• @ceenote@lemmy.world
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    17510 days ago

    It must be nice to have so much money and freedom from consequences that that’s the kind of thing that bothers you.

    • @gamer@lemm.ee
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      5910 days ago

      Or such little money and brain cells that that’s the thing that inspires you to go out and vote against your own interests

    • @Norin@lemmy.world
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      1810 days ago

      I’m absolutely convinced that there’s a certain threshold of money/power/privilege that just destroys a person’s humanity.

      • @Susaga@sh.itjust.works
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        610 days ago

        Nah, you’ve got it backwards. You don’t pursue that level of money/power/privilege unless you lack humanity. These guys were always shit, but power made them more effective at being shit.

  • Tempus Fugit
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    15210 days ago

    Lol, I’ll never understand these people. The word “retard” was never gone. At no point was it illegal or impossible to say it, similar to any other word. The worst consequence for saying something that’s bound to piss people off is just that, pissed off people. You never faced jail time and I can’t think of anyone “canceled” for it.

    • @UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      810 days ago

      The worst consequence for saying something that’s bound to piss people off is just that, pissed off people.

      There was a real moment during which celebrity reactionaries feared The R-Word would result in the kind of deplatforming and loss of advertising patronage historically reserved for The N-Word or any of the Seven Words You Can’t Say On TV (which, curiously, did not include the N-Word at the time).

      So the worst consequences wouldn’t have simply been “pissed off people”. Perhaps they’d have endured lawsuits, de-platforming, or even vigilante violence (not uncommon in religiously-tinged censorship - like with the Piss Christ display or the Draw Mohammad contest).

      You never faced jail time and I can’t think of anyone “canceled” for it.

      Not when the current regime is friendly to your operation, no.

      But if you look at what’s happening to pro-Palestinian activists and Women’s Liberation organizations, it’s obvious that state and civil institutions have lots of tools for fucking people over based entirely on their stated political views. The real defense that Rogan, et al enjoy is having their friends in charge.

  • circuitfarmer
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    7110 days ago

    It never left. Using it still makes you look like an asshole.

    All these “free speech absolutists” still don’t realize that free speech does not mean immunity from consequences of that speech from your fellow citizens. It’s almost like they just haven’t paid attention for their entire lives.

    • @ameancow@lemmy.world
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      210 days ago

      I do not care about the word or what language people use broadly, as long as they’re using their “offensive words” to punch up.

      If you’re punching up, if you’re attacking power, I do NOT care and genuinely wish people would pull the gloves off more. But Joe Rogan IS power, he is so high up that anywhere he punches is down. People with great power who use language recklessly need to be knocked down for abusing the power behind their language.

      • @newfie@lemmy.ml
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        19 days ago

        So calling Trump a regard is acceptable then?

        That’s not a gotcha - tbh the “left”, to the extent there is such a thing in the US, would be more likable if it used the language of the actually existing working class to communicate its criticisms of capital. Tone policing is not an effective way to organize the proletariat or to spread class consciousness

  • @lobut@lemmy.ca
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    4510 days ago

    Joe Rogan also claimed Musk did a roman salute and how we are all crazy for thinking it’s a nazi salute.

    • @grrgyle@slrpnk.net
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      2810 days ago

      The 90s: I used to use it back in the day, until one time I volunteered for a handicapped kids event, and saw how this one kid with Downs got really upset at someone calling him “the ‘R’ word” (I had never heard it put that way, or even considered it as truly harmful).

      Anyway, I wiped it from my vocabulary after that. I still consider it a slur, unlike idiot, which is more generic, and not used as a specific slur against intellectually disabled folks.

      • @Chip_Rat@lemmy.world
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        1310 days ago

        Good on you for making that change, and having empathy for others.

        Idiot has the same entomology as retard though, does it not? As does stupid? They all start as medical diagnoses and then assholes turn them to slurs and then the medical field refines and renames and things start to repeat.

