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  • Here's a couple sources about it:

    Chicago Tribune- Here's an offensive word we should retire right now (2016)

    Taking the R-word and adding "lib" to it doesn't make it any less offensive. And what bothers me is that those who combine "liberal" with that word are not insulting their intended targets — they're insulting an entire group of people who have done nothing wrong, all while perpetuating a term that simply needs to go away.

    Anchorage Press - Why [word] is Lazy and Offensive (2020)

    Combining the R-word with liberal makes it no less offensive.

    Cambridge English Dictionary

    "An offensive word used by some people on the extreme right of politics to refer to someone who holds left-wing political beliefs"

    It's not just us Hexbears who find it offensive. Even if it's used ironically, I think we can all agree that the ironic use of offensive language still has potential to cause harm and should at the very least not be above crticism.

    E: I'm pro-federation and I want to soothe things over, and I think the admins of both Blahaj and Hexbear are committed to that, but it seems like this mod is intentionally trying to burn bridges. This all happened underneath a post where they publicly posted a private conversation with one of our mods for the purpose of mockery. I've been trying to get people to tone it down on our side, but none of our people are going to listen to calls for civility in the face of ableism. We support our neurodivergent comrades.

    • Yeah, saying this right now, 196's main mod consistently posts bait. Ada is a great admin and community runner, I feel bad that I have to consistently see her step in because Moss fucks up so much obvious and easy shit. Moss posting a blurred picture of her conversations with Hexbear admins and blaming the blurring on Ada is shitty, posting ableist slurs and using them in mod messages to people calling you out is shitty.

      These are actions that cause a lot of drama within the community, and take less than a few seconds of thought to know they're bad ideas. Moss consistently wants a drama filled community and it sucks. It's like the second one of these ridiculous bait post become old news, OH SHIT HERE'S A NEW ONE FOR EVERYBODY TO SALIVATE OVER!!!!

      • My impression is that Blahaj accepted the 196 lifeboat without necessarily knowing much about it. Many of us on Hexbear had experiences with it on Reddit because on the surface it seems cool, but it's always had some strong Vaushite tendencies that we really dislike.

        :::spoiler tangent

        Imo he plays the controversy game of "Say stuff that makes group A mad at me in order to appeal to group B, who hates group A." That leads to saying problematic and harmful stuff but there's always this layer of plausible deniability, and all criticism, legitimate or not, gets dismissed as coming from the bad outgroup ("tankies"). When our site first started we had a ton of posts criticizing him but then we figured out it's better to just ignore his antics.

        I've been worried since the start that federation with 196 was a ticking time bomb, but I've been pleasantly surprised that the users haven't really been posting bait or trying to antagonize us, but unfortunately I can't say the same for this mod. From what you said it sounds like they do similar controversy bait tactics.

  • while I'd like the trans communities to remain linked, I don't want to do so at the cost of exposing trans and disabled comrades to ableism and chaser shit.

  • The posts in question have been restored and the mod in question spoken to about ableist language.

    The mods are free to remove the posts again, as long as ableism is left out of it

  • With out context, in the first comment everything after he first 2 sentences was just shit string and didn't add anything except vitriol, probably it and whatever it was replying to should be removed. I have no idea what your talking about in the second comment.

  • Hey, serious question, why is "-tard" still considered to be a slur? It's no longer used in any professional capacity (at least in the US), so it seems like it'd be more offensive to insist that it still applies to people who are intellectually disabled than to let it become another synonym for stupid, dumb, idiot, etc (which were all professional diagnosis as well btw). I can understand wanting to discourage its use as an insult if it's a professional diagnosis, but it's not considered one anymore.

    • it gets applied broadly to a variety of neurodivergent and developmentally disabled people and its use against those people has left many with trauma

      • Huh, I'm gonna have to think about this one. My experience growing up was that, despite being neurodivergent, I never felt like I was being called it anymore than anyone else, and that was probably at the height of its informal use (when it was considered just another way of calling someone stupid).

        However, it does make me wonder if the declaration of it being a slur backfired. Is it used as a slur against neurodivergent people more often now than it used to be? I'm wondering if the people who were using it as a generic insult stopped using it, which meant the people using it as a slur became the only users, which solidified its status as a slur.

    • Its no longer used in a proffesional capacity partly because its a slur (its also meaninglessly broad as a diagnosis).

      Its considered a slur because the only current use of it is as a slur

      • AKTHUALLY there are non-insulting uses, e.g. to "retard" something or saying something is a "retardant" (like a fire retardant). Yes, those are the same "retard" because if I understand correctly, that's where the word originated from.

        I also want to point out the circular logic you have going on. It's a slur because it's considered one, so it's only use is as a slur, as a result, it only gets used as a slur, so it's considered a slur, so it only ever gets used as one.

        To be clear, that's not disregarding what you said, but I wanted to point out a flaw in that logic.

    • Technically, yes, those are all ableist terms due to the way they enforce a hierarchy of cognitive ability. Calling somebody "stupid," "dumb," "idiotic," "moronic," "insane," or the r-slur in a pejorative manner is basically telling them that nothing they say is of value to you because you think their brain is less capable than your own of forming a coherent point. Some of these are just considered stronger than others for one reason or another.

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