The humanities weren't presented as a thing that should be studied, they were considered a thing that was there because of tradition and the old codgers whining when they didn't get to torture kids with a page of musings about daffodils.
As for things like "overstudier", I saw them directed at people who were being smug, arrogant assholes rather than merely good students. They stopped being directed at me when I tried to stop being an ass. The insult indicates a certain level of anti-intellectualism, perhaps, but, ultimately, it's an attribution mistake, people see the person using their knowledge to lord over others and use the insult to tag it instead of looking for the root cause.
And I'm going to say that that psychiatrist could probably use a board review or local equivalent.
Nerds also tend to be isolated individuals with no sense of community. No matter how badly minorities have it, they've got each other. A nerd on the other hand might not even have their family. Oh, they might provide love and comfort, but connecting with them and sharing your interests? That's something else entirely.
Like, not really? Maybe back in the 80s? Nerddom is huge, it has tons of conventions, online groups, products that cater to the nerd identity (and subsections thereof).... note that the nerds initially talked about was SV, a social discussion site.
The nerd as an isolated loaner was IMO always exaggerated (A D&D group is a group of friends after all), and isn't something inherent in nerddom. I feel the stereotype is more of a legacy thing, and while some are more socially connected than others, that's just... being human. Minority or anyone.
A psychiatrist deemed one of my friends too mentally unstable to be barred from certain jobs (e.g. army and some other types of government works) due to admitting to play RPGs (VtM and D&D, IIRC), in the 2000s. I'm not sure if the 80s were worse, but surely you can agree that people being branded mentally ill for their nerdy interests is a serious form of social discrimination?
Ok, yea, that is pretty messed up, but is it wide-spread to any extent, or was it just a jerk who didn't like those things?
Like, that's really shocking to me, I can't say I've heard that sort of thing happen and like terma said, it sounds like the kind of thing they could and should get in trouble for.
Edit: for less dramatic examples, there's things like the treatment of programmers by communications-oriented people as genies-in-a-lamp ("hey, our office's microwave stopped working, fix it, after all, you're a programmer" being only a slight exaggeration), or the way that computer game geeks seem to often look down on tabletop nerds (not necessarily using those words the way previously mentioned, but with the same attitude).
True, but not exactly the biggest worries. Subgroups having infighting is, I think, something associated with being part of any group whatsoever.
Things may have been worse in the past, but nonetheless being branded a nerd by the mainstream society still seems to hold more downsides than upsides.
I think almost everywhere will have problems with bigotry. It's part of the regular wheel of negative human behaviors that pops up whenever. It's good to discuss how to solve it and people have tried. Just discussing bigotry won't make it go away however that is more difficult. Like I am not sure how to phrase my thoughts here so I am going to end on this note: I am not saying everyone in the world is a secret bigot. Rather I am putting out a common tenet of the feminism that I learned about that sexism is ingrained in a lot of us when we live in a sexist society and just being polite and discussing it won't purge those thoughts and behaviors that takes work and constant mindfulness. And I do think white people like me can be discriminated against but usually it's not for being white I don't think it's more like do you have mental illness, inappropriate views about relationships or whatever?
And speaking as an awkward female nerd I almost never feel persecuted for being nerdy. And people who bother women when they are just sitting there like the dude in the comic and then use vulgar language like "ra*ist" and "fing feminism" kinda deserve to be shunned just for what comes out of their mouths. That's hate speech nothing against their body hair or fedoras or whatever.
Ok, yea, that is pretty messed up, but is it wide-spread to any extent, or was it just a jerk who didn't like those things?
Like, that's really shocking to me, I can't say I've heard that sort of thing happen and like terma said, it sounds like the kind of thing they could and should get in trouble for.
It's hard to know the statistics when most relevant people try to avoid the situation which can bring them into statistics (i.e. when talking to psychiatrists or any other people who can mess you over, don't tell them stuff you might regret). I picked this example because it's simultaneously amusing and scary in its absurdity, and because it's a logical endpoint for the path of thinking that nerdy people aren't right in the head.
