"Lame" isn't great, either, while we're at it.This; although there is a certain amusement in seeing 'lame' regularly proffered as an inoffensive disparagement alternative to 'gay,' it gets pretty sour after a while
posted by ServSci at 6:15 PM
Best to never open your mouth, lest the PC police beat you down.No one is beating you down. You are double-parking and then screaming about fascism when you get a ticket.
Best to never open your mouth, lest the PC police beat you down.I was speaking to people who care about being unintentionally offensive. Obviously, there are some people who have much more serious adjustments to make before worrying about the unexamined impact of their words.
No homo.
Eradicating ableist language is not about meeting some politically correct ideal (and when did “politically correct” become a pejorative), it’s about thinking about our actions and considering the ways in which they impact othersposted by muddgirl at 6:41 PM on November 12, 2009 [1 favorite]
while that was the logic I was using for a long time — that it didn’t really matter what the logic behind seeing this as an insult was, or if I disagreed with that logic, I still shouldn’t be an ass by using words that a number of disability activists have made clear are hurtful and perceived as ableist — I think I get the deeper logic now. Finally.(link)
Let’s start with that point from earlier that it DOES suck — in this society — not to have the same freedom of movement an abled person. (Although of course, here, we’re already starting in with ableist assumptions, because a big portion of the reason it sucks is because society is set up for people with bodies we consider normal.) OK, so let’s rephrase. Having functional legs is useful. Therefore, the state of having legs which are not as functional as other legs is not as nice as the state of having normally functional legs. (Again, there’s some ableism around the concept of normal, but moving on.)
But even accepting that impairment to mobility is itself a sucky thing, MAYBE DISABLED PEOPLE DO NOT APPRECIATE BEING THE CULTURAL GO-TO FOR THINGS THAT SUCK.
"If you take offense when no offense was intended, then you're an ass. No homo."Great, I explained my intention in bringing it up, which had nothing to do with censoring you or forcing you to bow down before my PC agenda, so relax. People who think it's awesome to say "Lame" are free to do that.
"The video that launched this is a useful reaction to the phrase "no homo." So is using it in an ironic manner. Whining about how words can hurt so you shouldn't use them is not."You seem like the type of person who thinks everyone else should be real interested in what you intend, and real interested in what's a useful approach in dealing with you. Like I said above, I was sort of intending my comment for a different type of person. Sorry about the miscommunication.
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posted by txsebastien at 11:04 AM on November 10, 2009 [15 favorites]