deal with it. then imagine that for decades. are you exhausted yet? it gets very old and when the traction finally kicks in and people start going ''OK let's move away from this'' and you pop up going 'why can't we just KEEP being awful! It doesn't hurt MY feelings!!! So who cares!''
I don't have to imagine, I heard it all the time. Among a litany of all other sorts of insults. "slow", "dumb", "moron", "idiot", "dipshit", "special", "widowlicker", etc, etc, etc.....
Policing ONE word isn't do jack shit to solve the bullying problem. It's giving lazy people an easy cause to crusade for that ultimately does nothing. Less then nothing, because once you've convinced yourself that "this word" is the "nono word", you'll let all the others slide. As long as they don't say the "nono word" it's okay...
And actually does more harm than any tangible good. Because the most common misuse of policing the word isn't to protect people.... it's to purity check others. Its a diversionary wedge issue that creates artificial divisions. Instead of stopping bullies, we're stopping eachother.... "oh you called RFK Jr a nono word???? you're a nazi too!!"
so you want people to use the slur? because people recognizing saying it is awful is bad....? it's not a crusade, people get it's bad and don't want to hear it. and yeah one word isn't the issue, as an adult, when you start getting corrected on the one word, you kind of have to be smart enough to see the actual problem and stop with all the other words as well. I don't think it's a coordinated attempt to destroy all decency if we allow people to be upset about a slur.
Nah it's straight up a slur. I'm from the 90s, I remember what we actually called intellectually disabled people. It wasn't any of those other medical terms.
and that was the only thing they were called? They weren't called any other things, at all?
So, what is accomplished by saying "this word" is the nono word? You're not stopping the bullying. Instead, you've picked some arbitrary word, policed it (instead of the issue) and get to feel like you're making a difference (you aren't) while the bullying continues. Except now, you don't care... I mean, so long as they don't say the nono word.....
I care, and that was the big one. I agree language is the least important part, but online it's the most visible sign of disrespect. It goes to creating a more welcoming culture to people with all kinds of disabilities.
Were you around back in the day? It's actually been great seeing people getting less tolerant of ableist language, and behavior. The shit we use to say about our fellow people, just in the mainstream, it all went to such a fucked up culture of disregarding people just because they aren't "like us."
That’s the same as using certain racial slurs. Refraining from using them is a simple act of respect to those marginalized communities.
“Idiot” or “moron” isn’t commonly understood to be tied to a particular group on a modern context. It’s just a generic insult for a stupid person. Trying to compare that to the word of cocern in this post is comparing apples and oranges. It’s now clearly understood as an ableist word and a marginalized group is asking everyone not to use it, as it has very negative connotations for them.
Likewise, “Latinx” was never accepted amongst the Latino community, and only a tiny percentage of university students, most who weren’t even first generation, even cared about it. Using Latinx or Latine actually demonstrates cultural ignorance, as a gendered language doesn’t actually mean words are male, female, non-binary or anything in between. It’s just the rules of the language.
Using slurs against, or in the presence of marginalized people opens up all their old wounds again, wounds inflicted on them by privileged oppressors. These slurs were created with the intention of dehumanizing, insulting and punching down on certain groups, or implying inferiority of those groups when using it as an insult towards others (you’re equating a person to an “lesser” person of a marginalized group).
If you’re interested in studying systems of oppression, this should be an obvious thing to you. Oppression is perpetuated by direct physical and emotional violence, as well as systemic violence.
If words mean nothing, I suggest trying that theory out by going up to a person of colour and using a certain word to them. Or even call them "colored", which used to be the preferred term.
So if words mean something, perhaps it's worth the time to consider their use carefully.
Yea, but you're not actually doing anything effective.
Are you helping real people, or just helping yourself? Because tone policing a word when it isn't even being used as slur at a person, but doing it just because you want everyone to know how anti-bullying, anti-bigotry you are........ sorry, that's just self-congratulatory masturbation. And look, I get it, sometimes it feels good to wax poetic in public, I'm just saying, maybe be honest about why you're doing it.
Kantar reviewed nearly 50 million social posts in the U.S. over 2 years. Over two-thirds of posts about people with intellectual disabilities were negative and nearly 29 million contained slurs (i.e., using the word “retard(ed)” or other words combined with “-tard”).