On one hand, I appreciate that you look at things in terms of subgroups and supergroups. On the other, I think in this case it's not as relevant for the nerds-group that is nerds-as-branded-by-the-mainstream. As in, when a group (nerds) has been defined by not fitting into it mainstream (in specific ways, such as asociality and high-intensity obscure niche interests), you can't go "and then they became mainstream", because entering the mainstream is exactly the process of leaving the group-as-it-was-defined. At most one can see the mainstream picking up the four letters and infusing them with a very different meaning for its own use.
And the last sentence makes me think: perhaps it's time to let go? Perhaps there is no longer a way to convey the meaning by using the same word, and it's time to me to go through the thesauruses to find one that serves my goals better? Perhaps.
The thread has turned full circle: this is why some poster made a (too broad-sweeping and un-nuanced) analogy with bankers. Yes, programmers and other nerdy jobs are very necessary jobs nowadays, but that doesn't help with reducing the tensions on a purely people-and-their-attitudes level. I once again put in the note (so as to avoid misleading anyone) that I agree with you that the magnitude is not comparable.
It's hard to know the statistics when most relevant people try to avoid the situation which can bring them into statistics (i.e. when talking to psychiatrists or any other people who can mess you over, don't tell them stuff you might regret). I picked this example because it's simultaneously amusing and scary in its absurdity, and because it's a logical endpoint for the path of thinking that nerdy people aren't right in the head.
But, I mean, like I've been saying, that used to be big in the time, but nowadays there's *so much* stuff directly aimed at nerds, nerd characters in TV and movies are normal and not-shunned, etc..
It sounds to me like a rare holdover. Sorta like how being gay used to be considered a mental illness but now isn't- and being trans still has to put up with a ton of crap and it wouldn't be the slightest bit surprising to find someone get that for being trans.
On one hand, I appreciate that you look at things in terms of subgroups and supergroups. On the other, I think in this case it's not as relevant for the nerds-group that is nerds-as-branded-by-the-mainstream. As in, when a group (nerds) has been defined by not fitting into it mainstream (in specific ways, such as asociality and high-intensity obscure niche interests), you can't go "and then they became mainstream", because entering the mainstream is exactly the process of leaving the group-as-it-was-defined. At most one can see the mainstream picking up the four letters and infusing them with a very different meaning for its own use.
And the last sentence makes me think: perhaps it's time to let go? Perhaps there is no longer a way to convey the meaning by using the same word, and it's time to me to go through the thesauruses to find one that serves my goals better? Perhaps.
The meaning certainly has changed. They're the heroes in movies. Nerd is no longer 'not mainstream.' Ready Player One is for nerds with a nerd hero, Jumanji too. Sitcoms having nerd main characters is normal. Vin Diesel is well known to be a nerd. Michael B. Jordan is a nerd who gets articles written on his anime fandom and if that means his character Killmonger is an anime nerd.
It might have meant that once, but it doesn't anymore. Nerd interests are literally the most popular interests in multiple areas, and the definition hasn't shifted over to newer, less popular interests.
The thread has turned full circle: this is why some poster made a (too broad-sweeping and un-nuanced) analogy with bankers. Yes, programmers and other nerdy jobs are very necessary jobs nowadays, but that doesn't help with reducing the tensions on a purely people-and-their-attitudes level. I once again put in the note (so as to avoid misleading anyone) that I agree with you that the magnitude is not comparable.
Are there really that much tensions over computer jobs now that 90% of everyone uses a computer regularly? Yea, you can find non-tech savvy people to whom they're magic, but being good at computers really is not something that I think is a regular source of tension anymore.
Like, not really? Maybe back in the 80s? Nerddom is huge, it has tons of conventions, online groups, products that cater to the nerd identity (and subsections thereof).... note that the nerds initially talked about was SV, a social discussion site.
