• sandbox@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    As a disabled person, “special” in reference to disabled people is imo one of the worst ableist slurs, I find it more offensive than retard. my experience isn’t universal, but I just wanted to let you know, I know it was just a joke and I don’t want to make you feel bad, but I have to be honest and say, it does hurt a bit to see it.

    • ImplyingImplications
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      4 months ago

      it does hurt a bit to see it.

      Oh man, you’re not going to like what the IDF did.

      • jorp@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        That person was as gentle and kind as they could be while sharing something with you to try to help you become a better person. You should do better.

              • jorp@lemmy.world
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                4 months ago

                Honestly your commitment to the bit is winning me back over even though you’re objectively kind of a dick

                • ImplyingImplications
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                  4 months ago

                  In all seriousness, where the line between funny and offensive is drawn is completely subjective. My line is obviously different than others. I didn’t feel that my puns were personally directed at anyone and I didn’t see them as perpetuating any harmful stigma or stereotypes. It uses a word I wouldn’t actually use in daily life but the pun wouldn’t work otherwise. Life has a lot of legitimate malicious people out there that there’s no need to split hairs to find more. There is no subjective way to look at what the IDF did in this case. It is objectively malicious and evil. I didn’t expect my puns to be the thing that upset people.

                  I thought of another joke. Being mindful, I’ve hidden the punchline. You’ve been warned!

                  Say the guy here was Hamas. Do you think he'd carry...

                  a .38 Special?

                  • sandbox@lemmy.world
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                    4 months ago

                    I understand that you probably don’t really recognise the impact of ableist slurs, but as someone who has been bullied, harassed, beaten up and sexually assaulted by people mocking me by using those slurs, they trigger a bit of a traumatic response. It’s not that they’re directed at anyone in particular, it’s just that they’re never possible to use in reference to disabled people without being, at the very least, extremely patronising, and extremely dehumanising at the worst.

                    I completely get that you didn’t intend any harm, and you were trying to criticise the IDF in your own way, and I’m really sympathetic towards that: fuck the IDF, 100%, they’re incredibly evil.

                    All I am doing is just asking you to please reconsider using ableist slurs as jokes in the future, that’s all. We’re all human, we all make mistakes, and it’s a completely normal reaction to protect our own ego when someone tells us that we hurt them in some way, so I don’t blame you for your reaction, but please try to overcome that knee-jerk reaction <3