Wikepedia states
“Much like today’s socially acceptable terms idiot and moron, which are also defined as some sort of mental disability, when the term retard is being used in its pejorative form, it is usually not being directed at people with mental disabilities. Instead, people use the term when teasing their friends or as a general insult.”
Is it only a slur if directed at soneone with mental disabilities? Is it a slur if durected at onself?
Whats lemmies take on this?
The words one use are usually a marker of where they came from and what they are up to.
If thats the case how can we hope to police words in a fair and representative manner?
As it happens, it organically goes down to who owns the platform. In our conversation if it could’ve happened IRL, there could be two parties of equal rights (to just leave?). In a context of, say, a D&D party or a small gathering\chat, roles are equal with some privilege to the one who collected people together. In the case of some public space on the internet, like a US-based Facebook (as per the article about eating cats), we have Meta’s oversight, then government’s oversight, then community’s admins oversight, then users’ own shit filter. And in the later case, it gets a bit more complicated because it’s established that we let that state use our agency for our own good, then we let a corporation take our agency in their own hands to dictate what it should be by registering on that platform, and then we participate in some community with it’s own rules and mods, and only then other people who can report one’s post to one of these previous ones. That’s how the delegation of opinion to other parties usually works.
But your question is not about how it is, but how it should be. And for that I’d prefer to go down to the second level, when a club and it’s admins set up rules for communication of individuals on their platform, like a Lemmy instance, and users have a saying about how they see the future of their instance and a liberty to quit it. If that doesn’t fit you, you skip town and join another one, or create one yourself. That level of agency has it’s flaws, probably, but it’s better because less parties with different privileges are involved there, and you communicate with only admins and other users without that becoming too complicated.
On the side note though, I need to note, that I as a foreigner from an absurdly conservative country started to refuse myself from using the f@g90t slur that is set deep inside my language to describe a lot of bad things casually. That is because I want to communicate with people and communities that don’t want it there, and as I don’t see any value in this particular slur, therefore I just adapt. I find that a couple of guys I work with wouldn’t like that either, because they are called that by people I despise and don’t want to be associated with. I don’t feel like researching the cases when I or them can call someone a f@g9ot, I just dropmit because people I personally care about find it uncomfrotable. And our language, just like a snake, keeps cliding on top of a dune changing it’s direction whenever most people of it’s users gets some new catchy word or retire an old word as unacceptable.
First and third paragraphs are irrelevant to the conversation and mostly just act as anecdote.
Second, you hit the nail right on the head. Lemmy is the ultimate embodiment of free speech, of the liberty of the individual to do as they choose.
That means said, I still think the removal of people’s non-violent language does not inbody the personal liberty that I think lemmy should hold. I don’t think admins and mods should remove language simply because someone said retarded. I think that choice should be left up to the individual to block someone if they don’t want to see their content. Ultimately that will maximise the amount of liberty for every individual. Is this not the gold?
Define non-violent language first. Or rather isolate the sorts of language that don’t offend you personally. That’s what you want to describe and defend I suspect.
By non violent i mean no cp, and no actionable calls for violence. Anything else is fair game imo.
Unlike you im not vein enough to care if people online disagree with me surly this whole thread is proof of that.
I used my baby mittens with you because I felt you just started your internet journey.
I’m not feeling ‘vein enough’ if you are incapable to read the room.
Did you know read the room is a euphemism for shut the fuck up, fall in line and be normal like everyone else. Quite fitting for the topic and hand hey?
Not always a good thing to fall in line the german population learned that the hard way. But dont worry im sure uve got 6million ways to weasel ur way out of this predicament.
Yes insert the whatever its called rule here.
What are you talking about lmao.
You being slapped for saying ‘retarded’ is 1984 once again kek.
You are just insensitive. Work on it.
People can say whatever they want, no one can stop you. But people still have every right to judge your character. Being in a free society works both ways, you can say mean shit and I can think you’re mean.
People use “retard” to compare others or themselves to people they deem lesser than. It doesn’t work as an insult if you don’t look down on cognitively disabled people. You don’t have to use it on someone cognitively disabled, the implication is already there whether you have intend it or not.
nuanced, fair, and balanced reasonable point, who are you and what did you do with the rest of Lemmy?