Many such cases

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Or homophobia, sexism, racism, etc. Then they get banned and complain about being censored.

I still have such dissonance about this. I want to say "Look at this idiot" and point out something unintelligent that an objectively evil person does. But because intelligence is an inherited trait, we can only use negative language when referring to a person for evil that they do by choice? Or something? So, evil people bumbling can only be mocked for the evil intent and not for their inability to be evil with skill and intelligence?
I dunno. Trump is a numpty and if that offends the numps or whatever group that term was originally a slur for then I apologize.
edit: to be clear, the r word seems objectively shitty to use and I don't. I just have yet to find an objective litmus test for where the line is between that and "silly" cuz I swear there's always someone there to explain the etymology of "silly" and how it's origins were shitty in some way
- Intelligence is an inherited trait?
- But because intelligence is an inherited trait
  I don't think this is true, practically speaking. Intelligence is like endurance running speed in that there are heritable components to it, but at the end of the day environmental factors dominate on who is or isn't faster than another.
  I can make fun of someone for being dumb in the same way that I can make fun of someone for being a slow runner. It's only problematic when their slowness is actually caused by something out of their control, like some kind of health issue.
  
  By this logic fat shaming is acceptable? Some people naturally have faster or slower metabolisms. But anybody can have healthy or unhealthy body weights. Some just have to work harder at it. So if somebody has a naturally fast metabolism but chooses to eat and exercise like Trump does, it's ok to make fun of them for their weight?
  
  I know this is distilling your well stated point down too far, but I've always enjoyed the Forest Gump philosophy:
  Stupid is as stupid does.
- The ableism is coming from inside the house - it's not a bad thing to be intellectually disabled. The problem with Trump is not that he's stupid, it's that he's a selfish, careless, thoughtless, cruel, ignorant asshole.
  Using words like "stupid" as an insult implies that all people lacking in intellect or wisdom are also bad people.
  
  Right. This is what I was talking about. I (and I suspect others) oftentimes want to name call a person and not only point out their evil but also point out their incompetence and inability. Both of which usually have some intelligence component.
  It seems reasonable to berate an evil person when they can't even be evil competently.
  But we can't (or shouldn't) because it indirectly (or directly) makes fun of people who are perfectly good people who are unintelligent.
  Again. I get it. Probably just showing my bias and yet another fuckin thing to unlearn.
  I'm guessing it's not just cognitive abilities either? "Tripped over his own dick" is offense to folks with motor control problems. Etc etc.
  Therefore the only thing you can make fun of is a person's evilness. Not their incompetence (because all incompetence is presumed to be from natural causes that aren't their fault)
  
  The thing is, having someone who is so intellectually disabled try to run our country is a really bad idea. And we can see all the pain and destruction this is causing.
  Trumps stupidity is very valid to insult for this reason. It is emphatically harming countless people across our nation.
  Stupid is as stupid does, and Trump does lots of stupid things.
- I don’t even believe in free will, I can’t talk shit to anyone
- I agree. Furthermore, I see no difference between the "r word" and any other word that denigrates someone for their intelligence. That's because there is effectively no difference other than a well monied campaign against that one, single word.
  I accept all of those words as valid as a result. I don't conflate them with actual horrible words with actual history, such as the n word. I'm actually quite offended that people are suggesting these are equally offensive.
  People who are offended by this "r word" are idiots in my book. If the only thing that offends you about that last sentence is the "r word" bit, then you're probably a hypocrite.
  Idiot, imbecile, stupid. These are all offensive if you yell them at a neurodivergent person. So, why is only one word not okay to ever say? Why must I censor myself here in this very conversation?
  The answer is money. Lots and lots of money went into a campaign against it. Also, virtue signaling. Lots of that, too. Have some moral integrity, stop this assault on semantics. It's meant to divide people who would otherwise be united.
  
  It’s meant to divide people who would otherwise by united.
  "I want to avoid using language that offends others in order to be more inclusive and reduce division."
  "Stop being divisive!"
  