Spreading the R-word continues to hurt people with intellectual disabilities—and whether intended or not, is a form of bullying. Using the R-word is the same as using any slur against a minority group. Eliminating this word is a step toward respect for all."
it's a lazy virtue signal so that we eat our own. Likely propagated by right-wing groups who benefit the most from the infighting. It doesn't solve a real issue and instead is just another purity test imposed to artificially create division.
But go off, feel good about yourself, you've done it, you solved bullying!
Because that's how language works. That word has been used to demean, mock, belittle, and cause real trauma to people. That's why using it makes people feel bad, and as sentient, empathetic people, we choose not to use it.
Somehow it was decided that one word would be the nono bad word... when literally all of them are used interchangably. But, you only get scolded if you say one of them. And policing its use does make any actual meaningful change. Like, if you wanted to insult a handicapped person, you can still do it using any of other words in the quiver.
Kantar reviewed nearly 50 million social posts in the U.S. over 2 years. Over two-thirds of posts about people with intellectual disabilities were negative and nearly 29 million contained slurs (i.e., using the word “retard(ed)” or other words combined with “-tard”).
Spreading the R-word continues to hurt people with intellectual disabilities—and whether intended or not, is a form of bullying. Using the R-word is the same as using any slur against a minority group. Eliminating this word is a step toward respect for all. "
There are plenty of words that can be used to insult someone, if your intention is to bully them. You don’t need to inflict collateral damage to insult one person. The English language is very flexible. Giving up a simple word is an act of respect.
You and everyone else downvoting in this thread are using the same logic as an alt-right dweeb who gets enraged when you “steal” bigoted language from them, or ask them not to misgender someone. Which is dumb, because you’re stealing nothing. It’s saying “Hey, that word is terrible for me hear, it brings back lots of bad memories, so out of respect could please not use it?”
Damn, people want to appear to be against oppression, racism and other things yet can’t even be bothered to modify their behavior in the simplest of ways to respect other living beings. We really are all fucked.
This comparison to racial slurs is unbelievably insulting and degrading.
Racial slurs are tied to a history of oppression, slavery, assault, abuse, generational damage, and legacies of trauma.... and what you're saying is: "wahhh he called me DUMB!!1! that's JUST like calling me a racial slur!!!111!"
You're not protecting people with this statement. You're cheapening what "slur" means.
NGL, my own autistic brother would call (and has called) Patel a retread.
As an insult it is less about denigrating actual handicapped folks and more about calling the subject of the insult a specific level of stupid. One that is very often less capable that most people who are disabled.
God knows my own brother who is on the spectrum could outperfom Patel, simply because he's an honest, capable man with integrity.
So? Is ableism by someone on the spectrum supposed to be acceptable? Do I need to find a person who is black to give me permission to use the N word? Maybe I should find a woman to give me permission to be misogynist?
That's not it at all. It's about not being so high handed to assume someone with disabilities needs you to define what they will - or will not be - offended by. I as a woman give you permission to be the biggest misogynist on the planet if it gives you a chubby, knock yourself out! Then again, I can be a total raging cunt and don't give a shit if you are.
You are not and will never be responsible for my emotions.
When the TOS, as stated, seems ambiguous.. it begets the immediate issue between you and I as being that as I have NOT used a slur.. as an admin, you find my plainly stated diffidence to "white knighting" (..as if those with disabilities have no agency..) for others offensive.
My wife used to teach adults with cognitive and developmental disabilities. They learned Shakespeare.
The reason the term "mental retardation" came into being was to indicate a slowness of learning. And while it's a complicated topic, it's arguably true that many of them do learn some things more slowly.
But they absolutely learn.
They know the term "retard" and know it applies to them. They feel pain knowing that it is used.
And it's unfair. When I say they learned Shakespeare - upon more than one occasion I saw her class discussing the topic intelligently and with full understanding.
There are plenty of other words people can use that don't have the same harm.
And yes, some will say "other words used to be like that and aren't". Great! Use them! "Colored' used to be the preferred term for people who are Black, but I'd love to sit by and watch you call someone that.
This kind of "banning" of words is annoying and superficial. It's a word used in French. Like if you say 逃げろ well in one country it's to run away and in another country it's racist. And don't worry the self censorship only breeds creativity. Had students that would say vi-negar, or knee growth, or the latest n-wah. So realistically it solves nothing. It wouldn't surprise me that r-wah would be a thing as well.
Until school-aged children begin calling their friends reject, then we will have to shift to more positive language like not unrejected. The object being of course to make it as obnoxious as possible for kids to use therapy language to make fun of each other.
