Can we please not with all the ableist language I'm seeing around discussing AI (and anything, really)?
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Can we please not with all the ableist language I'm seeing around discussing AI (and anything, really)?
Using words to refer to negative situations, when those words have been used to describe people with mental health problems, is perpetuating a stigma that mental health conditions and the people that have them are inherently bad.
Examples under CW below.
We *at the very least* limit anyone we see using language like this, and almost always it's a full block from our instance.
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Can we please not with all the ableist language I'm seeing around discussing AI (and anything, really)?
Using words to refer to negative situations, when those words have been used to describe people with mental health problems, is perpetuating a stigma that mental health conditions and the people that have them are inherently bad.
Examples under CW below.
We *at the very least* limit anyone we see using language like this, and almost always it's a full block from our instance.
Lunatic, insane, stupid, dumb, retarded, moron, idiot, imbecile, cretin, crazy, mad, nuts.
Any word that relates to low intelligence, smartness, or IQ.
Seriously, this is Nazi shit; you are literally doing the work of fascists in using language like this.
I appreciate that you might not have known, especially if English is not your first language and you weren't aware of the history of these words and their use as insults, but NOW YOU DO KNOW.
And now you can stop.
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Lunatic, insane, stupid, dumb, retarded, moron, idiot, imbecile, cretin, crazy, mad, nuts.
Any word that relates to low intelligence, smartness, or IQ.
Seriously, this is Nazi shit; you are literally doing the work of fascists in using language like this.
I appreciate that you might not have known, especially if English is not your first language and you weren't aware of the history of these words and their use as insults, but NOW YOU DO KNOW.
And now you can stop.
@Curator TIL Lunatic is not someone who walk while they sleep.
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Lunatic, insane, stupid, dumb, retarded, moron, idiot, imbecile, cretin, crazy, mad, nuts.
Any word that relates to low intelligence, smartness, or IQ.
Seriously, this is Nazi shit; you are literally doing the work of fascists in using language like this.
I appreciate that you might not have known, especially if English is not your first language and you weren't aware of the history of these words and their use as insults, but NOW YOU DO KNOW.
And now you can stop.
@Curator
I remember that we were taught in school "stupid" is the english word for several words we use in German. I think it was the only word we were ever taught in that context. One day, a few years ago, I found out that it is ableist and actually a lot more negative than I thought. Only to then find out the german translations are also ableist. And it sparks an interesting thought about why we are so keen to even question people's intelligence all the time. -
Can we please not with all the ableist language I'm seeing around discussing AI (and anything, really)?
Using words to refer to negative situations, when those words have been used to describe people with mental health problems, is perpetuating a stigma that mental health conditions and the people that have them are inherently bad.
Examples under CW below.
We *at the very least* limit anyone we see using language like this, and almost always it's a full block from our instance.
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@noodlemaz @Curator In polish it's commonly known as "lunatyk" so I was sure it was the same word...
The more you know.
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Can we please not with all the ableist language I'm seeing around discussing AI (and anything, really)?
Using words to refer to negative situations, when those words have been used to describe people with mental health problems, is perpetuating a stigma that mental health conditions and the people that have them are inherently bad.
Examples under CW below.
We *at the very least* limit anyone we see using language like this, and almost always it's a full block from our instance.
i'm given to understand that 'ignorant' is an acceptable, non-abelist substitute for the words mentioned. are there others?
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i'm given to understand that 'ignorant' is an acceptable, non-abelist substitute for the words mentioned. are there others?
@saltywizard I try to think about the precise characteristics of the behaviour that I'm describing; ignorant is often the case, but sometimes it's behaviour that is better described in a sentence or two than trying to condense everything to one word. However: erratic, immoral, unethical, chaotic, dangerous, abusive - it depends what's being talked about and what the problem is.
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Lunatic, insane, stupid, dumb, retarded, moron, idiot, imbecile, cretin, crazy, mad, nuts.
Any word that relates to low intelligence, smartness, or IQ.
Seriously, this is Nazi shit; you are literally doing the work of fascists in using language like this.
I appreciate that you might not have known, especially if English is not your first language and you weren't aware of the history of these words and their use as insults, but NOW YOU DO KNOW.
And now you can stop.
@Curator Which words are acceptable for describing negative situations?
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@Curator Which words are acceptable for describing negative situations?
@Flamekebab See my reply to someone else - https://mastodon.art/@Curator/116487437475385840 - it depends what the actual behaviour is that you're describing, and often is better described more fully than trying to condense a complex or nuanced behaviour into a single word.
Besides, better describing a problem helps people to better recognise why it's problematic, than simply calling something e.g. 'stupid', which doesn't really explain what the problem is.
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Lunatic, insane, stupid, dumb, retarded, moron, idiot, imbecile, cretin, crazy, mad, nuts.
Any word that relates to low intelligence, smartness, or IQ.
Seriously, this is Nazi shit; you are literally doing the work of fascists in using language like this.
I appreciate that you might not have known, especially if English is not your first language and you weren't aware of the history of these words and their use as insults, but NOW YOU DO KNOW.
And now you can stop.
