Maybe the solution is to stay off Twitter, but it's very disturbing to see the normalization of slurs happening in real time on there. White people saying the n-word with approval, the return of saying "gay" as a pejorative, lots of casual racism against Indian men, using the r-slur to describe something seen as stupid. I don't know whether this is a larger cultural lurch to the right, or whether it's mostly attributed to Musk's elimination of quality control and monitors on the platform.
whether this is a larger cultural lurch to the right, or whether it's mostly attributed to Musk's elimination of quality control and monitors on the platform.
Yeah I'm noticing this trend too actually. For a good few years it's been pretty firmly unacceptable socially to say the r-slur for example, with even complete chuds dancing around it with "oh yeah i cant say that anymore!" kind of stuff. But over the last year or so I've seen people just throwing it around like it's nothing again, and I'm always just like "wtf, did i just slip back into 2011?"
ive even seen other leftists (and not just the stupidpol/red scare types) use the r slur. like, i know you know how bad that word is, why the fuck are you still saying it
This happened in 2020 after Biden was elected. Liberals all breathed a sigh of relief that they could stop pretending to be anti-fascist warriors for democracy, and could go back to slinging slurs. I think it was just artificially unacceptable during the Trump years because it signaled you were Trumpist if you were giving chud signals
One thing I can tell you is that people are a lot more willing to say slurs if they sense that they won't get criticized or penalized for it, and I'm speaking from experience. With Musk loosening rules on Twitter to a point where "cis" is considered more of a slur there than the n-word is, this is not a shocking development.
I wouldn't judge cultural trends by what's happening on X dot com, the cool people have either left or are spending significantly less time on the website formerly known as twitter, now that it's a project of the far-right. remember that people who donate to Musk literally get boosted by the algorithm
if people are saying it more in real life, especially young people, then that's a problem. I don't know if that's the case or not because I don't spend any time around teenagers
I wish it was unacceptable everywhere. All of my good friends know better, but I've definitely had to do some group projects with people who don't even give off bad vibes but don't know how to be funny without saying the r slur and some homophobic slurs too. It's far too common behind closed doors. Maybe it's because I'm a white passing cishet dude so people feel more comfortable saying that stuff around me.
i think that might just be twitter, but i have noticed a huge rise in casual homophobia from cis straight women (despite a decline in straight men) in the past couple years, at least in gen z
on tiktok and ig reels, there's constantly a new way to call x group of straight men "gay" without actually saying the word "gay" (and they always claim it's not homophobic)
"fruity," "zesty," "💅", "fruitcake," "closet is glass," "gun pink," etc., the most annoying things you can think of. i've heard it out in the wild too.
swear in 2023 it was like every month there was a new homophobic audio trend. "mmm, this one has a little sweetness to it," "de-nial is a river in egypt!" and the caption will be something like, "when he cares about approval from his guy friends more than his own girlfriend," or "when he says 'sorry' instead of 'my bad'"
Anyone who does this, just call them a fujoshi or a porn addict if they look like they touch grass. Shuts them up real quick, especially if they are implying you're a pervert for not conforming to whatever arbitrary rule they made up.
"Of course you want to imagine me gay, you fucking fetishist."
On a Q&A Chapo did, someone asked what to say to their friend who says Chapo uses the r-slur. The response from Felix was essentially (paraphrasing) "if people still accuse us of that why did we even stop using it" and i have heard it twice total on the pod since theni believe said by guests but i can't recall. Strange times we live in
i think it's just easier to do content moderation on websites and stuff on TV/movies has become more keen on scrubbing slurs, so it's seemed like slurs have been less normalized, maybe?
in daily life I haven't noticed any drop in slur usage since the 90s. People will still call stuff gay or homo in a negative way. I've had the homophobic f-word slur screamed at me by passing cars a few times while on my bike. My coworkers will let loose any number of slurs that they claim to not even realize are slurs, mostly the homophobic or transphobic kind.
Yeah and white people absolutely will say the n-word when they think they're in private company. I've had taxi drivers say it to me since they see a white person and think they can relax their language around me. I used to work at a grocery store around 2014 and older customers would regularly complain about prices and say "that n-word is making the prices higher" (referring to obama), like right at me at the register.
The USA is a fascist country and every new person I meet is regarded as a potential reactionary until proven otherwise. I put elderly white people under the most scrutiny. Explicitly, outwardly queer/trans people are the only types I feel really comfortable with anymore
Yeah, not white myself but a white buddy of mine said some random customer was complaining to him about the new Spider-Man game having an N-word protagonist...wild what people feel comfortable saying to strangers.
Only slur I ever hear on a regular basis is the r-slur from people at work. That's it. I haven't heard someone say the n word in public in a hot minute and I don't think it would go well where I am (a not awful place in the south).
