Elon Musk has the ear of one of the most powerful people in the world – President Donald Trump – making him one of the most powerful people in the world, too. He’s been given unfettered access to adjust the federal government’s budget and headcount.
So what’s he doing posting a slur multiple times targeting the disabled community on social media?
Disability advocates seem unaware of what right-wingers mean when they complain about “free speech”. This is it.
“Freedom of speech” is about the governments ability to regulate your speech. Other people have the free speech to tell you to shut the fuck up, or call you out for using slurs, as the disability rights activists are doing.
No one is wanting the Stazi to show up if you say something shitty, but “r-tarded” is a word with a nasty history behind it. There are so many better ways to insult people than to compare someone or something to developmentally delayed people.
It’s also extremely concerning when someone who is pretty explicitly pro eugenics is using a word that dehumanizes disabled people, while we just appointed a health guy who wants to make farm camps for people with ASD or ADHD.
no they know. they’re who’s been warning everyone else that the right means hate speech when they say free speech. they don’t actually mean freedom of dissent, which is what most of us understand it to mean