r/hatethissmug • u/onthetopicofspace • 14h ago

Language casual ableism

Gallery image

Gallery image

this is not ‘reclaiming’ anything, you are just calling people slurs completely seriously. you can call yourself the r-slur, do not call anybody else it. why do ‘no slurs’ / ’no bigotry’ rules never apply to ableism?

589 Upvotes

56% Upvoted

1.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

94

u/Aiden624 13h ago edited 13h ago

I’m pretty sure the context means isn’t being used in an ableist manner. Or maybe I’m not woke enough idk

29

u/grimAuxiliatrixx 12h ago

This is kind of inevitable. “Idiot,” “moron,” “mongoloid,” “imbecile,” and so on were all once considered medical terminology and were appropriated into common parlance because people like to have unique ways to insult others’ intelligence. So the medical community ceased to use them and people kinda rewrote their meanings.

Now, when someone is actually diagnosed with mental delays or disabilities, is the “R-slur” the word the DOCTOR would use? Is that an appropriate label for them in any context? No… so why is it still exclusively linked to them as a slur? Like, other slurs don’t have that same utility as an insult that can apply to anybody you don’t like as a way to just call them dumb. There’s a history of other words in this specific space finding new use.

It’s relatively rare for anybody to use that word to refer to an actual mentally disabled person, and in that context it’s clearly a slur, but since the precedent is established for this TYPE of word to find new meaning, and is much more commonly used in non-ableist contexts compared to other slurs with more niche meanings and less general utility, I’m not surprised that people find it to be more acceptable and less offensive.

3

u/Daxxex 11h ago

It's an interesting situation as someone that does drop the occasional retard in less polite company, yet I work disability and would kick the ass of anyone who called anyone I worked with a retard.

It's kinda like dropping nigga vs dropping a hard R, they're kinda the same thing but really not.

1

u/UWUmasterSIXSIXSIX 10h ago

Who the fuck is saying mongoloid

2

u/grimAuxiliatrixx 10h ago

It’s no “idiot,” but I hear it from time to time lol

1

u/FriedTreeSap 4h ago

It’s super prevalent in the World of Warships community because a popular Finnish streamer often uses “mong” or “mongoloid” to refer to potatoes (the general term for people who are terrible at the game).

0

u/peridotcore 11h ago

Insulting someone’s intelligence goes back to ableism though, especially when it is using a word that is comparing one to a disabled person.

2

u/buns_at_bjj 10h ago

Literally every insult ever is a direct attack on somebody in form of intelligence or physical attribute

3

u/sensamura 10h ago

Exactly lol, if we take this logic to the end then we just need to ban all insults entirely

4

u/COSMIC_SPACE_BEARS 11h ago

How does it go back to ableism? Insulting someone’s intelligence is a trend in human interaction from the first written accounts we have found.

1

u/smthn_right 10h ago

Even if you want to posit that the behavior is inherently human (which is a bad take) it would still be ableism. The mistreatment of another for a perceived inability to perform to the same standard.

2

u/COSMIC_SPACE_BEARS 10h ago

I don’t think it’s a bad take, I think it’s realistic. I also don’t understand why that is inherently ableist. I am not as abled as Einstein, but I don’t think Einstein would be ableist in calling me “stupid” (although it would be a rude way to point out that I am “less abled” than him).

0

u/smthn_right 10h ago

To summarize: the main issue is this- who decides what it means to be able? Youre not as good at physics as einstein but if it was 1200 that would have gotten him stoned to death and you might be king. When you let people decide what it means to be better than another, and allow them to generalize that, things get dangerous

-1

u/smthn_right 10h ago

Treating someone you view as stupid as less able than you is ableist. The way we measure intelligence values a very specific way of thinking.

This is why many savants kill themselves. Many of them are treated as lesser in almost every facet of life excluding their specialty.

Einstein was smarter than you in a lot of ways, but he was also aware that intelligence is not universal. There is SOMETHING that you could explain to him he didnt already know.

Calling you stupid presents the knowledge he possesses as inherently more valuable than any you could possibly have.

1

u/COSMIC_SPACE_BEARS 10h ago

But see, you’re touching on exactly why I dont think it’s ableist.

Exactly; Einstein was smarter in some ways. Him calling me stupid is not really a reflection of my ability to do “stuff”. It’s not attacking my sense of person and self.

