196 @lemmy.blahaj.zone spujb @lemmy.cafe 3 days ago

the euphemism treadmill is a description of linguistic patterns, not a get out of rule free card

Using ableist language as insults is always bad, even if the words seem innocuous. Some may reference the "euphemism treadmill" to try to justify their behavior, but it's crucial to understand that the treadmill is merely a linguistic observation. It does not exist to normalize ableist behavior.

what is the euphemism treadmill for those who dont want to google

more reading if bored

99 comments

Can't wait till neurodivergent becomes the new slur and we invent a new word to describe it so people use that instead of a slur which then becomes the new slur so we invent another new word to describe it so people use that instead of a slur which then ...
- i hope instead the cycle could be broken in some way. :/ other folks in the thread are pointing out that ND is a term created by its own community, which could add to its resilience. i hope they are right!
There are limited examples of this effect working in reverse. Take the word "Nice" for example. Nice back in ye old medieval times used to be a synonym for "stupid" or "simple" so saying someone was "nice" was insulting. Then there was this prolonged long fad where things being very plain and straightforward was considered a good thing and "Nice/simple" gained a positive connotation. Saying someone is "simple" or a "simpleton" retains this original sort of vibe but "Nice" now just means pleasant.
- huh TIL thank you! 😊
Who are you to tell me which words I can and cannot use? You can judge my intent, not my vocabulary. Im asking for permission to smoke and swear.
Just about any term that refers to someone else can be used as an insult!

So as the old saying goes "offense is taken, not given". If you want to be insulted, you will be.

I find, people who insult others are saying more about their own character, than that of the target.
- You would think that, you pencil...
Neurodivergent isn’t an insult…
- "Cisgender" isn't an insult either, but that doesn't stop Elon Musk and his flunkies from treating it as such.
  
  mega fax
- Not YET!
  
  With that theory, any word could become an insult.
- correct, it’s not (or shouldn’t be), but it’s being used as one, especially recently!
  
  precontext: i said i could see both sides of some non-important debate. something about whether a community mod should be heavy or light with bans, and i was like, “well it depends on what the motivations and needs are.”
  
  their response to that?
  
  in this post i hope to call attention to the same destructive processes happening to “neurodiverse” as to all the other terms. particularly i want to call out the ableist motivations behind it.
  
  It's an insult because of intent, not because of the word itself, though.
  
  You can use gay, homosexual, homo habilis as insults
  
  That doesnt make these words bad
  
  Without the context it doesn’t come off as insulting.
  
  Yeah and I could call you a wet blanket for not realizing words can be used however the fuck you want.
Wow now that is ableist
I’ve been thinking about how we call people “right-handed” and “left-handed” instead of “handedness-typical” and “handedness-divergent”
- sinister used to just mean left handed!
  
  Didn't know that one, it's a nice one.
- actually GOATED INSIGHT my friend keep it up
- Well there's right handed and left handed threading which assumes a person with two hands and joints that turn in the opposite directions.
Idk man, a good chunk of these are just sorta not that associated with their origins anymore. A lot of insults are historically demeaning towards certain groups (especially poor people).
- as always, act everything considering the window of present you are in. “idiot” means a lot less offense today than it did back in the day.
  
  Reasonable.
  
  I agree. "idiot-proof" is a common term in the design industry and it's somewhat synonymous with accessibility, fault tolerance, and resilience.
If one of the words needs an asterisk instead of a letter, I don't think all of them are equal...
- I have an older family member who is severely mentally disabled and always has been. His medical records diagnosed him as r*tarded. The adults diagnosing him at the time didn't understand enough about mental conditions and their differences when he was a child. So kids like him were diagnosed with that. It did have more 'legitimate' uses than it does in our current context. Doesn't make it good or right, doesn't mean they shouldn't have tried to be more specific either. That legacy leads to now where we have the nuance and resources to do better. I am glad it's more and more relagated to the past as it's consistently been used to dehumanize people.
- good thing i didn’t say they were all equal :)
  
  The euphemism treadmill rather implies we simply load all the meaning and intention on a new word when the old one becomes unacceptable.
  
  But that clearly isn't the case with this series of words. Many of these words have clearly different meanings and different social stigmas, and some are in use at the same time.
- I mean I'd say the asterisk is overdoing it, and that this is mostly because retard isn't used as a medical diagnosis anymore. If it does ever really die expect special needs or another such word to take its place.
  
