Trump’s use of the mental health slur cost him the support of at least one Republican senator, whom he had wanted to help redraw congressional district lines
It’s been a long running problem where the medical community uses a term for mentally impaired people, then people start using that term almost exclusively as an insult. The medical community really would prefer to not use derogatory terms clinically, so they come up with a new word. Rinse and repeat.
I can’t remember the quote exactly or who said it, but something along the lines of “once we get to the point as a society that we stop using the clinical word as an insult, we will finally be a caring society” or something like that. So like, it’s a goal to break the cycle.
It isn’t currently no. I feel like there is a difference between a “slur” and an “insult”. Sometimes people need to be insulted, but slurs are generally considered not cool. I don’t feel like I can make the determination about whether this is a slur or an insult.
I suppose it’s a noble goal in theory but it seems doomed to fail in practice, which makes the whole exercise seem rather pointless. Changing the word doesn’t change the intent behind the people using it as an insult so why give a negative connotation to a bunch of new terms? We already have several of those.
I dunno dude, baby steps I guess? I think the goal is, as a society, to change the intent behind people using it. Give people the vocabulary to insult their friends in a funny way that doesn’t have hateful undertones (they may or may not even be aware of) and also try to remove (or reduce) the hate directed at people that are “different”.
I guess just giving up is an option, but that definitely won’t make the world better either so… shrug
It’s been a long running problem where the medical community uses a term for mentally impaired people, then people start using that term almost exclusively as an insult. The medical community really would prefer to not use derogatory terms clinically, so they come up with a new word. Rinse and repeat.
I can’t remember the quote exactly or who said it, but something along the lines of “once we get to the point as a society that we stop using the clinical word as an insult, we will finally be a caring society” or something like that. So like, it’s a goal to break the cycle.
I doubt the R-word is a clinical term anymore, so it sounds like maintaining that as the slur of choice is… helpful in a way?
It isn’t currently no. I feel like there is a difference between a “slur” and an “insult”. Sometimes people need to be insulted, but slurs are generally considered not cool. I don’t feel like I can make the determination about whether this is a slur or an insult.
I suppose it’s a noble goal in theory but it seems doomed to fail in practice, which makes the whole exercise seem rather pointless. Changing the word doesn’t change the intent behind the people using it as an insult so why give a negative connotation to a bunch of new terms? We already have several of those.
I dunno dude, baby steps I guess? I think the goal is, as a society, to change the intent behind people using it. Give people the vocabulary to insult their friends in a funny way that doesn’t have hateful undertones (they may or may not even be aware of) and also try to remove (or reduce) the hate directed at people that are “different”.
I guess just giving up is an option, but that definitely won’t make the world better either so… shrug