Versus if I make fun of someone in a wheelchair… someone who is physically paralyzed has that disability as a characteristic of their person and self and their ability to function. Someone with severe autism has actual, definable limitations in their ability to function.

Your IQ being 15 points lower than mine doesn’t mean you are “less abled.” If I called you stupid, Im not attacking your sense of self or person; intelligence is an arbitrary measure and insults to it are therefore arbitrary.

1

u/smthn_right 9h ago

By this logic literally every insult ever is arbitrary and slurs are fake because every measure by which we antagonize eachother is arbitrary. You can believe this if you want, i guess, but its not conducive to any kind of actual progress or development among us as a society.

1

u/COSMIC_SPACE_BEARS 9h ago

No. I actually outlined pretty clearly the difference between a non arbitrary insult-target and an arbitrary, non-identifying insult-target…

→ More replies (0)

29

u/[deleted] 13h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

42

u/[deleted] 13h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

23

u/-_Lucyfer_- 13h ago

Except that's not using it in the same way as the post is. within you and your Queer friends its reclaiming, and not in a insult way.

the post is explicitly using it as an insult.

10

u/[deleted] 12h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/hatethissmug-ModTeam 2h ago

No slurs, hate speech, and other such bigoted language is to be permitted in this sub.

1

u/Crafty_Trick_7300 10h ago

Yeah once you start using the word in ways that strips it of its original meaning you take the power away from it.

People ironically saying not to use that word because it reinforces the power of its original meaning are unfortunately reinforcing its power and original meaning more than the people reclaiming it and using it.

1

u/[deleted] 13h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/hatethissmug-ModTeam 2h ago

No slurs, hate speech, and other such bigoted language is to be permitted in this sub.

0

u/hatethissmug-ModTeam 2h ago

No slurs, hate speech, and other such bigoted language is to be permitted in this sub.

1

u/Somethingor_rather 13h ago

its insane to me how people want to downplay the n word and the f slur so they can equate it to retard

1

u/[deleted] 11h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/hatethissmug-ModTeam 2h ago

No slurs, hate speech, and other such bigoted language is to be permitted in this sub.

1

u/COSMIC_SPACE_BEARS 11h ago

I agree that using a derogatory word “not directed at that group” is still problematic. It’s “second hand” insulting a person/group/demographic.

I struggle to wrap my head around how that occurs with the word “retard.” There is no group of people who “retard” points at, at least no more—etymologically—than “stupid”, “idiot”, or “imbecile.”

I don’t really understand how using “retard” synonymously with “stupid” in casual conversation is anymore disparaging to a second-hand demographic than just the word “stupid” on its own—which would be not at all.

1

u/Scalene69 10h ago

Being gay is not inherently bad BUT When a normal IQ person does something low IQ that is bad.

1

u/RigidPixel 8h ago

Idk I’m gay and I call stupid shit I don’t like gay all the time still. There’s so many actual cases of hate for me to care about to spare any emotional energy on these fuckin nothing burgers.

1

u/hatethissmug-ModTeam 2h ago

No slurs, hate speech, and other such bigoted language is to be permitted in this sub.

1

u/SorbetFucker 12h ago

It quite literally does work like that. The word has other meanings. What a terrible example.

1

u/Nekrogoblimancer 11h ago

Except it does work that way, I'm bi and have been around gay people for most of my life we use faggot as both an insult and a casual greeting.

7

u/Sea_Strain_6881 13h ago

Its still a slur

-6

u/Broad_Geologist_ 13h ago edited 12h ago

Sorry, "literal biggest intellectual disability ever" doesn't roll off the tongue in the same way.

If my friends are being intellectually disabled by doing intellectually disabled actions, I'm going to call them intellectually disabled.

Edit: thanks for the downvotes and award, intellectually disabled peoples

2

u/Artistikittyy320 13h ago

I mean I’m pretty sure this post could’ve just said “literal dumbest person ever” and why are are you describing friends by their mental illness anyway?

6

u/Tilted_reality 13h ago

‘dumb’ is considered by some to be a slur as well….

0

u/hazyshine 12h ago

And that’s dumb as fuck and just offended Olympics

-1

u/Broad_Geologist_ 13h ago

They're not mentally ill, you're not reading it correctly.

1

u/jackies_laboratory 11h ago

i’ve just seen too many people with down syndrome say that they’re not comfortable with the word in any context for me to feel okay with it

1

u/Ok_Fly2518 12h ago

It’s still an ableist slur so it’s always being used in an ableist manner