@Curator English is my L2, so I had never put thought on how words #3, #4, #7 and #9 could be ableist. the other ones yes, but because they also have the same connotation and history as their correspondents in my L1 (Portuguese), and are widely recognized as ableist. thank you for the information, I'll start getting those out of my vernacular.
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@Curator English is my L2, so I had never put thought on how words #3, #4, #7 and #9 could be ableist. the other ones yes, but because they also have the same connotation and history as their correspondents in my L1 (Portuguese), and are widely recognized as ableist. thank you for the information, I'll start getting those out of my vernacular.
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Can we please not with all the ableist language I'm seeing around discussing AI (and anything, really)?
Using words to refer to negative situations, when those words have been used to describe people with mental health problems, is perpetuating a stigma that mental health conditions and the people that have them are inherently bad.
Examples under CW below.
We *at the very least* limit anyone we see using language like this, and almost always it's a full block from our instance.
@Curator The euphemism treadmill goes brrrrrr, and while it does that, we are left with exactly no "legal" words to describe things that are undesireable, because somebody once used them for things they found undesireable.
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@Curator The euphemism treadmill goes brrrrrr, and while it does that, we are left with exactly no "legal" words to describe things that are undesireable, because somebody once used them for things they found undesireable.
@zappes you're left with an entire dictionary of words that better and more adequately describe complex or nuanced situations rather than reducing them to single-word slurs that don't actually describe the problem or behaviour anyway, it's just convenient for people to punch down.
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@zappes you're left with an entire dictionary of words that better and more adequately describe complex or nuanced situations rather than reducing them to single-word slurs that don't actually describe the problem or behaviour anyway, it's just convenient for people to punch down.
@Curator Please let me prefix this with adisclaimer: I am autistic. I don't work well in situations with seemingly arbitrary rules as they really confuse me.
That being said: What you are opposing are all expressions that are commonly used for describing an entity (can be a person, can be software) that lacks cognitive abilities. And the reason is that you oppose the idea that one would, for whatever reason, want to express that sentiment.
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@Curator Please let me prefix this with adisclaimer: I am autistic. I don't work well in situations with seemingly arbitrary rules as they really confuse me.
That being said: What you are opposing are all expressions that are commonly used for describing an entity (can be a person, can be software) that lacks cognitive abilities. And the reason is that you oppose the idea that one would, for whatever reason, want to express that sentiment.
@zappes I'm also autistic. I have been discriminated against my whole life for not behaving in 'typical' ways, and have been called all of those words on that list I shared, as insults.
The bar is not 'learn the arbitrary rules', the bar is 'don't use words that have been used to hurt other people'. Being autistic is not, has never been, and never will be, an excuse to be a bigot.
It's fine if you didn't know that those words are slurs. But now you do.
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@zappes I'm also autistic. I have been discriminated against my whole life for not behaving in 'typical' ways, and have been called all of those words on that list I shared, as insults.
The bar is not 'learn the arbitrary rules', the bar is 'don't use words that have been used to hurt other people'. Being autistic is not, has never been, and never will be, an excuse to be a bigot.
It's fine if you didn't know that those words are slurs. But now you do.
@Curator I feel you, I experienced the exact same, and honestly... This topic does also feel like that. You are putting it very politely (according to current standards), but in essence you are telling me that I am all those things plus a few more from a more moral category.
I honestly appreciate not deriding people because they don't fit some arbitrary definition of "normal". But I really, really dislike it when the rules of language get changed whenever somebody uses a word "badly".
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@Curator I feel you, I experienced the exact same, and honestly... This topic does also feel like that. You are putting it very politely (according to current standards), but in essence you are telling me that I am all those things plus a few more from a more moral category.
I honestly appreciate not deriding people because they don't fit some arbitrary definition of "normal". But I really, really dislike it when the rules of language get changed whenever somebody uses a word "badly".
@zappes The rules aren't changing, it's just now we're standing up for having been bullied and derided for decades. Using those words to describe people has *always* been bad, but now more people are calling it out.
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@zappes The rules aren't changing, it's just now we're standing up for having been bullied and derided for decades. Using those words to describe people has *always* been bad, but now more people are calling it out.
@Curator Look at the word "idiot". In ancient greek, that's simply somebody not belonging to the "polites", i.e. the people who vote. That word was introduced as a polite, non agressive euphemism, but as soon as it was used as intended, it became a "slur" and using it was prohibited.
In my life alone, I have seen the euphemist evolution from "negro" to "black" to "of color", and I fully expect "PoC" to become taboo within a few years. The rules change all the time.
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@Curator Look at the word "idiot". In ancient greek, that's simply somebody not belonging to the "polites", i.e. the people who vote. That word was introduced as a polite, non agressive euphemism, but as soon as it was used as intended, it became a "slur" and using it was prohibited.
In my life alone, I have seen the euphemist evolution from "negro" to "black" to "of color", and I fully expect "PoC" to become taboo within a few years. The rules change all the time.
@zappes Even if they do - so? Okay, it's difficult. So? You can make a choice; you accept that someone who's less privileged than you and has suffered degredation that you might have not and choose not to use language that is hurtful, or you can disregard them and not (and thus, punch down, and continue the oppression).
Complaining about how hard it is gets you zero sympathy from me. I don't care.
But really, it's not difficult. It might be mildly inconvenient to choose a new word, that's all.
