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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@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.
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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
What a completely retarded, idiotic sentiment.
Nearly every word you listed was at one time the proper, politically correct term to use. Now it is "developmentally disabled" or something like that, however, that too will lose favor one day.
It is quite telling that you would use dehumanizing language to describe people who use words that you do not like. That is something an actual Nazi would do. -
@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.
@Curator @saltywizard I don't mean to turn this into a class or unpaid consultation but: are "dickhead", "shithead" and "asshole" OK?
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@Curator @saltywizard I don't mean to turn this into a class or unpaid consultation but: are "dickhead", "shithead" and "asshole" OK?
@cairobraga @saltywizard I've been trying to avoid things that use sex-specific bodyparts, to avoid e.g. implying that penises are bad (calling someone a dickhead) - I stick with things that are more general, like shithead and asshole
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@cairobraga @saltywizard I've been trying to avoid things that use sex-specific bodyparts, to avoid e.g. implying that penises are bad (calling someone a dickhead) - I stick with things that are more general, like shithead and asshole
@Curator @saltywizard I'm a penis owner (and penis enjoyer!) and I never stopped to think about that, isn't it wild? what you're saying does indeed make sense. thank you again!
also, linguistically speaking, the concept of "shit" as derogatory is so versatile and full of possibilities across most languages, one might even build a full list of words and terms based on it to replace ableist and otherwise bigoted language.
a note about "asshole": in Brazilian Portuguese everyday language we use "ass" (anus) in more than a thousand different terms, expressions and idioms, across all the spectrum of positive-neutral-negative feelings. "cuzão" (lit. "big ass", the most direct translation of "asshole" as an insult from English) when used towards a person is an offensive word related to a person's bad behaviour and/or personality; "cuzão" can also refer to someone's big butt in a positive way, and also mean that someone is very lucky and fortunate (there's a whole repertoire of expressions relating having a big butt to having good luck in PTBR).
