If the Twitter/X thing teaches you one thing, let it be this: Twitter was a neoliberal place. Then Elon Musk made it into X, a fascist place. Once again, neoliberalism laid the foundations of fascism. But that’s not the (whole) lesson… Neoliberal folks are still using X, calling it Twitter to make themselves feel better, and pining for the good old days. And there’s the real lesson: When neoliberalism turns into fascism, neoliberals will adapt to life under fascism. Right, class dismissed.
(We really need a better way to crosspost from mastodon…)
It says the same thing about TERF. When people find accurate, clinically boring descriptions of themselves offensive, it’s not the term that’s at fault.
I think it’s just that people use it as an insult. I think that is the case with many insults. I think retarded started as just a descriptive word.
Except “neoliberal” is insulting because it’s accurate.
It’s never changed meaning. People just began to realize that neoliberalism is awful and neoliberals are calling it an insult to be accurately described. Exactly like TERFs.
It’s not like mentally retarded can’t be accurate. But it’s the intent and repeated use as an insult that makes an insult and insult. Could just be a neutral descriptor because in itself it doesn’t mean something insulting.
It literally can’t. That’s not the scientifically used word anymore because people changed it into an ableist insult meaning something else than the original descriptive term.
Nobody’s changed the meaning of the word neoliberal. That neoliberals pretend otherwise to avoid being called out for being neoliberals doesn’t change the meaning of the word or the legitimacy of its use.
You are describing how it was the accurate, descriptive medical term but how the use as an insult made it so that it’s an insult. Isn’t that exactly what I was saying?
It was and sometimes still is used neutrally as a descriptor of certain type of economic policies. Those who view those economic ideas and policies negatively use it as an insult. In that respect it’s the same as “communist”, it’s not inherently negative and just means someone who believes in the idea of communism. But some, who dislike communism, use it as an insult.
No. You were saying that the meaning of the r-word hasn’t changed and can be accurately used to describe what it originally did. That’s not true.
Because that’s what it means. Always have, always will.
Because to people who know how awful neoliberalism is, it’s insulting to be labeled as an adherent of that ideology.
Insulting doesn’t automatically mean inaccurate or without use as a factual descriptor.
No it isn’t.The vast majority of the people who use the word communist to insult don’t know what it actually means beyond cold war propaganda equating it with misery and deliberate evil.
People who use the word neoliberal in a disparaging way are fully aware of the actual meaning and are using that as the insult, not some Reaganesque caricature.
Neoliberals pretend to be centrist or center-left and don’t want to be called out as Neoliberals, since everyone knows that’s a center right to right wing ideology.
Just like Republicans exhibiting all 14 common characteristics of fascism don’t want to be called out on being fascists because people know that fascism is bad.
Emphasized the relevant part. Would be silly to say something started as something and mean it is just the same now. It’s like the joke “I used to”.
I don’t know who you are arguing against. People who view thing negatively use descriptor for the thing as an insult. Yes that’s what I’ve said.
Somehow I feel like both insults see their fair share of inaccurate and accurate use.
This is getting circular, so let’s just agree to disagree.
Yeah iirc it was the clinical and pepper term to replace “mongoloid”.