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keithbauhaus
Recruit
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- Joined
- Jun 9, 2019
- Posts
- 335
I apologize if this has already been discussed ad nauseum in older threads (if this is the case, I'll delete this), but it irks me that it's still socially acceptable to call someone "autistic" when engaging in discourse with someone on a topic that you disagree with them on. In a time where "political correctness" is at an ATH, it makes absolutely no sense that you can't use pejorative terms toward people that are a part of "protected classes" aside from those that are on the autism spectrum (this is from my experience, anyhow -- feel free to let me know if you think I'm wrong on this).
I totally get the rationale behind not using these disparaging terms (it's just immature to try to dismantle an argument by attacking their character), but I have seen quite a few ratioed (meaning unanimously favored) posts on social media sites where the opposition is called "autistic" for having an opinion that goes against what is mainstream. The irony of it all is that quite a few of the people that "like" these posts tend to favor "political correctness".
I think a lot of it has to do with people that love to self-diagnose themselves with neurological disorders to feel special; neurotypical people think they're autistic because they're SOMETIMES a little awkward in social situations, but the (ostensible) reality is that they're doing it to just to add another diagnosis to their self-diagnosed mental disorder portfolio (depression and anxiety also fall under this list, IMO). It's so normalized that autism isn't even seen as a legitimate disorder anymore.
To give some background: I am on the autism spectrum, and was professionally diagnosed with this against my will (I wouldn't be making this thread otherwise). I don't think I have ever been offended by someone calling me autistic (in fact, I'm often self deprecating about it when I'm talking to my friends just because I don't take it that seriously), but I just think it's hypocritical to call someone "autistic" when you can't even use terms like "faggot" or "whore" without receiving backlash. This isn't fair, and if "political correctness" is going to stick around for the long-haul, then people perpetuating this shouldn't cherrypick what is/isn't okay to use against someone.
I totally get the rationale behind not using these disparaging terms (it's just immature to try to dismantle an argument by attacking their character), but I have seen quite a few ratioed (meaning unanimously favored) posts on social media sites where the opposition is called "autistic" for having an opinion that goes against what is mainstream. The irony of it all is that quite a few of the people that "like" these posts tend to favor "political correctness".
I think a lot of it has to do with people that love to self-diagnose themselves with neurological disorders to feel special; neurotypical people think they're autistic because they're SOMETIMES a little awkward in social situations, but the (ostensible) reality is that they're doing it to just to add another diagnosis to their self-diagnosed mental disorder portfolio (depression and anxiety also fall under this list, IMO). It's so normalized that autism isn't even seen as a legitimate disorder anymore.
To give some background: I am on the autism spectrum, and was professionally diagnosed with this against my will (I wouldn't be making this thread otherwise). I don't think I have ever been offended by someone calling me autistic (in fact, I'm often self deprecating about it when I'm talking to my friends just because I don't take it that seriously), but I just think it's hypocritical to call someone "autistic" when you can't even use terms like "faggot" or "whore" without receiving backlash. This isn't fair, and if "political correctness" is going to stick around for the long-haul, then people perpetuating this shouldn't cherrypick what is/isn't okay to use against someone.