        We had special education class, Special Ed, for kids struggling in certain ways, so if course the shitty kids would call kids “sp-ed” because of course they would.

        I’m not sure when the line gets crossed or if we should have gone back or what, but retard, to me, has a very particular connotation that is useful for describing certain people’s actions. I don’t do it any more because I’d rather live in a peaceful society that fosters respect, but it is one of those things I “don’t get”

        • @andros_rex@lemmy.world
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          1710 days ago

          The euphemism treadmill.

          (I think the conversation here is more about etymology than entomology)

          “Sped” is often how teachers refer to special education now too. I was a “sped teacher” for a bit. Referring to a child as “sped” would be gross and dehumanizing, but I think referring to a “sped class” isn’t considered pejorative.

          It’s weird how worked up people get about “political correctness.” If you call someone ‘r-tarded’ you’re doing it to upset them, and you are also communicating that the status of having an intellectual disability is so degrading to be considered an insult. I’ve worked with lots of intellectually disabled adults and children - I don’t know that I would want to compare those people I loved and cared for to someone that I would want to insult.

      • @PapaStevesy@lemmy.world
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        1110 days ago

        Yeah, clearly many people in this thread have never spent any time around people with disabilities, it doesn’t take long to feel an innate disgust for the word and anyone who uses it, short of technical/scientific usages.

        You’ve all been able to say it this whole time, just a lot of people agreed it makes you a shithead. That hasn’t changed, and it’s familiar territory for Rogan, so this is no surprise.

    • @LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world
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      010 days ago

      Honestly, calling this admin retarded is valid because a lot of them genuinely seem to have an IQ low enough to get that medical diagnosis.

  • Gordon Calhoun
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    3510 days ago

    How about it’s just in poor taste to use it and its use probably says more about the user than the target?

    And, if you use it, just be prepared for someone to take exception to you using it and you might just trigger yourself an ass beating or some other adverse consequence. Kind of like playing with fire crackers or bullet ants. Maybe, just maybe, you can find a better way to insult someone that’s a little more clever and incisive and makes you look like less of an ignorant asshole.

    • @EvilFonzy@lemmy.world
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      810 days ago

      I couldn’t agree more! South Park is funnier with the beeps for a very good reason. Creatively stepping around saying offensive things is usually way funnier and more interesting.

      • paraphrand
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        610 days ago

        They can’t afford to expend the mental energy overhead required. Their mental bandwidth is constrained enough as it is.

    • @MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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      210 days ago

      I make an exception for using it against these snowflakes. If they’re not supposed to be tarded in the literal sense, it makes more than perfect sense to call them it. They’re doing it to themselves, and when one can choose not to wear the robes of a bigotted moron, it’s more then fair to use harsh words against them.

      … and if you say we should be kind to these ilk of humanity… I ask you; where does the line for self defense begin? When someone would gladly stab you in the back, it is distinctly not time to extend them the honor of actual humanity.

      • KillingTimeItself
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        110 days ago

        … and if you say we should be kind to these ilk of humanity… I ask you; where does the line for self defense begin? When someone would gladly stab you in the back, it is distinctly not time to extend them the honor of actual humanity.

        i can’t think of a single description that would fit these people, other than the definition of retarded. It’s literally a perfect fit.

      • Gordon Calhoun
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        110 days ago

        Seems fair to me. I wish I lived in a world where the only platform he’d find is a street corner where no listens to his ranting.

        Sometimes my pedantry can’t help itself, but the "their"s you used should have been "they’re"s

  • @Red_October@lemmy.world
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    2510 days ago

    Just in case anyone had begun to consider that Joe Rogan is anything but an absolute infected boil on the ass of civilization.

  • @WuceBrillis@lemm.ee
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    239 days ago

    I mean, i never really stopped calling people like Rogan and Trump retarded… But calling it a great cultural victory, is just… Retarded.

