4 ms·

Yes, and I see no problems with being offensive in a joking or ironic manner (as seems to be the case on WSB). However, when you decide to use a slur to do so,

by _ifvv 6y ago

Yes, and I see no problems with being offensive in a joking or ironic manner (as seems to be the case on WSB). However, when you decide to use a slur to do so, you are deciding to insult an entire subgroup of the population as collateral damage.

ACow_Adonis 6y ago
isn't the above poster's example explicitly insulting to everyone who's mother was drunk repeatedly/for long periods of time while pregnant? and everyone with foetal alcohol syndrome?
- capableweb 6y ago
  No? The insult is to the person you say "was your mother frequently drunk while pregnant with you", not everyone else who might fit that particular profile. If what you're saying would be true, then calling someone an idiot would be an insult to all the idiots out there. They are clearly not the target of the insult, the person you say it to is the insulted.
  - TeMPOraL 6y ago
    That's the point, though. WSB folks aren't insulting whole classes of people either, they're mostly insulting each other, in a playful way.
    - Guthur 6y ago
      And more importantly why have we ever allowed it to get so far. "oh, he hurt my feelings, stop him" It's fucking moronic for us to have demonised speech like this, we should have held on to the old "sticks and stones" because frankly this Orwellian alternative is bonkers.
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
      - throwaway0a5e 6y ago
        >"oh, he hurt my feelings, stop him" We're long past the point where feelings need to actually be hurt to take action. Half the time it's "oh, he might hurt someone else's feelings, stop him"
  - ACow_Adonis 6y ago
    it seems pretty clear to me the insult of "idiot" can only be a successful insult if it is inherently offensive to be in the state of idiocy (well, I mean, they're idiots so maybe they don't know they're being insulted, but the point stands). Or in short, of course it's an insult to the idiots out there. That's literally what makes idiot an insult.

by _ifvv 6y ago

ACow_Adonis 6y ago

isn't the above poster's example explicitly insulting to everyone who's mother was drunk repeatedly/for long periods of time while pregnant? and everyone with foetal alcohol syndrome?

capableweb 6y ago
No? The insult is to the person you say "was your mother frequently drunk while pregnant with you", not everyone else who might fit that particular profile. If what you're saying would be true, then calling someone an idiot would be an insult to all the idiots out there. They are clearly not the target of the insult, the person you say it to is the insulted.
- TeMPOraL 6y ago
  That's the point, though. WSB folks aren't insulting whole classes of people either, they're mostly insulting each other, in a playful way.
  - Guthur 6y ago
    And more importantly why have we ever allowed it to get so far. "oh, he hurt my feelings, stop him" It's fucking moronic for us to have demonised speech like this, we should have held on to the old "sticks and stones" because frankly this Orwellian alternative is bonkers.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - throwaway0a5e 6y ago
      >"oh, he hurt my feelings, stop him" We're long past the point where feelings need to actually be hurt to take action. Half the time it's "oh, he might hurt someone else's feelings, stop him"
- ACow_Adonis 6y ago
  it seems pretty clear to me the insult of "idiot" can only be a successful insult if it is inherently offensive to be in the state of idiocy (well, I mean, they're idiots so maybe they don't know they're being insulted, but the point stands). Or in short, of course it's an insult to the idiots out there. That's literally what makes idiot an insult.