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Reminder: Ableist slurs are NOT allowed regardless of who they are directed at.
Read up!
https://www.specialolympics.org/stories/impact/why-the-r-word-is-the-r-slur
Euphamism Treadmill
Long ago, my father would inspect hospitals and would have to call in his reports and I'd frequently hear the r-word - in its original form - in those instances, at least originally. And like you say, that word was originally meant as a euphemism since it just means "slowed".
A term that was more frequently slung around on our playground, probably more than the r-word was "sped", which took me a long time to connect with the shorthand for saying SPecial EDucation.
Good men don't need rules?
The reason good people don't need rules is because they wouldn't violate them even if they did. Using that to rationalize being a jerk is misapplying it.
If you're a "good man," you wouldn't be using the r-slur in the first place. The exact cognitive dissonance which allows fascists to be fascists is that they believe themselves to be good people and therefore don't need rules. But instead of actually being good people, they use this as an excuse to be terrible to others.
Go look at the mod's profile page. That's where I got that.
Honestly, I think its a bullshit statement, so I called him out.
And then you ate the onion.
Oh that was juicy. Thank you for that one.
;)
*Noooo don't call an actual real life monster and a fascist a no no word noooo that makes you just as bad as them nooooo! *
You managed to call them a monster and a fascist without resorting to ableist slurs just fine. Get over it.
I can get over minor things and words that don't matter just fine. Can you? Thick skin and resilience matters a whole of a lot more than nagging other people about certain words.
If you can really get over minor things then why did you post this? Seems like you’re still nagging people over word choice. Some thicker skin would avoid this problem.
This is the only place they feel control in their lives so they feel the need to flex it incessantly.
I feel myself lose control of my bladder and sphincters all the time. How would I feel myself lose control if I didnt have control to begin with? Checkmate. /s
Do you say the same thing when someone uses the n-slur, f-slur, c-slur, b-slur, s-slur, w-slur, or any other slurs?
I know 2 of those I think. I don't know what c through w is referring to though
[citation needed]
so calling him any slur is okay, or just this one?
i mean, fuck that guy, but that word has a heavy and hateful impact on some people. i just think it's easier for people to ignore that one than to ignore several others, unfortunately.
If only there were good people on the Internet... 😂
I found one! ☝️
I joined the FBI to [solve crimes/harass minorities] and now I am replying to flame wars on Twitter. I hate my life.
Dear FBI, Kash Patel is a douchebag. Please make sure he sees this.
Hugs and kisses.
For the record the Twitter page that article is talking about ('I Find Retards') is a right-wing Twitter page. Previously considered retards: trans people and those with Down Syndrome, and anyone remotely left-wing. They use 'retard' because they don't care about minorities and like 'edgy humor'. Why do you use it, then? Don't make your hatred of fascists make you forget about your fellow disabled Dems, like me.
One of my daughters has CP and we use the term ironically often… is retard really becoming a slur? We think it’s fine if you’re not special needs around these parts. However if you called a special needs person retarded then its basically fighting words.
https://www.specialolympics.org/stories/impact/why-the-r-word-is-the-r-slur
A slur is any insulting or disparaging remark. The r-word used as a way to make fun or tear down any individual is a slur. It hasn't even been used as a medical term for decades now. It doesn't matter the company you keep or if the recipient of said remark is "okay" with it. It's a slur and has been distasteful for a long time.
Technically, one of the things that makes it worse - some of the folks I used to work with still had MR as their official medical diagnosis - less than a decade ago, and since most of them were young enough to probably be still alive, they still have it.
HAAAAAANK
Mods, this isn't the hill to die on and you know it.
Ban all who dare use slurs against fascists pedophiles!
Fascists sealioning and normalizing genocide? Okie dokie.
Man, I agree with you, but these are the rules:
"All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed."
How you execute a consistent set of policies when the rules say you don't have to be consistent is beyond me.
LOL! I think it's one of those "read the room first" situations.
I've always said Kash Patel deserves 100% of the shit the GOP spews thrown right back in his "special needs" face.. but that IS a slur against the actual people that are disabled, since Patel isn't really needing of any special treatment or help.. beyond the karmic swift one in the pants he so deserves.
Which should be given with extreme wit, vigor and prejudice.
Consider the actual definition of the word not just how it makes you feel...it applies to both Patel personally and his role in the current administration, he is actively retarding our entire law enforcement system as well as the investigation against the single largest, most vile, and most influential criminal organization to ever exist. It can be a slur but it's not inherently a slur.