  • @Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works
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    10 days ago

    It never went anywhere, there was just a heavily monied effort to quite literally equate it with the n-word.

    In the immortal words of George Carlin “it’s bullshit, and it’s bad for you.”

    This entire subject is a distraction. Stay focused on the major problems these clowns are creating, and we can all have a war of words when the fascists have been expelled from the highest eschilons of the US government.

  • @tacofox@lemm.ee
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    2210 days ago

    I hate this guy almost as much as Asmond Gold. Who I fear is much more insidious going after young impressionable “gamers”

  • Geetnerd
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    10 days ago

    I’m not a Rogan fan, and don’t agree with him on almost anything.

    However, I’m a few years younger than him, and grew up with the word as an insult, the same as him. This was back when the absolute worst insults you could call a dude was the “F” bomb, and a girl the “C” bomb. The “R” bomb was fairly tame. It was a mild insult between friends, like “idiot,” “dumbass,” or “asshole.”

    So, I really don’t have a problem with it, EXCEPT when it’s used to hatefully mock an actual retarded person, THEN it’s a different story. A furious different story. I had an older uncle who was severely retarded, and a girlfriend whose sister who was, also.

    And yes, I know times change, and yes, “If it was about somebody you cared about…” I get it. It still doesn’t bother me unless it’s to harm someone actually that way. And yes, I realize he’s stated what he stated to get attention. Fuck him.

    • @ameancow@lemmy.world
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      710 days ago

      I also have no real dog in the fight, I grew up with the word being slung around with casual ease, and honestly it still is in most places, despite a lot of what the sensitive younger generation might be seeing in their own spaces, the culture between “average people” would seem highly problematic to most activist-minded individuals.

      I have curbed my use, but I’m not going to attack people who say it to criticize power or insult someone who truly deserves it. This is one of those lefty “purity tests” that I can’t connect with fully, so I know average moderates will be wildly pushed away from this kind of mindless scolding, so I also don’t make it an issue. I literally do not care.

      Now all that said, I think we need to collectively LAY WASTE to Rogan and all he stands for. His delight in being able to say a slur again is the most crass, stupid, R-word statement that he’s made yet, and he deserves to suffer as much as the people with intellectual disabilities who are going to be bullied and harmed because of his cavalier and inept attitude towards language and logic.

      Guys, it’s okay to not be totally consistent. It’s okay to condemn Rogan for saying this and you aren’t going to be judged. Seriously, get on that soap box and knock this ape down a peg.

    • @neclimdul@lemmy.world
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      410 days ago

      I grew up in the same culture acceptance of these terms, but I’ve grown to think of it like this. If I wouldn’t say it to the group of people it’s describing, using it to describe other people carries the same meaning.

      You can’t separate the term from the group of people it’s offending. So using it as an insult reinforces it’s meaning and acknowledging why it’s offensive. So it’s equally wrong.

      It’s the same reason I don’t say the n-word or why I wouldn’t use the derogatory terms used for trans people even in a joke.

      • Geetnerd
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        210 days ago

        Oh, don’t get me wrong. I don’t say it anymore, and I don’t use the “N” bomb, or the “F” bomb. I despise those people. I go out of my way to treat everyone with kindness and respect, until they prove they don’t deserve it. I’m just sarcastic sometimes. I’m just saying I’ve been hardened to that language, but I don’t like it, and I don’t use it, and I don’t associate with people who do.

        My father was a rabid, irrational, to the point of mental illness racist, homophobe, misogynist, you name it. Everything that went wrong in his life was someone else’s fault. The man couldn’t have a 5 minute conversation without saying the “N” word. It wouldn’t surprise me if I learned he was in the Klan, but he’s been dead 13 years. This is because he was a malignant narcissist, who couldn’t admit fault. A person that I hated most of my life, so I fortunately wasn’t indoctrinated into the Cult of Hate.

