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euphemism treadmill is not a get out of rule free card pt2 (files.catbox.moe)

submitted 21 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) by spujb@lemmy.cafe to c/196@lemmy.blahaj.zone

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i do not believe these words should be abandoned!

in this post i hope to call attention to the same destructive processes happening to “neurodiverse” as to all the other terms. particularly i want to call out the ableist motivations behind it. my intent is to critique society’s weaponization of words, not the words themselves.

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[-] Wirlocke@lemmy.blahaj.zone 20 points 7 hours ago

If I'm not mistaken, all those other terms were imposed on people not really self described.

I think neurodivergent will survive because people can proud to be neurodivergent. It's closer to an identity than a prescriptive label.

I for one am proud to be neurodivergent.

[-] spujb@lemmy.cafe 2 points 2 hours ago

I think neurodivergent will survive because people can proud to be neurodivergent.

💪💪i share your hope. having pride in your identity is a powerful thing. ❤️

[-] beefbot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 8 hours ago

Idk. I can’t agree to the game being played here bc all they have to do is say it with that sneering condescension and then it’s a slur.

I’m gonna take a page from gay people, because I am a gay person. Remember before it was a slur attempt it meant HAPPY and we fucking TOOK it from them. We took a word thateant something GOOD and they can’t ever have it back. Fuck them.

So fuck em again. I’m not divergent. I’m … idk. People who can do what I can do are “NORMAL”, or “NATURAL”. Aww, you have problems learning about things you like and talking about them? You can’t write code or understand logic puzzles? Why can’t you keep up huh?? Why can’t you memorise things or babble for an hour on command, what’s wrong with you? Well not everyone can be NORMAL. 🤟🖕

[-] spujb@lemmy.cafe 2 points 8 hours ago

hell yeah. fuck that grim reaper and his game. fully support reclamation.

[-] manicdave@feddit.uk 3 points 7 hours ago

Ian Dury had it right in 1981

https://youtu.be/UKnBgJG9A8E

[-] regul@lemm.ee 47 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

OP, at a certain point there has to be a word to describe what is happening. Just because someone uses it in a derogatory manner doesn't mean that you have to abandon the word or that every usage of it is derogatory.

See: gay

Alternatively, make a third meme about it on a niche Internet forum.

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 7 points 12 hours ago

We understand that. Tell society that. We're not exactly the march in the street crowd so when we get yelled at we go back to the corner and think of a new name.

[-] inv3r5ion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 6 hours ago

Maybe don’t go back in the corner? You need to learn to stand up for yourself otherwise you’ll just be bullied for the rest of your life.

Not just you, anyone with this attitude.

Oh boo fucking hoo they’re mean to you? Be even meaner.

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

Or we could just not be mean.

[-] Zoomboingding@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

The sad reality is that people will always be mean.

[-] spujb@lemmy.cafe 2 points 1 hour ago

honestly i love being mean. especially to people who have been mean to me.

but! it’s trivial when i’m mean to use insults that don’t implicate the identity of disabled people or other marginalized groups

cc @Maggoty@lemmy.world @inv3r5ion@lemmy.dbzer0.com

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 1 points 59 minutes ago

Then they can be mean to someone else. I don't have the time to deal with that in my life.

[-] inv3r5ion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 hour ago

And let people walk all over you and then complain about being the victim. Mean people don’t deserve kindness, they deserve the same energy they’re giving out.

Taking the high road doesn’t work.

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 1 points 54 minutes ago

It's not kindness, it's nothing. They don't need to be in my life. I don't need to be in their establishment. My mean quota for my life is already full.

[-] knightly@pawb.social 16 points 16 hours ago

It's the Euphemism Treadmill

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/euphemism_treadmill

[-] spujb@lemmy.cafe 2 points 8 hours ago

Hijacking this comment to say: I don’t even think the word should be abandoned. That’s an assumption that rugul totally made up.

My aim in posting is to be descriptive, showing the pattern of behavior, rather than perscriptive. I’m not telling anyone what to do or say other than “hey, be aware of how this tends to happen!”

[-] metaStatic@kbin.earth 7 points 15 hours ago

Funny thing is the neurodivergent aren't the ones running on that treadmill.

It literally doesn't matter what you change the word to, that's the new word I'm calling my friend when he does something incredibly stupid.

[-] spujb@lemmy.cafe 1 points 8 hours ago

Just because someone uses it in a derogatory manner doesn’t mean that you have to abandon the word or that every usage of it is derogatory.

I never said that anyone should abandon the word?!? In fact, I would far prefer reclaiming of slurs that reempowers the disabled community with their own language. But you didn’t know that because instead of asking you jumped to an entirely different topic.

This is you right now.

[-] regul@lemm.ee 0 points 2 hours ago

I see you went with option two lol.

