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[-] Zamboni_Driver@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 days ago

The venn diagram of people who "don't understand" incredibly easy to understand concepts, and people who wish that there were no words to describe people who "don't understand" incredibly easy to understand concepts.

[-] Opisek@piefed.blahaj.zone 21 points 3 days ago

There's describing someone's inability to understand easy concepts and there's using a medical condition in a derogatory manner.

Similarly, frowning upon the n-slur does not imply that we have no more words for referring to people of color.

[-] turdas@suppo.fi 3 points 3 days ago

Mental retardation hasn't been a widely recognized medical condition for at least 30 years. They started scrubbing the term out of diagnostic criteria in the 90s and I think the last one to use it was officially retired in the 00s.

[-] carotte 11 points 3 days ago

you don't have to use slurs to refer to people actually

[-] Bad_Ideas_In_Bulk@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

You're right.

But, damn near anything that's said with mean intent about a visible minority long enough becomes a slur. So it is something of a game of whack-a-mole that continuously removes words from the language as collateral damage.

I personally think people should just stop being mean entirely, slurs or not.

this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2026
903 points (100.0% liked)

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