The nerd as an isolated loaner was IMO always exaggerated (A D&D group is a group of friends after all), and isn't something inherent in nerddom. I feel the stereotype is more of a legacy thing, and while some are more socially connected than others, that's just... being human. Minority or anyone.
If I may speak from personal experience, that's not true. Being a geek is terrible. You never know who you can open up to. Advertising your interests invites bullying. Even people who like and share your hobbies will bully you just so that they won't be bullied themselves.
I had this eye-opening experience in the 5th grade in art class. Four of us sitting around a table, Power Rangers somehow gets mentioned, we all say Power Rangers sucks...and then we kinda sorta but not really talk about the latest developments in the series, which at the time revolved around the identity of the Gold Ranger. All us secretly liked Power Rangers, all of us were embarrassed by that fact, and all of us were ready to throw the guy sitting literally next to us under a bus to avoid any humiliation.
Maybe things have changed in the last 20 years, and maybe it was different for people living in cities or large towns, but I'm still terrified of other people finding out I like geek stuff. It may be irrational, but it's how I feel, and for good reason.
But, I mean, like I've been saying, that used to be big in the time, but nowadays there's *so much* stuff directly aimed at nerds, nerd characters in TV and movies are normal and not-shunned, etc..
It sounds to me like a rare holdover. Sorta like how being gay used to be considered a mental illness but now isn't- and being trans still has to put up with a ton of crap and it wouldn't be the slightest bit surprising to find someone get that for being trans.
The meaning certainly has changed. They're the heroes in movies. Nerd is no longer 'not mainstream.' Ready Player One is for nerds with a nerd hero, Jumanji too. Sitcoms having nerd main characters is normal. Vin Diesel is well known to be a nerd. Michael B. Jordan is a nerd who gets articles written on his anime fandom and if that means his character Killmonger is an anime nerd.
It might have meant that once, but it doesn't anymore. Nerd interests are literally the most popular interests in multiple areas, and the definition hasn't shifted over to newer, less popular interests.
Yeah, this definitely seems to the second important disconnect: when one of the key features of being assigned a group is being not one of the popular kids, having popular kids such as film actors listed as nerds sounds at least partially off. Similarly, I'd say that some (but not all) interests just stepped out of the 'nerdsphere' into the 'mainstreamsphere'.
Are there really that much tensions over computer jobs now that 90% of everyone uses a computer regularly? Yea, you can find non-tech savvy people to whom they're magic, but being good at computers really is not something that I think is a regular source of tension anymore.
There are degrees of computerness of jobs. 90% people may be able to type a message to a friend in ICQ, but experience tells me that not 90% people can speed up the yearly optimisation of teachers' workhour schedule by using Excel instead of a piece of paper (let alone administer a network of work computers or write code or assemble a machine).
People think nerds are smart not mentally ill. Or at least that's what I always thought. Nerdy behaviors and interests cannot even be close to being labeled crazy and sexually promiscuous and bullied for being trans IMO. Anyways I get treated very nicely for being nerdy and even if people don't understand about WoW or whatever they don't shun or mock me for it. So my experience being a female nerd is that even when you're awkward people find it cuter than offensive, I have never seen a nerd being bullied for being a nerd, more like I've seen nerds being bullied for not knowing social cues like when to leave a harried girl alone.
Nerds shouldn't have to put up with harassment it's true. Yet they don't usually get harassed unless they transgress social norms, act obsessive and creepy or bother women. And yes I've been bothered by male nerds while I am just sitting on a bench or whatevs.
I have learned something. Either everyone here is older than me (18) and thus grew up with very different social zoning, or my school is weird.
You all seem to be treating nerds as a social group; a label that defines somebody. The way I grew up, that just wasn't true.
I play D&D. I own every single Munchkin expansion. I write ASoIaF and RWBY fanfiction. I've participated in a 4 hour debate over Star Trek versus Star Wars (I lost, but still.) I skipped a year and am majoring in Mathematics at college. I don't think anyone here can deny that I am a total nerd...