"Free speech absolutists" except when their feelings get hurt...
The mods.... Literally half the comments here got censored and banned
Because they were using the r-slur? That only makes sense. It's against the community rules, is it not? The mods here never claimed to be free speech absolutists.
If you think the problem here is that people aren't allowed to use the r-slur, you completely missed the point of the article.
The hypocrisy is the main issue. This admin cries about how people can't say the r-slur anymore, and then they get butthurt and threaten abuses of power when it's used against them.
Weaponizing the FBI against some jerks on the internet is a huge part of the problem too. Enforcing conduct and language standards falls on content moderation teams, not federal law enforcement. That doesn't mean the whole internet should be the wild west. Unless you're okay with nazis spouting hate? Because that's what you'll get with free speech absolutism.
So honestly I really don't get you're point. Should the mods not remove comments that use slurs, and ban repeat offenders?
Literally the same as the post, r slur used and no more free speech.
I suggest using the power of your free speech to walk up in person too anyone of color and using any of those words to their face and see how your "free speech" goes.
Furthermore, a little reasearch on what "free speech" means and doesn't mean might be in order.
What I find interesting is that so many people seem to want to stand up on the side of bigotry and demand their "right" to be a bigot and use bigoted language. I'm not sure that's really a great look.
Wrong use of ellipses.
Wrong use of pedantry...
...no...
He sounds pretty mentally handicapped to me.
We've made a bit of progress. In the past, such a post would be immediately banned, simply for having the word in the title. As if the word itself is magical apart from context and intent.
Try reading the comments here
You can tell it's a slur because of how haughty people get when you tell them they can't say it. Lol they really want to be able to say it.
Googly-eyed chud
The Union of People with Googly-eyes will find you in a dark alley.
Chud is a no no word meant to disparage underground canibals you can't use that word!
Underground cannibals is a slur! We call them 'people who eat people' now.
this is good. we're making good progress here.
“Googly-eyed Kremlin bitch” still court-approved
That dude has definitely drunk Bailey's from a shoe.
Don’t you do ol’ greg like that
There's something subtly wrong here. Hmm...
Looks pretty accurate to me
His skin has a slight green cast to it. Could just be the lighting. Otherwise, it's one of the better pictures I've seen of the asshole.
The eyes are too aligned
Did they all reply to the posts with "yeah, we know"?
Hey mods, I didn't direct the r-word at anyone, specifically mentioned that it's offensive, and suggested the alternative and legally defensible term googly-eyed chud. I think the automod needs to calm down a bit.
I wasn't the one who did it, and personally, I think it could have gone either way, but while I don't think I would have removed that one, I certainly would not argue against its removal. I don't think the moderator needs to calm down at all. A ban for that comment might've been rather much, but a simple removal is perfectly fine.
No one did it. It was automod looking for the existence of a word and ignoring any potential context."<redacted> is offensive" was removed for having the word <redacted> in it. That's asinine.
Edit: Apparently all mod activity notifications come from the automod. It's still asinine to try policing the existence of a word.
Well, this is simply incorrect. I ran across this thread and reported several comments, bringing it to the attention of the moderators, who took action.
And you are free to have yourr opinions, but again, I suggest complying with the Lemmy.world TOS. If you think the TOS is asinine, that's fine - as long as you comply with them.
If you don't like the rules, don't use the site.
Do you also measure your neighbors’ lawns with a ruler and report them to the HOA? You seem like the type…
Do you watch police brutality and think, "THIN BLUE LINE! HUAH!!!!"? Let's discuss other stupid things. Or maybe you might stop standing up for bigotry.
"His partner's eyes must be even more fucked than his."
(apologies for stealing this joke from Romesh Ranganathan)
Imagine growing up knowing you wanted to be in the FBI to be part of a crack team working on real crimes and then....getting assigned a task like this?
I mean, what the fuck?
"Agent, we have a new assignment for you."
"Yes, sir, what will it be this time? Another terrorist group trying to ship in illegal weaponry?"
"Uh, well... It's more related to the internet."
"Ah, I see, sir. Will this be like the time I infiltrated that human trafficking communication network?"
"No... Some people on the internet, uh, hurt Mr. Patel's feelings..."
"No problem sir, I will take them... wait, what did you say?"
"You need to create a twi... an 'X' account and reply to those who say mean things to Mr. Patel."
