this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2025
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Unpopular Opinion

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There’s a clear campaign against the mentally ill with the global rise of fascism. Lots of it shows up in anti homeless rhetoric, but you can see it in the MAHA and anti vaccination movements.

There’s no reason to use the word “r-tarded” to describe someone. As someone who’s worked with the intellectually challenged, it’s an insult to them to compare them with people who are willfully ignorant.

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[–] freewheel@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I'm very sorry for your experience, but without knowing you and your history, I can't possibly know all of that. So I'm left with two choices - sharply limit my vocabulary in the hopes of avoiding making some random person feel bad; or acknowledge that each adult is best qualified to carry and deal with their own traumas.

[–] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You don't have to limit your vocabulary at all, you merely cannot escape the perception of others based on your behavior.

It's not even limited to humans either - animals, insects will perceive and treat you differently depending on your behavior.

Nothing prevents you from kicking a dog, but the dog and anyone who knows about it will treat you accordingly.

[–] freewheel@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sure, but if you equate me with someone who kicks a dog just because I talk about master or slave database nodes, or the need to retard message rates - I'm also going to treat you accordingly.

[–] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

And honestly that's fair. If I'm sitting in a meeting and you're trying to browbeat me into calling something a slave in front of some African American co-workers, or you're talking about retarding something while someone explains they don't like that term because their child has Downs Syndrome, you are welcome to think we're foolish for caring - but I can't imagine that Any Given Person would walk away thinking you've gotten the upper hand there

[–] freewheel@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 day ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

Oh look, somebody else is trying to cast me as a monster because I refuse to be politically correct in a technical context. You should probably also demonize me for the fact that I live my life in a wheelchair and will occasionally refer to myself as 'gimpy'.

[–] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 1 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 children)

I'm not trying to cast you as anything, I'm extrapolating real world events from your theoretical responses.

The term "politically correct" is a thought terminating cliche. it's meant to detach real world experience from hypothetical situations. "Political" here is meant to cast the discussion on what the government is doing, I am not talking about the government, therefore whether this is politically correct or not is irrelevant.

[–] freewheel@sh.itjust.works 0 points 22 hours ago

If you're going to correct someone, at least understand the phrase first.

politically correct adjective us /pəˌlɪt̬.ə.kəl.i kəˈrekt/ uk /pəˌlɪt.ɪ.kəl.i kəˈrekt/ (abbreviation PC)

Someone who is politically correct believes that language and actions that could be offensive to others, especially those relating to sex, gender, and race, should be avoided.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/politically-correct

And I will point out again that I'm talking about using traditionally technical terms in a technical context. With that understood, feel free to continue demonization.

[–] VoteNixon2016@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You use that many slurs that avoiding making some random person feel bad sharply limits your vocabulary?

[–] freewheel@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I try not to use any slurs at all, but working in a technical field, I do occasionally use terms that have been picked up as slurs.

[–] VoteNixon2016@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

And that's okay, the context matters a lot. But someone's code will or won't compile regardless of if they call the branch "main" or "master"

In the context of this thread though, it really really seems like you just want to defend saying slurs

[–] freewheel@sh.itjust.works 0 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

Why would I? I have the intellect and vocabulary to be specific when I choose to be insulting. For example, and only an example, I read you as a weekend intellectual, the sort of person who absolutely must be the smartest person in the room. Your lack of grammar and consistent punctuation gives me the impression you're Generation Y or Generation Z, part way through what will ultimately be an unfruitful and potentially very short career in tech; and you can't absorb why you're not moving up. The real reason, of course, is that you're bikeshedding everyone's language instead of learning the craft.

How many slurs did you count?

[–] VoteNixon2016@lemmy.blahaj.zone 0 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

That's a lot of words to call me a failure, buddy, seems like I touched a nerve. You're not wrong, but of all the reasons I'm a failure, using kinder, more inclusive language isn't one of them.

I'm smart enough to know I'm still pretty dumb, but I'm also still smart enough to know that not using potentially offensive language costs me nothing, but makes the world a slightly better place. You do you, though.

[–] freewheel@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

You'll note I said it was an example. You have my apologies if anything I said struck a nerve, as it seems to have. Have a great day!