  I hate that this response lead with "I agree". To me, the r word is repulsive. I hear what you're saying about "it didn't used to mean what it's come to mean". But folks use the same argument to fly the swastika and use the n word. I get where you're coming from. But word of advice: try taking arguments that you want to use to defend one thing and see what kinds of things you don't agree with you could use the same argument for. Legitimately a fun mental exercise and amazing way to pre-check your arguments.

Also goes for body shaming
- ???

Maybe an unpopular opinion:
It would be nice if the r word was not a medical condition and just a word, the word has a good sound to it in my language. I would trade easily the r word for dumb or something like that. Dumb in Portuguese is awful
- No i feel you. Honestly we do need a woke slur that isn't homophobic, racist, sexist, ableist, etc.
  
  Piece of shit. Simple and to the point. Shit's pretty gross and it's universal human instinct to avoid it. Maybe even shithead if you want a single word.
  Asshole. Gender neutral and not tied to ethnicity since we all have one. Maybe even going further and calling someone an asshole related condition like prolapsed rectum or hemorrhoid, things that can happen to anyone, are pretty painful and definitely to be avoided, but AFAIK were never conditions that were heavily marginalized or shamed.
  Clown or fool. Clowns/fools are types of characters people played historically (and still do?), IMO it doesn't imply anything about a person's actual intelligence or mental state, only their actions. You're not born a clown or fool, but you can definitely act like one. Also lends itself to a snarky 🤡 emoji I've seen some people here use instead of typing out an insult.
  Though there could be additional context or history to any of these terms I'm not aware of that push them into one of the -ist categories, IDK I'm not a linguist.
- Many of the bad words have that nice ring in my language, if only they weren't offensive... I would totally trade 'em
  
  I mean I guess that is why they are offensive words. They are bad to use even if you know they sound so good to shout. Otherwise they would just be fun shout words like "purple nurple!".
- was not a medical condition and just a word
  It is just a word. It means to delay or the opposite of "advance" and is still used like that in industries like aviation and terms like fire removedant.
  But when you use it to call someone stupid, that's when you're using it in the context of ablism and as a slur.
  Similar to the term for a female dog, which is still used in veterinary medicine and research to mean an actual dog that is female. Though like the R word, the context as a slur is gradually discouraging its use even as its original meaning because people don't want to risk having it misunderstood.

Lemmy has a weird issue with being super restrictive of ableist language, beyond reasonable, in some spaces and completely ambivalent in others.
I had someone say I was as useless as accessibility kitchen items, which mostly just means I'm extremely useful to specific people and viewed as a joke by intolerant people who don't care about others...
Weirdly good compliment. Really telling in the idiot using it.
- Lemmy in general is divided into 3 major subsections: liberals, Marxist-Leninists, and anarchists. The Marxist-Leninists and anarchists tend to be far stricter about ableism than the liberals.
  
  Yeah that about sums it up. I wonder why the Anarchists do it.

I don't really understand this meme. If I wanna insult someone, obviously I'm gonna use insulting language. At least that's the easiest of a thousands possible ways to insult someone. What's your point?
- My point is that it's not necessary to use language that puts down entire groups of people in order to offend someone. The phrase, "bigoted piece of shit," is obviously 'insulting language,' but it is categorically different from calling someone a slur.
  I see people going around saying that the only way they can possibly offend people with their insults is by calling them slurs. That's nonsense. And it's very ironic that these same people get really, really mad at me when I call them something like "bigoted piece of shit," which just proves my point - if it were actually true that slurs are necessary to get that 'sting,' then they wouldn't get so upset when I call them out for being the bigoted pieces of shit they are.
  Saying that you need slurs in order to insult people is basically an invitation for people to lay into you as harshly as they like, short of using slurs. And I am more than happy to accept that invitation by calling such people what they are.

We are all guilty of this. Especially if you don't think so, you are.
- I don't really think it's difficult to avoid ableism in our language.
  
  Look at this cowbee, so easy for you but think of how hard being reasonable and empathetic is for bigoted assholes? In avoiding ableism you’ve become a participant!
  <Exceedingly dripping sarcasm emoji>
  
  If a single word with no significant history attributes ableism to the person or people who use it, then perhaps you're the problem.
- I've had bigots use gender affirming insults and supportive people that are just the worst at gendered language, people suck and we're all just people.
  
  Exactly. Just try to be better when you can.

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