I imagine half the people who grow up wanting to be in the FBI would have been caught up in the propaganda/entertainment shows like 24 growing up. The run around shoot bad guys and stop nuclear bombs from being snuck into the country before they blow up (insert large city here). Unless they were really into forensics and like lab work, but there can't be to many people out there that love science and think the FBI would be the best place to study/learn cool new things
Unless they care about things like countering human trafficking and get into it because they legitimately want to stop evil people and save lives or rescue innocents...
Ah good point, I was thinking that fell under DHS.
On a serious note, in the past few decades, the government has gone to great lengths to attract people like that into these agencies. In the earlier 2000's, the government realized it had a significant lack of talent compared to the private sector when it came to technology and especially cyber security. The government has a lot of close connections with the private sector, but also worked to directly attract talent too including allowing more competitive salaries or benefits.
Years ago there were a ton of articles talking about how the FBI had wanted to do away with the federal drug testing requirements when it came to marijuana, because it prevented them from recruiting certain groups.
This admin is the most thin skinned set of man-babies I’ve ever witnessed in office.
I was recently banned from some vegan comm for using the word 'moron'. Same justification.
They told me to fix my comment.
I said no.
deserved
k
Fails the half-his-age-plus-seven rule.
With these chuds, I'm just happy that she's not a child.
I mean maybe not physically but mentally...
This headline will very likely be written in history books.
I'm just going through this thread upvoting every "Removed by moderator" comment I see.
Oh, that will get ya banned.
Cya on YPTB. :]
What is YPTB? Can I discuss legal ways to exterminate the cockroaches there without getting my comments removed?
[email protected]
YTPB is a comm. Search for You Power Trippin Bastards.
Good entertainment to be had there.
Just because others use ableist slurs, it doesn't mean you have to.
Counterpoint: I'll use whatever accurate term I want to describe this googly eyed fascist dipshit cuck I want in real life and this type of finger wagging is detrimental in the long run. I don't love the word but if you've ever called someone lame or an idiot, you've also used ableist slurs. Don't be an asshole in general but this isn't as big a deal to most people in the meatspace and it's mostly fine.
These cunts literally want to disassemble what remains of our democracy and put certain groups in camps, its fine if somebody calls them something that actually hurts their feelings. Because calling them Nazis certainly doesn't.
Cuck is a slur, you're banned.
The problem is you're not hurting the ones you want to, and you are hurting people - real poeple - who do not deserve it. It's like bombing a wedding or school when you want to bomb the terrorists.
And do we need to discuss how language works? "Colored" used to be the preferred term for people who are Black - the NAACP still has the term in their name from that time. But try calling someone that. In the same way, many of the people who are "retarted" still have the medical diagnosis of "mental retardation". It doesn't make the word any less offensive in the same way that calling someone of colour "Colored" is. That's just how language works. The words you mentioned have passed into common usage.
So at the VERY BEST, your argument is "I should be able to use offensive and hurtful words because they might become non-offensive in the future" while causing actural, real harm now, and not even accomplishing the goal you want to accomplish anyway.
As far as how to rescue our country, here are some brief thoughts:
The best way, but one of the hardest, is to try and break through the relentless fascist propaganda and change the minds of those who do actually understand progressive ideas - when it affects them personally. Countless times we hear of them suddenly realizing that abortion is a right when THEIR family needs one, that social safety nets are important when THEIR family needs them. It's difficult to break through, but this would be the best way if we could.
The second best way is to do the same for all those who have bought into the "both sides" and "politics doesn't matter" and don't vote, and get them to vote blue. Even with the current state of the Democratic party with its large establishment contingent that are beholden to the oligarchs like the Republicans all are, we'd see SOME progress with a Democratic super-majority
Encouraging progressive politics. It seems that the DSA is currently becoming a center of power and interest with this idea - enough people are becoming comfortable with the idea of democratic socialism (as opposed to Socialism) that there's some progress possible here, so we should support that - because the time for progressive politics is the primaries and before that - in the general, it is time for "vote blue no matter who" because the progressive battle might've already been lost, but red vs blue is still worth fighting.
The least lovely way for change is by enough people having enough and standing up and taking back our government. This requires MUCH risk. People WILL die almost certainly, and it might not work. But what you NEED for that is enough people out on the streets shutting everything down that action must happen - and you need a plan - and you need people ready to go take over. And to get there, you need massive protests. And to get massive protesets, you need sustained and growing protests. And to get there, you need organization and you need people getting other people to get out and protest, and for that you need people convincing others that it's something worth our time to do, and to convince others that we CAN make a change and get progressive politics/laws in place. So ti's a big process. Oh, and most likely, you need some sort of spark for the fire - once everyone is out on the streets, ideally something happens that causes people to lose their shit and stand up and take over.
