I can appreciate what you’re doing but I do think there’s an issue in this case.
From your second link regarding the word “idiot”, the term this community is using,
It is here that we start to see the problematic connotations of the word; it became synonymous with “ignorant person.” This meaning passed with the term throughout history, resulting in our use of it today to mean someone we perceive as being ignorant or stupid.
Looking into it further, for the majority of the time it’s been a word, “idiot” has meant an ignorant person. Which is absolutely not the same as having any certain mental condition. Calling someone ignorant isn’t inherently ableist. It wasn’t until (imo) one of the worst time periods of psychology (late 1800s, early 1900s) that it was appropriated to be used as a medical diagnosis along with “moron” to describe someone with a low IQ or “mental age”. Now that we’ve mostly moved past those ignorant concepts, we’ve changed diagnostic terms and started using those old words to mean something akin to their original definition.
Where we likely agree and what people replying to you may be missing is that ignorance is being used as an insult, which is not helpful. And while the community name may be accurate (a community to discuss ignorance on Facebook) it is toxic and low hanging fruit to post an image online for everyone to point and laugh at another person’s ignorance. Especially as the poster may assume it’s ignorance when it may actually be a manifestation of a certain mental condition.
So the community will likely be unintentionally ableist but will almost certainly be toxic and an easy way for people to feel superior to others. So I personally will not judge their use of “idiot” but I will judge those who find this content amusing and entertaining. p.s. thank you to anyone who was silly enough to read my entire comment haha
I can appreciate what you’re doing but I do think there’s an issue in this case.
From your second link regarding the word “idiot”, the term this community is using,
Looking into it further, for the majority of the time it’s been a word, “idiot” has meant an ignorant person. Which is absolutely not the same as having any certain mental condition. Calling someone ignorant isn’t inherently ableist. It wasn’t until (imo) one of the worst time periods of psychology (late 1800s, early 1900s) that it was appropriated to be used as a medical diagnosis along with “moron” to describe someone with a low IQ or “mental age”. Now that we’ve mostly moved past those ignorant concepts, we’ve changed diagnostic terms and started using those old words to mean something akin to their original definition.
Where we likely agree and what people replying to you may be missing is that ignorance is being used as an insult, which is not helpful. And while the community name may be accurate (a community to discuss ignorance on Facebook) it is toxic and low hanging fruit to post an image online for everyone to point and laugh at another person’s ignorance. Especially as the poster may assume it’s ignorance when it may actually be a manifestation of a certain mental condition.
So the community will likely be unintentionally ableist but will almost certainly be toxic and an easy way for people to feel superior to others. So I personally will not judge their use of “idiot” but I will judge those who find this content amusing and entertaining. p.s. thank you to anyone who was silly enough to read my entire comment haha
This was a good post. Can tell you’re smart.
I’ll be accepting my Nobel prize now