[-] spujb@lemmy.cafe -1 points 2 hours ago

go away troll 🥱

[-] kittenzrulz123@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

Idk im Autistic and I use "regarded", neurotypicals can fuck off if they feel offended

[-] TheBat@lemmy.world 5 points 9 hours ago

So brave

[-] spujb@lemmy.cafe 4 points 8 hours ago

i’m not against you reclaiming slurs!, if that language is accepted in your communities and you aren’t using it to do value judgments or insult, this is totally slay and acceptable 🙂

[-] kittenzrulz123@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 8 hours ago

Of course I wouldnt say it if it made a neurodivergant person uncomfortable. Also I say it in a ironic sence to describe how people often treat me and other Autistic people as disabled.

[-] spujb@lemmy.cafe 3 points 8 hours ago

based! and pretty much what i was assuming given the rest of your comment. :) i just had to put all those qualifications there because otherwise some other user would come in screaming “hypocrisy” 😆 cheers!

[-] transhetwarrior@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

The r-slur is targeted at intellectually disabled people. It's not something for you to reclaim. When people call non-intellectually disabled autistic people that, the insult is that they're comparing them to intellectually disabed people.

[-] Malfeasant@lemm.ee 2 points 1 hour ago

And why is it an insult? Because nobody wants to be seen as intellectually disabled. No matter what new words we make up, mean people will always use them to make other people feel bad. It's not the words, it's the ideas behind them.

[-] spujb@lemmy.cafe 2 points 8 hours ago

excellent and fair analysis.

[-] Walk_blesseD@lemmy.blahaj.zone 10 points 12 hours ago

Why "regarded"? I don't get it tbh. To me it just says that you want to call someone "retarded" but you're just too much of a coward to commit. Like, it communicates the exact same contempt for someone's cognitive abilities but also an aversion to using a proper No-No Word™ because you don't wanna transgress some sorta social taboo against them while doing so. Cuck behaviour, ngl chief.

[-] Malfeasant@lemm.ee 2 points 1 hour ago

Or, it might be because some communities silence those who use certain words, regardless of context, and this person is trying to avoid that...

[-] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 30 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

More than half of those are outdated jargon words from when standard procedure to "cure" ND people (and other undesirables) was lobotomies. They were not claimed.

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 4 points 12 hours ago

Yeah, but it holds true for the later ones.

[-] TotallynotJessica@lemmy.world 22 points 18 hours ago

"Neurodivergent" is a bit different though. The r-word says something normative about people's mental development. It's saying that the person has been prevented from being normal; that something is wrong with them. "Special needs" indicates that someone requires different resources than what is typical. Much like IQ when it was developed, it's a way to sort people's needs on an economic basis, which isn't poorly intentioned. However, it still labels people by how we need certain things within our socioeconomic system.

Disorder classification systems like the DSM or ICD seek to normalize people, making sure we "function" in society. It measures us by a set of standards to ensure that we can live independently with our environment. It is very much defined by how society is structured; the environment of industrial capitalism. It doesn't matter how fulfilling your life is, only that you are a functional cog.

"Neurodivergence" seeks to avoid the pathology based approach. It says nothing about us having disorders. It instead focuses on us as different and divergent from the norm, but not inherently ill because of who we are. It's invariant to economic systems or cultural norms, only saying that we are different.

[-] spujb@lemmy.cafe 8 points 17 hours ago

Absolutely. All of the terms in the post are a bit different from one another. All came from varying origins and backgrounds and have different histories of how they came to be in my post.

What they share is a pattern of similarities. They all are originally polite descriptive words that became demeaning.

[-] Akagigahara@lemmy.world 4 points 11 hours ago

The first four terms became associated with disabilities through the medical field. The first two terms were categories on the IQ-Scale (idiot is the one that comes before imbecile in that scale, btb). The third is a shortening of a medical term conflated with another (spasticity and clonus) and the fourth is another psychological term referring to similar things as the first two.

Those were originally meant to be clinical but have been abused by those people, they also were created from outside the community (special needs most likely too, as it is a euphemism). I am unsure about "Acoustic", that might be embracing of a meme, unless it was used as a euphemism for autism by non-autistic people.

Neurodivergent is different, this is a term coined by a part of the community. I am not sure whether the term endonym is accurate here but it is similar in nature.

[-] spujb@lemmy.cafe 1 points 8 hours ago

Absolutely, no lie detected.

My concern is that I am seeing even neurodivergent beginning to being used against the community that created it. Following the same old patterns. My hope is that by calling it out, that damage and appropriation can be mitigated.

[-] buttfarts@lemy.lol 6 points 15 hours ago

Is it no longer alright for me to be retarded anymore?

[-] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 11 points 19 hours ago

Acoustic?

[-] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 6 points 13 hours ago

IDK, but I saw that being used within autistic communities first. At least for a while, which would explain this meme.

[-] spujb@lemmy.cafe 0 points 8 hours ago

Yeah, it was sadly a very quick development/devolvement from “cutesy term used by the ASD community” to “swap-in for the r-slur used by 99% of gen z internet.” something like a matter of months.