So there's all these things we need to be working on, and none of them involve using ableist slurs that don't help.
I'm not making an account on musks shitty fake social network. Hey Patel, you are a complete idiot.
Heres the old IQ scale so you can reference what that means.
Moron: IQ of 50–69 (mild impairment) Imbecile: IQ of 20–49 (moderate to severe impairment) Idiot: IQ below 20 (profound impairment)
http://www.assessmentpsychology.com/iqclassifications.htm
And any FBI agents who come to my house better bring a signed warrant or you'll simply be trespassed and told to go fuck yourselves.
Ill just borrow 'profound impairment' when it refers to herr patel.
Oh, God yeah..
https://www.specialolympics.org/stories/impact/why-the-r-word-is-the-r-slur
why did we pick this word? Why is moron, imbecile, idiot, etc.. all of those are perfectly a-okay as an insult and no one gets their panties in a bunch. Feels arbitrary.
Feels more like a empty issue to take up arms for so that people can FEEL like they're doing something, while doing next to nothing. It's so easy to word police, it's hard to read up on social causes and systems of oppression. So, instead you get armchair keyboard warriors going "you can't say that!!!!!" and feel like they're making a difference... it's a lazy cause to pacify people, artificially inflated. On the same wavelength as latinx.
imagine it's you. imagine you have to hear it all the time. imagine it's your loved one, or nearly everyone you work with professionally, and you have to deal with it. then imagine that for decades. are you exhausted yet? it gets very old and when the traction finally kicks in and people start going ''OK let's move away from this'' and you pop up going 'why can't we just KEEP being awful! It doesn't hurt MY feelings!!! So who cares!''
I don't have to imagine, I heard it all the time. Among a litany of all other sorts of insults. "slow", "dumb", "moron", "idiot", "dipshit", "special", "widowlicker", etc, etc, etc.....
Policing ONE word isn't do jack shit to solve the bullying problem. It's giving lazy people an easy cause to crusade for that ultimately does nothing. Less then nothing, because once you've convinced yourself that "this word" is the "nono word", you'll let all the others slide. As long as they don't say the "nono word" it's okay...
And actually does more harm than any tangible good. Because the most common misuse of policing the word isn't to protect people.... it's to purity check others. Its a diversionary wedge issue that creates artificial divisions. Instead of stopping bullies, we're stopping eachother.... "oh you called RFK Jr a nono word???? you're a nazi too!!"
so you want people to use the slur? because people recognizing saying it is awful is bad....? it's not a crusade, people get it's bad and don't want to hear it. and yeah one word isn't the issue, as an adult, when you start getting corrected on the one word, you kind of have to be smart enough to see the actual problem and stop with all the other words as well. I don't think it's a coordinated attempt to destroy all decency if we allow people to be upset about a slur.
Yep, stupid fucking mods
Nah it's straight up a slur. I'm from the 90s, I remember what we actually called intellectually disabled people. It wasn't any of those other medical terms.
and that was the only thing they were called? They weren't called any other things, at all?
So, what is accomplished by saying "this word" is the nono word? You're not stopping the bullying. Instead, you've picked some arbitrary word, policed it (instead of the issue) and get to feel like you're making a difference (you aren't) while the bullying continues. Except now, you don't care... I mean, so long as they don't say the nono word.....
I care, and that was the big one. I agree language is the least important part, but online it's the most visible sign of disrespect. It goes to creating a more welcoming culture to people with all kinds of disabilities.
Were you around back in the day? It's actually been great seeing people getting less tolerant of ableist language, and behavior. The shit we use to say about our fellow people, just in the mainstream, it all went to such a fucked up culture of disregarding people just because they aren't "like us."
That’s the same as using certain racial slurs. Refraining from using them is a simple act of respect to those marginalized communities.
“Idiot” or “moron” isn’t commonly understood to be tied to a particular group on a modern context. It’s just a generic insult for a stupid person. Trying to compare that to the word of cocern in this post is comparing apples and oranges. It’s now clearly understood as an ableist word and a marginalized group is asking everyone not to use it, as it has very negative connotations for them.