But growing up that didn't mean a damn thing after like second grade. My school had one instance of bullying the entire time I was there.
There was a really religious girl against a transgender girl, which ended with the religious girl being verbally lambasted whenever she tried to start anything, and an outpouring of support for the trans girl.
That was it. We were all just nice to each other. The 'nerds' went to the football games to cheer on the team. The cheerleaders traveled with the robotics team for competitions. The 'jocks' would hold a party when a mathlete or scholar's bowler (ya know I was in scholar's bowl. I should really learn what we call ourselves) won a tournament.
Maybe thats why I don't understand this thread. Going by stories from friends, my highschool was damn near utopic.
That said... Why can't everywhere be like that? If you stop identifying yourself by all these titles and just as a human being, amazing things can happen. I know what you're thinking too.
Oh, people will still judge me based on x. Yeah? So. What. These days, if someone is homophobic or racist they either hide it or are a social pariah. The counterculture has become the culture.
(I will make one general exception to this: America and a lot of other places are still majority transphobic, soooo yeah. If you're trans ignore this message and keep doing what you're doing)
Instead of embracing sexuality, or race, or even nerdiness, you need to accept it. When you are being disciminated against titles are a comfort. They let you know that hey, there is somebody in your corner. When somebody is having trouble coming out at school they can look at Colton Haynes for courage. They can watch Ellen and see all these people cheering her on. They can look to Barrack Obama and see just how far African-Americans have come.
But this phenomena so often goes too far. Instead of accepting yourself and moving on, quietly inspiring others with your actions and achievements, people instead gate themselves away from others.
When I got to college, I wasn't prepared. As a cis white male, I was discriminated against. Despite having multiple trans and gay friends back home, the LGBT+ support and friend groups wouldn't accept anyone who didn't fit the title. The Anime club was asian only, and the Step club was the same but for blacks.
By letting those titles define you, you oft become a walking stereotype. And worse? You often become the very type of person you hate.
You can see this in religion. Not so long ago, athiesm was something you hid. Then, it became something you were open about but judged for. Then, it became something you celebrated. Then, it became something society celebrated. Now? Now you see more discrimination by athiests to the religious than the other way around.
This is already happening in a lot of communities. Defense is slowly turning into offense, a very bad thing indeed.
Now this post is really long and I've completely lost where I was originally going, but I guess I'll sum it up.
Don't be gay. Don't be black. Don't be a nerd. Don't be a woman. Don't be a christian.
Be a goddamn human being.
{Okay so I gotta clear some things up. I live in America, where things are pretty progressive. This is a fact I admittedly take for granted. There are a lot of people out there, living in countries that still harshly discriminate against people of all types. In those countries, a lot of my message here is bad, almost bordering on counter-productive. Sooooo yeah. Don't take it then. I guess that also applies to transgender people in America, as we of the stars and stripes are still assholes about that... sorry)
What is a human being? I only know how to be a woman. I think if we stripped all the things about us (Race, sexuality, gender/sex and on and on) that we wouldn't even be human anymore. You can't look at yourself in a vacuum most of the time. Things and signals about you from your appearance to your dating habits affect you every day. So while I appreciate your inspirational message I just can't believe it. I need some kind of identity beyond a smoke of humanity. 'Cause I don't even know what humanity means.
I have learned something. Either everyone here is older than me (18) and thus grew up with very different social zoning, or my school is weird.
You all seem to be treating nerds as a social group; a label that defines somebody. The way I grew up, that just wasn't true.
I play D&D. I own every single Munchkin expansion. I write ASoIaF and RWBY fanfiction. I've participated in a 4 hour debate over Star Trek versus Star Wars (I lost, but still.) I skipped a year and am majoring in Mathematics at college. I don't think anyone here can deny that I am a total nerd...
