3 ms·
Disagreeing. It's like nobody paid any attention to the gay community in the late 90s/early 00's. Words are only given power over you when you cower from them a
by Nadya 3y ago
Disagreeing. It's like nobody paid any attention to the gay community in the late 90s/early 00's. Words are only given power over you when you cower from them and by doing so you help show that those words can have power over others too. You only harm yourself and others by doing so.
It triggers me whenever I see people ceding words like this - and this particularly annoyed me because it wasn't only ceding the phrase "makes America great again" but any phrase of the same grammatical construct!
Growing up trans I was called every name and slur in the book because people learned from others that those slurs might have power over me. The bullies had learned from other trans people that those words had power. That they could make me cry or feel weak or powerless if they held those words over my head. I never gave them that satisfaction though. My response was aways "Yeah, and?" which I had learned from the gay community. And I hate, rather strongly at that, anyone who helps those words retain power so that they can continue to be used to bully other trans children.
Never give words power over you. By doing so you give them power over others. If a word or phrase bothers you so strongly - reclaim it. Turn it into something you control - don't let it be wielded like a stick to hit you with. Why willingly turn it into a weapon that people can use against you?
That goes as much for slurs as it does for "make X Y again". It pisses me off is all.
- ajkjk 3y agoI feel like you have it backwards? I'm not offended by the words. It's the people who are reusing the words and ignoring where they got them from that have given them power. I'm saying we should choose the social norm of not giving Trump and his way of thinking and acting power, by, among other things, not emulating it. It doesn't feel analogous to what you're saying about slurs, to me.
- Nadya 3y agoDo you know the original use of the "Don't mess with Texas" slogan? Do you think if people didn't repurpose the phrase it would have kept its original meaning? By leaving it alone you're ceding that the phrase belongs to Trump - who stole it from Ronald Reagan's "Let's Make America Great Again" 1980's campaign slogan. I'm saying don't let him own it at all. It isn't his to own - it's a cliché English snowclone that he gave popularity to. It doesn't deserve to be a powerful slogan that makes people think of Trump. It deserves to be a generic, overused snowclone devoid of any significant meaning where the average person no longer remembers the original phrase or meaning. By ceding it to Trump and wishing to discontinue usage of it you're choosing to give it power and continue a legacy that it doesn't deserve.
- ajkjk 3y agoEh, you're making a fair point but I guess I just disagree. It's not like anyone used that phrase anymore by the time Trump pulled it out. It was always anachronistic. Meanwhile every modern usage is an explicit reference to Trump's usage. Maybe there will be a time in the future where they aren't, but it's not here yet. You've probably pattern-matched me to a different kind of Trump-hater than I actually am. In fact my complaining about this was more of the form: I and many others would rather not think about Trump while reading unrelated tech news and using that phrase in your title is a tiresome association that is less pleasant than leaving it out.
- Nadya 3y agoIf you try and prevent any usage of the phrase/snowclone it will only ever be an explicit reference to Trump's usage though. This is why I made the comparison to slurs against the LGBT communities earlier. If you only ever allow "gay" to be used as an insult instead of a self-identifying label that means it will only ever be used as an insult. This is why the reclamation of it as a self-identifying label was so huge in the 1990s/2000s and calling everything "gay" as an insult largely fell out of common vernacular. By refusing to allow it to be an insult it eventually ceased being one even if it took the better half of two decades. I'd rather see "make X Y again" used everywhere until it has nothing to do with Trump anymore and is just a cliché snowclone. Even if that means seeing it in my tech news ("Make Linux Fast Again" is/was another one). Even if it takes the better part of 10-20 years to make it cliché/generic enough to no longer remind people of Trump. You are correct that I misidentified you - and I understand your point in the latter paragraph about it being more of an annoyance of politics overstepping into your unrelated Tech news rather than "Ugh, Trump". I'm glad I was able to get my point across clearly and as long as you understand where I am coming from we can absolutely disagree over my opinion on the matter. After all - it is just an opinion. Thanks for keeping the discussion civil and take care o7