• madcaesar@lemmy.world
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    10 days ago

    The lefts incessant battle about words and PR policing has been part of the reason we keep losing elections.

    It’s such an easy way to drive the casual person away, when you are constantly switching definitions and trying to trip people up to call them assholes, because they didn’t immediately agree with you about switching the definition of a word.

    They are such nonsense issues but they are fantastic at dividing left from right, and even splintering the left itself.

    It honestly feels like some right wing think tank tried to come up with a way to undermine the message and credibility of the left, by having them fight word battles all day long. And oh boy has it worked.

    • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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      10 days ago

      Nobody is arguing to change the definition of words. We’re just saying you’re an asshole for insisting on using them.

      It is your persistence is completely missing the point that produces so much infighting. So… are you a fool who constantly misses the point? Or do you say this BS in an attempt to persist the infighting? Either way, rather shamefully low level of thought you’re putting in to this…

    • deathbird@mander.xyz
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      10 days ago

      It’s very similar to some cointelpro strategies for derailing leftist meetings by trying to drag out processes and procedures. I guess that doesn’t work forever though because processes can get refined in ways to minimize disruption and mitigate the effects of bad faith behavior, and also there are a lot fewer leftist organizations with procedures that can be abused. But there are leftist discussion spaces, and those can still be derailed and made alienating with language games.

    • Franklin@lemmy.ca
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      10 days ago

      i think there’s some nuance and intent definitely matters however i still think it’s something you would avoid saying, it’s like half a dozen words

          • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            10 days ago

            yes? Legally hate speech is not protected under the first amendment, so by definition something must be classified as hate speech, racism for example. Generally hate speech. I don’t know if this word specifically would be.

            I guess you could subjectively classify it as hate speech, but there is a lot of hateful speech out there, so that might get redundant pretty quick.

    • LanguageIsCool@lemmy.world
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      10 days ago

      Guys, let’s cater the leftist movement to coddle centrist and conservative snowflakes otherwise we’re pushing them away

      • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        10 days ago

        you can do the exact thing you want to do, without having to police specific word usage, it’s misdirected focus, that’s the problem.

        • LanguageIsCool@lemmy.world
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          10 days ago

          If someone thinks “I have leftist ideals but I can’t say retard and people online hurt my feelings over it. I’m voting MAGA,” then they don’t have leftist ideals.

          As far as I know, policing specific word usage has never been a large focus. It’s a side conversation. People are able to have side conversations without losing focus.

          • KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            10 days ago

            i think the biggest problem is that it’s a less effective use of time, you could spend that time on something more productive, like building a better community, or improving support for marginalized groups, but no we’re hear yelling about joe rogan being stupid instead.

            At the end of the day, i just don’t think it’s very productive.

            • LanguageIsCool@lemmy.world
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              10 days ago

              Says the person vehemently going through this thread defending the use of the word retard for the past thirty minutes. Why don’t you lead by example, then?

      • madcaesar@lemmy.world
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        10 days ago

        You realize we’ve lost all three branches and have basically lost every position that matters? Women are worse off, Trans people are worse off, colored people are worse off. The lack of self reflection is staggering.

        Note also that I never mention any specific word, yet you’re going off like some lunatic white knighter.

        That is the problem. Not only are people bickering about words, they are bickering about whether we should be bickering…

        • LanguageIsCool@lemmy.world
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          10 days ago

          I’m… “going off”? Get real. Some people don’t like a word. Not a big deal for you? Then stay out of it. You literally started the bickering.