  • @givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    2210 days ago

    The only way I’d be ok with Rogan using that term is if he publicly discloses the results of an IQ test and he got sub 70…

    And even then, it would only be ok if he was self identifying as that label, not calling anyone he can’t understand that.

  • @DrownedRats@lemmy.world
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    2010 days ago

    Honestly, if the culture war has been going on this long and the “greatest victory” they can show for it is feeling comfortable using the r slur again, thats just deeply sad for them lol.

    • @witnessbolt@lemm.ee
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      10 days ago

      I think wayyyyy more people than you realize say it. Even people you think are raging leftists. Most of us got quiet because we in general agree with left leaning things. Feel free to skim my profile…

      But man… fucking EVERYONE says retarded. I’m very left leaning. Once I got away from a few select people… it was genuinely kind of a culture shock for me how many people say it lol.

      I’m not advocating for people to just sling it like crazy… and I know in a way that’s kind of what’s gonna happen to SOME EXTENT… but as someone who tried to push other folks toward not saying this in the past…

      I 100% think it’s a lost cause. I don’t think it’s going away. I don’t personally think it’s ableist and never did.

      To make a comparison, from my perspective, it’s kind of like turning the word “insane” into a slur… we did some reaaaal bad things to people under the veil they were “insane.” We put people in jail and mental hospital for most of their lives. We fried their brains with medication and lobotomized them both chemically and physically. It’s not as common, but it is 100% an insult to tell someone they are insane or acting insane (I mean if they’re bashing their skull into a tree or somethin that IS insane but that would also be an extreme example to call someone retarded over)

      But we don’t get upset about calling people insane today… everything has context and I think the context of retard has moved on from why people are offended.

      A more apt comparison is being equally mad you called someone slow… I mean… retard is literally a word for slow in French… it kinda really only become ableist when someone wants it to be interpreted that way. At what point is simply calling someone stupid not also then ableist? Are we gonna crucify people if they use any other insult beyond “ignorant” that doesn’t indicate the insultee’s willingness in their stupidity? Or is “you lack/display a lack of intelligence” (the definition of stupidity) somehow more classy than slow and retarded in your eyes?

      My 2c is that unless you expect to erase the word (you’re not going to) you’re better off helping to change the meaning in common view (most of us just think it means ya RLY RLY fkin dumb but use a word beyond stupid or idiot) and steal it back from them. Grinding to death and dividing OURSELVES internally over shit this nonsensical is killing us.

      It’s an easy code switch that uses their language against them and makes you more credible in their eyes 🤷🏻 as an ally I’m just saying not every battle can be won the way you originally wanted it to be

      TLDR: bunch of different justifications for why I call MAGATs retards when they make stupid points in arguments

      • @Timecircleline@sh.itjust.works
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        69 days ago

        I don’t know if it’s the circles I’m around or what, but this is not my experience at all. As someone with a nonverbal autistic loved one who was bullied with this slur, I disagree with the idea that it doesn’t cause harm to continue to use it. If someone uses it I ask that they don’t use it around me and that’s been respected. Language evolves over time, and we need to evolve away from using what was relatively recently a medical diagnosis as an insult.

        • @Auli@lemmy.ca
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          9 days ago

          Like don’t use it all? I mean I don’t know the last time I’ve said it but it does have uses besides calling people it. And why is it worse then stupid or slow dumb whatever as I imagine they where bullied with those words also.

        • @Halosheep@lemm.ee
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          39 days ago

          I think it’s absolutely fair to ask someone not to use a word that you don’t care for around you. The problem arises when you attempt to make that everyone’s problem, not just yours.

          • @Cgers@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            39 days ago

            The problem isn’t them being slow/delayed, it’s that they’re inhuman monsters. Hope this helps, words have specific meanings and all that :)

      • Hemingways_Shotgun
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        29 days ago

        100% think it’s a lost cause. I don’t think it’s going away. I don’t personally think it’s ableist and never did.

        I don’t think it’s ever going fully away. But it is still important to call it out when we see it.