Likewise, “Latinx” was never accepted amongst the Latino community, and only a tiny percentage of university students, most who weren’t even first generation, even cared about it. Using Latinx or Latine actually demonstrates cultural ignorance, as a gendered language doesn’t actually mean words are male, female, non-binary or anything in between. It’s just the rules of the language.
Using slurs against, or in the presence of marginalized people opens up all their old wounds again, wounds inflicted on them by privileged oppressors. These slurs were created with the intention of dehumanizing, insulting and punching down on certain groups, or implying inferiority of those groups when using it as an insult towards others (you’re equating a person to an “lesser” person of a marginalized group).
If you’re interested in studying systems of oppression, this should be an obvious thing to you. Oppression is perpetuated by direct physical and emotional violence, as well as systemic violence.
If words mean nothing, I suggest trying that theory out by going up to a person of colour and using a certain word to them. Or even call them "colored", which used to be the preferred term.
So if words mean something, perhaps it's worth the time to consider their use carefully.
yes those are exactly comparable. Definitely no difference in historical context at all... pat yourself on the back, you're antibullying saviour!
Do you pat yourself on the back for standing up against bigotry? I would think it's the human thing to do.
Yea, but you're not actually doing anything effective.
Are you helping real people, or just helping yourself? Because tone policing a word when it isn't even being used as slur at a person, but doing it just because you want everyone to know how anti-bullying, anti-bigotry you are........ sorry, that's just self-congratulatory masturbation. And look, I get it, sometimes it feels good to wax poetic in public, I'm just saying, maybe be honest about why you're doing it.
FTA:
"The R-Word Is a Form of Bullying
Kantar reviewed nearly 50 million social posts in the U.S. over 2 years. Over two-thirds of posts about people with intellectual disabilities were negative and nearly 29 million contained slurs (i.e., using the word “retard(ed)” or other words combined with “-tard”).
Spreading the R-word continues to hurt people with intellectual disabilities—and whether intended or not, is a form of bullying. Using the R-word is the same as using any slur against a minority group. Eliminating this word is a step toward respect for all."
it's a lazy virtue signal so that we eat our own. Likely propagated by right-wing groups who benefit the most from the infighting. It doesn't solve a real issue and instead is just another purity test imposed to artificially create division.
But go off, feel good about yourself, you've done it, you solved bullying!
They also don't like the word mongoloid, and prefer that you don't say "suffers from ...." and more.
People humor them, because.... you know
Because that's how language works. That word has been used to demean, mock, belittle, and cause real trauma to people. That's why using it makes people feel bad, and as sentient, empathetic people, we choose not to use it.
yea.... but so have all those other words too.
Somehow it was decided that one word would be the nono bad word... when literally all of them are used interchangably. But, you only get scolded if you say one of them. And policing its use does make any actual meaningful change. Like, if you wanted to insult a handicapped person, you can still do it using any of other words in the quiver.
How long has the Special Olympics been in charge of what words are appropriate, anyway?
Why humor them? Believe me, the word itself will outlive the Special Olympics.
FTA:
"The R-Word Is a Form of Bullying
Kantar reviewed nearly 50 million social posts in the U.S. over 2 years. Over two-thirds of posts about people with intellectual disabilities were negative and nearly 29 million contained slurs (i.e., using the word “retard(ed)” or other words combined with “-tard”).
Spreading the R-word continues to hurt people with intellectual disabilities—and whether intended or not, is a form of bullying. Using the R-word is the same as using any slur against a minority group. Eliminating this word is a step toward respect for all. "
You realize that undermines your reasoning, right? We should be bullying Kash Patel at every opportunity.
There are plenty of words that can be used to insult someone, if your intention is to bully them. You don’t need to inflict collateral damage to insult one person. The English language is very flexible. Giving up a simple word is an act of respect.
You and everyone else downvoting in this thread are using the same logic as an alt-right dweeb who gets enraged when you “steal” bigoted language from them, or ask them not to misgender someone. Which is dumb, because you’re stealing nothing. It’s saying “Hey, that word is terrible for me hear, it brings back lots of bad memories, so out of respect could please not use it?”
Damn, people want to appear to be against oppression, racism and other things yet can’t even be bothered to modify their behavior in the simplest of ways to respect other living beings. We really are all fucked.
Patel is worthy of bullying, but not in a way that causes collateral damage. Same as if people were using racial slurs. Those would get removed too.
This comparison to racial slurs is unbelievably insulting and degrading.
Racial slurs are tied to a history of oppression, slavery, assault, abuse, generational damage, and legacies of trauma.... and what you're saying is: "wahhh he called me DUMB!!1! that's JUST like calling me a racial slur!!!111!"
