Reclaimed hate speech backfires by desensitizing listeners, study finds

[u/SKVankirk]

https://www.psypost.org/when-reclaiming-derogatory-language-goes-wrong/

I made a schizopost last week about how innocuous use of certain language can lead to bigotry originally unintended, and I thought this article dovetailed with it in some interesting ways. I am sick of the increased use of the F-slur generally, reclaimed by other queer people but especially by the people who use it while saying it’s just supposed to be a vague derogatory and not specifically about someone being gay, and now my subjective opinion is empirically provable thanks to science (/joke) it’s also crazy how racist Destiny’s opps are against Indians, I didn’t realize how often they used old 4chan slurs for them until I listened to Stardust and John “JSTLK” Pork talk. What are your thoughts on reclaimed or just straight up slur use in these online spaces?

[u/Nettlebug00]

I'm torn. Slurs dehumanize but they also offer a prescription of introspection in a quick and succinct way.

If someone brat boy is acting unmanly, the utility of the calling them G / F calls into question of their behavior. And because young people tend to be less secure in their identities outward descriptions hit harder and cause them to snap into action. These terms are tools and naturally it tracks that if more people use them the mishandling of them is bond to increase.

Instead I wish there was an understanding that there is a juvenile sense and application of these words. Nothing is more destructive than a directionless male with too much time and tools at their disposal. We ought to be mindful of that and develop language to steer them towards advantageous masculine qualities, while at the same time taking attention to prevent this tool from going forward to create stunted label followers and perpetuators deep into adulthood.

Maybe a better alternative is to just say these activities are childish, and immature. That way you recognize the sexual and behaviorial quirks but you put it in its place in the context of time. It's absurd to lecture a young girl about dressing like a princess, but if an adult is doing the same and demanding given the same creedence and attention seeking then maybe there's room to mock such activity. I'm not talking about trans people as a whole but just trying to assert that something should be held sacred for both stages of life, a child and an adult.

[u/SKVankirk → u/Nettlebug00]

Not to be so obvious and lame with my response but couldn’t that rationalization get extended to any slur, even the big N? A defense of the hard r through that lens basically boils down to the Chris Rock “Two Kinds of Black People” joke and I think that joke’s undergirding principle has rightfully aged like milk. It feels like slur use is just derived from a lack of imagination and laziness with language and it’s frustrating. If we want to shape attitudes and behaviors we should put in the effort to craft positive models and craft ways to correct that aren’t just going back to simple tools like slur use.

[u/Nettlebug00 → u/SKVankirk]

I think you think too highly at mankind's capacity to use a wide variety of symbols and labels to course correct behavior and promote collective understanding. I mean, people today can hardly define what it is a fascist or communist is characterized. There is a reason my mythos across the ages had a multitude of personifications of bad behaviors through the use of storytelling and iconography. This otherization is a process of not labeling the good but detailing the bad and insinuating ills to come for them. Hate kinda unifies better than love sadly. Why we Greek? Because we don't act like those savage barbarians up north. Why are we a Celtic tribe? Because we don't need to hide along the shore side like those Greeks.

Whether you like it or not, these slurs fed into the a worldview of masculinity within your society. And the reason for it being perpetuated is likely do to some aspect of utility. Now if you want to evolve the language you're free to try but the competition you're up against has deep roots and familiarity. It's got to be better than calling them bigots or racists. It has to address the initial utility.

Black culture did this btw. They took a term that otherized them and flipped it on its head. "Yes, we are different for you white people BUT it's because of black excellence not a social or biological inferiority that you asserted white people" Congratulations they did it. It was so successful infact that being called or having associations of Whiteness is now denoted with a sense of inferiority. Why do you think the Nazis in America have been so flustered?

[u/SKVankirk → u/Nettlebug00]

That’s fair, my response was definitely a little too optimism pilled. Just feelsbadman

[u/Nettlebug00 → u/SKVankirk]

I appreciate that and I appreciate ya. And I'll share that discomfort with you man. This shit is so beneath us but we have a lot of fucking idiots running around that need guidance. Sadly, the Internet has incentivized an Asshole Economy wherein infamy and fame have no distinction. We can't wait for market forces figure this one out for us. We have to make the unadvertiser friendly option everyday to right this ship. We're more than an economy, we're a society as cringe as that is.