I deleted Twitter a few days ago after finding myself spending a hugely undesirable amount of time dunking on Nazis and seeing absolutely zero engagement for the most part. On a previous account I would get sometimes hundreds of likes- oh that got banned for something like saying anti-white racism is a myth. Can't remember exactly. So it's just a waste of time unless you like to yell into the void which can feel good, I won't deny that.
I think at this point, specifically following Herr Musk's (German accent on that) visit to Israel and subsequent 69ing with the ADL, the Nazi rhetoric and the total non-consequences and promotion of Nazi content and banning of common sense but "woke" to them (like anti white racism being a myth) content is full tilt self destruction, 4chan mode and it's actually just a negative experience overall to be on there. Even if you cultivate a fully leftist follow list, block all the Nazis you see, the Elon algo still places new Nazis in front of you day after day to farm your rage engagement.
As far as these people existing IRL... meh. I wouldn't say it's particularly worse than it has been in the last 10 years or so, but it's probably on an upswing specifically because of platforms like Twitter making it seem normal.
The biggest cucked move by Biden's FTC was not yoinking Twitter from Elon. They could just do it and tell him to suck a cock, appeal it if he wants, and drag it forever. Governments have that massive power. But not if they self-cuck because they ultimately don't really disagree with the Zionist Nazi propaganda on there everyday...
Were they ever not normalized? Everyone I know IRL uses slurs and is casually racist pretty frequently. The only slur people kind of avoid is the n-word.
The r-slur and f-slur in particular are common among any group of men you can find.
It'd probably due to my appearance but I haven't heard either said around me by dudes in over a decade. I've heard some horrible misogyny but as far as explicit slurs go, even working kitchens it hasn't been a thing. Now, I'm also very obviously left wing in appearance I have a spiky red mullet and dress like a British crust punk from.the late 80s and am also very assertive and can be a but scary, so people may have just watched their mouths, but even then some real fucked up methhead tough guys line cooks have been my co-workers and I've for sure heard and shut down some very explicitly racist rhetoric, but I guess they knew using full slurs was an easy way to get canned after. Just my experience. I'm also Canadian and in a very Lib to left city.
I'm a cracker who grew up and lives in a conservative crackerburb outside a coastal city. This stuff is all said by relatively soft, though gender conforming, cishet white guys. Mostly PMC and petite boug, so it's simultaneously ridiculously bigoted shit while not considering themselves bigoted.
i have definitely seen "gay" and the f-slur come back, but a large percentage of the time its been by fellow lgbtq peeps, so i dunno? I don't really use them, but I don't see why we cant.
Haven't seen an acceptance of whitey using the n word without pushback, and casual racism against Indian men has always been "acceptable" here in amerikkka, so i dunno.
I'm always taken a bit aback when people at work just go wild with slurs. You have the r-slur getting used just kinda flippantly for so much stuff where they could easily just pick another word, only had one person at my previous job really say it so this new job with like 4 people that use it is kinda disheartening. Also had a coworker use the f-slur when talking to me, they were quoting one of their children saying something along the lines of "X is for ..." but I'm kinda visibly queer so the sheer gall to just go with it anyway was something new.
Then the conversations I overhear about politics every so often make me just never want to hear them since I'd rather just not know how terrible everyone I work with is, it's easier to just maintain that professional friendliness when I don't have the back of my mind screaming 'THEY'RE HOGS BRAYING FOR THEIR TREATS OVER ALL ELSE'
Normally this doesn’t bother me or the black people i know because most of the white kids saying it around here grew up in the same environments as us and everyone knows who’s real and who’s a racist asshole.
But nowadays streamer culture has basically forgone all this and just let everybody do everything for views. Adin Ross type e-celebs who have a bunch of clout with celebrities and rappers and everyone is desperate for some attention
lots of casual racism against Indian men
Unfortunately this has been around for a long time. It was around when I was a teenager. Back then it was just “innocent” facebook meme pages trying to be roleplay as some store clerk. Then eventually it evolved into more insulting memes. The population is huge so people inevitably run into all sorts of guys, but the negative stereotypes and experiences always get pushed into the spotlight
I feel like people even on here want to have their cake and eat it too, so if they can't use the r slur they move to "-oid" type insults and just pretend they have no idea what lineage it has to ableist slurs and instead just do the exact same type of plausible denial excuses that right wingers use.
This has been what I assume is a reclamation effort but I am still a bit wary of it. That word was the calling card of abuse back when I was growing up closeted so if that is what's going on I don't want to harsh the kids' mellow but I'm not in any hurry to take it back.
I won't defend it, but the r-word has never felt on the same level as actual slurs to me. It was just a factual description until society decided it non-PC in the 90s.