You're not protecting people with this statement. You're cheapening what "slur" means.
You think linking to one particular source that tries to explain the problem means they're in charge?
Well, I guess Lemmy bows to that organization considering it's in the Lemmy TOS: https://legal.lemmy.world/tos/
You don't have to like the rules, but you certainly have to follow them.
Shhhhh the purity testing wokescolds will hear you.....
Reminder that ableist slurs are against the Lemmy.World TOS. Please refrain.
NGL, my own autistic brother would call (and has called) Patel a retread.
As an insult it is less about denigrating actual handicapped folks and more about calling the subject of the insult a specific level of stupid. One that is very often less capable that most people who are disabled.
God knows my own brother who is on the spectrum could outperfom Patel, simply because he's an honest, capable man with integrity.
So? Is ableism by someone on the spectrum supposed to be acceptable? Do I need to find a person who is black to give me permission to use the N word? Maybe I should find a woman to give me permission to be misogynist?
That's not it at all. It's about not being so high handed to assume someone with disabilities needs you to define what they will - or will not be - offended by. I as a woman give you permission to be the biggest misogynist on the planet if it gives you a chubby, knock yourself out! Then again, I can be a total raging cunt and don't give a shit if you are.
You are not and will never be responsible for my emotions.
Perhaps you misunderstand, so let's go back to the basics.
Lemmy.World TOS prohibits the use of, among other things, ableist slurs.
If you use such slurs, expect to face consequences.
I am a Lemmy admin, and part of what I do is enforce the TOS when I see violations.
We may choose to simply remove rule-breaking comments, or hand out temp-bans or perma-bans to those that can't seem to follow the rules.
If you cannot follow the rules, I suppose you will eventually find out the consequences for yourself.
So ultimately, I don't care if you agree with the TOS or not. Only whether you follow them.
When the TOS, as stated, seems ambiguous.. it begets the immediate issue between you and I as being that as I have NOT used a slur.. as an admin, you find my plainly stated diffidence to "white knighting" (..as if those with disabilities have no agency..) for others offensive.
And that's okay by me.
My first read of this headline was that Patel’s orders were for the agents to call him that
That wouldn't have even surprised me if it were true
I know for a fact they used to spend a LOT of resources catching pedophiles. Are those the "controversies" perhaps?
when did they ever do that? when they ignored the rich pedophiles for decades?
No.
My wife used to teach adults with cognitive and developmental disabilities. They learned Shakespeare.
The reason the term "mental retardation" came into being was to indicate a slowness of learning. And while it's a complicated topic, it's arguably true that many of them do learn some things more slowly.
But they absolutely learn.
They know the term "retard" and know it applies to them. They feel pain knowing that it is used.
And it's unfair. When I say they learned Shakespeare - upon more than one occasion I saw her class discussing the topic intelligently and with full understanding.
There are plenty of other words people can use that don't have the same harm.
And yes, some will say "other words used to be like that and aren't". Great! Use them! "Colored' used to be the preferred term for people who are Black, but I'd love to sit by and watch you call someone that.
Point taken, with my apologies, no offense intended to anyone but him in my post.
Patel is still an idiot.
No apologies needed - when presented with new information if you can see another point of view. I've had to do the same about many things. :)
And yes, Patel is an idiot, moron, fucking muppet. The list goes on and on and on. heh
This kind of "banning" of words is annoying and superficial. It's a word used in French. Like if you say 逃げろ well in one country it's to run away and in another country it's racist. And don't worry the self censorship only breeds creativity. Had students that would say vi-negar, or knee growth, or the latest n-wah. So realistically it solves nothing. It wouldn't surprise me that r-wah would be a thing as well.
This kind of post suddenly shouting at the top of its lungs "LET ME BE A BIGOT!!!" makes me sad.
It's okay if you missed the point, no need to make assumptions.
And what did they say?
The central Twitter post wording is close to the top of the article.
I Support this Action.
It describes all Americans who allowed Trump to take power, through action or inaction.
:/
Some people simply can't stand the truth.
Can we use "reject" instead?
Yeah half the comments here got rejected by mods
Until school-aged children begin calling their friends reject, then we will have to shift to more positive language like not unrejected. The object being of course to make it as obnoxious as possible for kids to use therapy language to make fun of each other.
better yet rejected
I mean... getting upset over use of the 'r' word sounds kind of woke to me 🤷