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Can you educate me on the R word, please?
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this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2024
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It used to be a very common insult along with the f-slur, when I, an elder millennial, was growing up. Then there was a concerted push to get it out public discourse on the basis that comparing someone or something to a person with an intellectual disability negatively is offensive and unfair. If you think about it disabled people being the go to comparison every time something sucks is pretty nasty. And for a long time, if you heard someone saying this they were either ignorant and uncouth or being deliberately edgy.
Now it seems like it's making comeback sadly. I've definitely noticed an uptick in it's usage lately
Oh, f slur is here pretty common when you want to say that someone is a lousy person. Even my gay friends use it. I'm telling you, Balkans is a really wild place and growing up here as old millennial as well and now being social only online among different people and different generations, I've started to think about the way we use words. And yeah, my first reaction is "you don't get to tell me how to speak" until I realize that it really isn't ok to say it and sometimes I really need an explanation to understand it and stop doing it. Call me stupid, I won't get offended because I really can be stupid sometimes, that's why I asked this.
I think I have a rule of thumb that you might find useful. I have this thing where I never want to denigrate anybody for working hard. As if to say work ethic is a virtue in the same way that honesty, trustworthiness, and generosity are. Now, if somebody worked their ass off to lose 100lbs and your reply is "lmao, but you're still as ugly as cowshit" they're going to feel really bad about it. I'd much sooner say "congratulations on your success!" because it sucks to work that hard without anybody acknowledging it.
You can apply the same concept to racism. You work for 10,000 hours to become a lawyer, you show up well kempt in your suit with a briefcase full of evidence and the judge just calls you the n word. You'd be all "goddammit, does all my effort mean nothing to you? I could be the fucking president of the US elected by popular vote and it wouldn't matter to you bastards." It would be mega frustrating.
Therefore, say you're mentally or physically impaired. You want to make a name for yourself. You work your ass off day in and day out. You send in your resume to a company. They then turn around and go "I should be allowed to pay you less than minimum wage because, out of the kindness of my heart, I've decided to make this otherwise useless pile of flesh into something that can contribute to society." You, frustrated and dejected, talk to your friend about it. You hear some implicit agreement with that would-be employer when they go "Yeah, you're a R-word, what did you expect?" That's sort of what it is; an implicit agreement that your effort is worth less because of something you can't control.
It's simple enough here on hexbear - you can't use that word because the admins and mods say you can't. Whatever. But what I challenge you to do is not go around thinking "I can't use that word because I'm not supposed to" but instead think "I want to show solidarity with those people who want to make a name for themselves by not putting them down."
Peak effortposting tbh
Well, that's the reason why I asked. I mean, when we learn why something is bad, when we learn the other perspective, then we try not to do/say it anymore because when something gains weight and you continue to do/say it anyways, then you're a prick. If I don't have understanding behind a rule, I can only imply it because I was told not to and I personally don't like that. I like to learn and be mindful of why I can't do or say something. In the end, if we don't do or say something because it's forbidden, it doesn't accomplish anything. Knowing why it's forbidden is how we eliminate those bad patterns of expressing and evolve as better people. At least I believe that.
Not saying it's the case for this conversation, plenty of people willing to explain and teach, but sometimes someone will ask you to not use a term, and refuse to explain because it is emotionally exhausting to explain and relive your trauma to people who don't understand why hearing people say something hurts you.
If you ever find yourself in this situation, try to exercise some empathy and just don't use the word, instead of insisting on understanding why you can't use it.
I say this because I've seen it happen in front of me irl and it's pretty shit. Also online it can be interpreted as sealioning, which yknow, not great.
I've noticed more people using "gay" in that way as well recently too.
Felix does this on chapo it's really grating
Like come on man what is this 1999
Yeah, it always takes me out of the moment when I hear it. There is no amount of irony poisoning that makes that okay.
The Chapo boys also use the R word pretty regularly too. Really wish we could get past this type of attempt at humor.
I really don't get why Leftists even listen to those shows.
That being said, I'm grateful for whatever part they played in this site coming into existence.
I think because it was many people’s first introduction to leftism in an easily digestible way. Also, early on the show was much more focused on Trump and Hillary, which was a very funny election at the time and drew a lot of people. Now everyone who listens to it is really just doing it out of habit. There are much better shows.
Matt's departure really hurt it. I listened to it mostly for Matt's analysis. Felix and Will are nice foils but in Matt's absence dead weight. They don't say anything particularly insightful.
Yeah, Matt was definitely my favorite, then Amber honestly. Felix is funny most of the time with his imaginative bits, but can go a bit off the rails in a not endearing way at times. Meanwhile Will is the serious show-runner, trying to keep everything on track, but never adding much in terms of content.
Amber.
The R-slur was considered offensive even when I went to school in the early 90s. I distinctly remember kids getting into trouble when caught saying it, especially if it was directed at kids in the special education classes.
By the 2000s I feel like the lid had more or less been put on those kinds of slurs. But in the last 10 years or so they've made a comeback in spite of chuds claiming that they're being "censored" now, and that the 90s were like some bastion of freeze peach.
yeah it was sort of treated like a swear word though, and any context in which it was okay to say "shit" people considered it okay to say the R word. Some people had the more modern understanding of that being wrong, and a large proportion of the time it was because they had someone in their family with a disability