It’s targeted meanness. It’s a rhetorical tactic. It’s not for general use in conversations. It’s like calling fascists weird, making fun of a terf woman for looking ugly, or calling a transphobe a dumbass for demanding we respect his new pronouns because he put on a dress and makeup.
I’ll use tankies as an example. Tankies are evil demons because they want to use trans people for political purposes and kill us all for not being ideologically pure. If a tanky says they’re on the left call them a dumbass. And if anyone asks what a tanky is tell them that tankies are red fascists aka authoritarian communists.
To be clear, as a trans woman, I don’t want someone who uses ableism as a cudgel online defending me online or in real life. It’s not useful. It does nothing to forward the interests of neurodivergent people and it does nothing to push back on the people who want me dead. All it does is silence rhetorically effective critique of intolerant fascists and makes the person screaming ableism feel morally pure.
Again, it’s targeted. This does not mean we should being using ableist language for no reason or because we feel like it in casual conversation. It’s fine to call out meanness or ableism when it is being used in a way that serves no useful purpose.
Also, the goal isn’t really to use slurs but in theory they could be used. Whatever is useful in the particular social environment. The goal is to be mean to a specific target. This is about leveraging the way social media accumulates engagement and internet culture against intolerant people who we should not tolerate.
Refusing to use targeted meanness in a social war is like refusing to use guns in a physical war. It’s a great way to lose the war.
It’s called tailism and it’s throwing disabled people under the bus because you can’t find a better argument that the person you perceive as bad is actually bad.
You’d rather normalise ableist language to prevent the nazi’s from coming after you than make allies in disabled communities.
Edit: just to add, tailism is not even effective. Nazi’s promote it to pit marginalised groups against each other.
People with learning disabilities are frequently stereotyped and ridiculed with exactly the same language & body language op is using to portray the ‘tankie’. Imo it’s no different than using the r word.
I see what you’re saying, but it’s also good and fun to point and laugh at tankies/conservatives/fascists and call them stupid.
Sure, its a little ableist but it’s worth it, and nowhere near the r word. (As a person with fairly severe ADHD and probably a bit of autism in there somewhere since u probably care)
You being neurodivergent doesn’t mean you can decide when ableism is or isn’t okay. The rules of this community are pretty clear about not allowing ableism.
Unrelated, but if being ableist is the only way you can criticise a group of people then maybe you just shouldn’t.
Ableism isn’t justifiable. Someone being a “just” victim doesn’t make it okay. As for if the sounds in question are problematic or not I can’t say I know for sure.
Hmm yes, using ableist language to dunk on the evil tankies.
It’s targeted meanness. It’s a rhetorical tactic. It’s not for general use in conversations. It’s like calling fascists weird, making fun of a terf woman for looking ugly, or calling a transphobe a dumbass for demanding we respect his new pronouns because he put on a dress and makeup.
I’ll use tankies as an example. Tankies are evil demons because they want to use trans people for political purposes and kill us all for not being ideologically pure. If a tanky says they’re on the left call them a dumbass. And if anyone asks what a tanky is tell them that tankies are red fascists aka authoritarian communists.
To be clear, as a trans woman, I don’t want someone who uses ableism as a cudgel online defending me online or in real life. It’s not useful. It does nothing to forward the interests of neurodivergent people and it does nothing to push back on the people who want me dead. All it does is silence rhetorically effective critique of intolerant fascists and makes the person screaming ableism feel morally pure.
Again, it’s targeted. This does not mean we should being using ableist language for no reason or because we feel like it in casual conversation. It’s fine to call out meanness or ableism when it is being used in a way that serves no useful purpose.
Also, the goal isn’t really to use slurs but in theory they could be used. Whatever is useful in the particular social environment. The goal is to be mean to a specific target. This is about leveraging the way social media accumulates engagement and internet culture against intolerant people who we should not tolerate.
Refusing to use targeted meanness in a social war is like refusing to use guns in a physical war. It’s a great way to lose the war.
It’s called tailism and it’s throwing disabled people under the bus because you can’t find a better argument that the person you perceive as bad is actually bad.
You’d rather normalise ableist language to prevent the nazi’s from coming after you than make allies in disabled communities.
Edit: just to add, tailism is not even effective. Nazi’s promote it to pit marginalised groups against each other.
?
Hurr hurr most likely as it is closely aligned with the R word, and the jokes that came with it
It doesn’t help that the original comic says that exact word as the punchline.
People with learning disabilities are frequently stereotyped and ridiculed with exactly the same language & body language op is using to portray the ‘tankie’. Imo it’s no different than using the r word.
I see what you’re saying, but it’s also good and fun to point and laugh at tankies/conservatives/fascists and call them stupid.
Sure, its a little ableist but it’s worth it, and nowhere near the r word. (As a person with fairly severe ADHD and probably a bit of autism in there somewhere since u probably care)
In that case the original meme was indeed using ableism:
It was used to tell off trolls and other online pranksters.
Well yeah, although you could just as easily say something like ‘dumbass’ in place of the r word and have the same idea.
Indeed.
You being neurodivergent doesn’t mean you can decide when ableism is or isn’t okay. The rules of this community are pretty clear about not allowing ableism.
Unrelated, but if being ableist is the only way you can criticise a group of people then maybe you just shouldn’t.
Ableism isn’t justifiable. Someone being a “just” victim doesn’t make it okay. As for if the sounds in question are problematic or not I can’t say I know for sure.
Several people are commenting that it is ableist. If you need an explanation then here is one I could find in a few minutes of searching: https://nicocoer.tumblr.com/post/4040763038/content-warnings-for-use-of-ableist-and