  Oftentimes people ask me why I bother using the asterisk at all. And the answer isn’t to pay respect to those who have been othered for their entire lives by this language, or to minimize the chance of a ban from heavyhanded mods. It’s actually to make you upset, specifically.
today i learned that 'cretin' has ableist origins. just hearing the word, and being completely unaware of its origins, i assumed it had racist origins and was somehow related to the isle of crete.

apparently 'cretinism' is an old-timey word for congenital iodine deficiency syndrome.
- okay wow TIL too! i was just pulling from memory and a few online examples but i never dove into the specific histories of that particular word!
seeing as ableist terms are always rooted in previously uncontroversial medical terms i propose the term "the swag ones"
- just got diagnosed with cool guy syndrom so now i take.. adderall
Interesting. Feels like there's a bit of a paradox, where we need a term to address a group of people who are being "othered," but while that's the case, there will be people who use that term as an insult.
- the better strategy might be to investigate and challenge what forces cause people to use ableist insults
  
  True. Or just discard their attempts to taint the language. Like how some slurs have been reclaimed.
how is special needs ableist?
- Anything is ableist if that's the intention is to be ableist. "Cognitive impairment" or "Brain damage" are clinical terms, but if one decides they can also be ableist insults.
- it’s not, unless there is intent. i see draconic left a great reaponse to you so i will give that my seal of approval instead of rewriting.
du hast doch lack gesoffen "idiot", "neurodivergent" & "lame" als abelism zu bezeichnen.

was so angry/disappointed in that post that i couldn't get the message across with English.
- That's angry. (0o0)
  
  eh angry doesn't fit how i felt. upset maybe? anyway i could only bring across my emotion via german
Idiot is ableist?
- it isn’t necessarily, unless it’s used with ableist intent. good explanation someone made
"You're not normal! You CAN'T be normal, because then I'll no longer be THE normal! SHUT UP, THIS IS THE CONDITIONER FOR THE THREAD BY WHICH MY SANITY IS HANGING!"
- “how can i have an identity without establishing and then demonizing an outgroup!?!”
Shouldn't this, then, extend to all implications of stupidity in behavior, not just individual words?
- Good thought, because yes, this rule applies to a lot of behaviors—insulting someone’s actions or reasoning can sometimes carry ableist implications if we’re not careful. But no, it doesn’t mean all implications of foolishness are inherently ableist. It’s entirely possible to critique someone’s choices, reasoning, or behavior without tying it to assumptions about intelligence or ability. The key is focusing on what they did or said rather than who they are.
  
  For example: “I see you’ve chosen confidence over accuracy again.” This critiques someone’s approach or behavior—being overly confident while wrong—without targeting their intelligence or abilities.
  
  Is it permissible, conversely, to describe things as smart, in a positive sense?
  
  Furthermore, doesn't choosing confidence over accuracy itself imply that reduced accuracy is a bad thing, despite it being something that people with reduced intellectual capacity cannot reasonably avoid?
  
  I see you've chosen confidence over accuracy again
  
  This is honestly a great way of calling someone stupid, but you do realise that it can be very offensive to people with narcissistic personality disorder, right?
  
  Joke aside, what is really stupid about this is the idea of "insulting someone without hurting there feelings", or as you wrote
  
  insulting someone’s actions or reasoning can sometimes carry ableist implications if we’re not careful.
  
  When honestly insulting someone, there is typically an intent to be hurtful, the idea that you should be careful to "not use language that can offend X group" when doing so, kind of overlooks the whole situation of "insulting" going on
Tone policing won't fix that some people predictably make fucking terrible decisions, for no sensible reason, and we need to deal with that and warn others about it.

Which is why the real solution is for every forum to fuck off with enforced civility and let people call each other assholes. Some of them will deserve it. Moderation exists primarily to make that call. You're not just a filter for no-no words. You're a human being and you're expected to have an opinion.
Also, “brave”
- never thought of it that way, but yeah, lowkey! though it’s definitely in a different class of “insult” when compared to the ones in OP. more passive agression, snide rather than forced.
... would you like to walk away from Omelas..?
- i get the reference but not how it applies here

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