But growing up that didn't mean a damn thing after like second grade. My school had one instance of bullying the entire time I was there.
There was a really religious girl against a transgender girl, which ended with the religious girl being verbally lambasted whenever she tried to start anything, and an outpouring of support for the trans girl.
That was it. We were all just nice to each other. The 'nerds' went to the football games to cheer on the team. The cheerleaders traveled with the robotics team for competitions. The 'jocks' would hold a party when a mathlete or scholar's bowler (ya know I was in scholar's bowl. I should really learn what we call ourselves) won a tournament.
Maybe thats why I don't understand this thread. Going by stories from friends, my highschool was damn near utopic.
That said... Why can't everywhere be like that? If you stop identifying yourself by all these titles and just as a human being, amazing things can happen. I know what you're thinking too.
Oh, people will still judge me based on x. Yeah? So. What. These days, if someone is homophobic or racist they either hide it or are a social pariah. The counterculture has become the culture.
(I will make one general exception to this: America and a lot of other places are still majority transphobic, soooo yeah. If you're trans ignore this message and keep doing what you're doing)
Instead of embracing sexuality, or race, or even nerdiness, you need to accept it. When you are being disciminated against titles are a comfort. They let you know that hey, there is somebody in your corner. When somebody is having trouble coming out at school they can look at Colton Haynes for courage. They can watch Ellen and see all these people cheering her on. They can look to Barrack Obama and see just how far African-Americans have come.
But this phenomena so often goes too far. Instead of accepting yourself and moving on, quietly inspiring others with your actions and achievements, people instead gate themselves away from others.
When I got to college, I wasn't prepared. As a cis white male, I was discriminated against. Despite having multiple trans and gay friends back home, the LGBT+ support and friend groups wouldn't accept anyone who didn't fit the title. The Anime club was asian only, and the Step club was the same but for blacks.
By letting those titles define you, you oft become a walking stereotype. And worse? You often become the very type of person you hate.
You can see this in religion. Not so long ago, athiesm was something you hid. Then, it became something you were open about but judged for. Then, it became something you celebrated. Then, it became something society celebrated. Now? Now you see more discrimination by athiests to the religious than the other way around.
This is already happening in a lot of communities. Defense is slowly turning into offense, a very bad thing indeed.
Now this post is really long and I've completely lost where I was originally going, but I guess I'll sum it up.
Don't be gay. Don't be black. Don't be a nerd. Don't be a woman. Don't be a christian.
Be a goddamn human being.
{Okay so I gotta clear some things up. I live in America, where things are pretty progressive. This is a fact I admittedly take for granted. There are a lot of people out there, living in countries that still harshly discriminate against people of all types. In those countries, a lot of my message here is bad, almost bordering on counter-productive. Sooooo yeah. Don't take it then. I guess that also applies to transgender people in America, as we of the stars and stripes are still assholes about that... sorry)
Imma go ahead and stop you right there on the Atheism part in regards to the US. If you actually think that atheists are the ones discriminating against religious people from a position of power you need to stop watching Fox News and "God's Not Dead" style movies.
The meaning certainly has changed. They're the heroes in movies. Nerd is no longer 'not mainstream.' Ready Player One is for nerds with a nerd hero, Jumanji too. Sitcoms having nerd main characters is normal. Vin Diesel is well known to be a nerd. Michael B. Jordan is a nerd who gets articles written on his anime fandom and if that means his character Killmonger is an anime nerd.
It might have meant that once, but it doesn't anymore. Nerd interests are literally the most popular interests in multiple areas, and the definition hasn't shifted over to newer, less popular interests.
I think the issue here is not about a set interests but a set of life experiences and personality traits that nerdy interests are often used as signifies. There's a set of people characterized by introversion, poor social-skills, difficulty performing gender, literal mindedness, ect. These people often have experiences of social ostracism and are drawn to "nerd" interests and subculture as a sort of safe space. The mainstreaming of nerd interests is an cause for terror rather than relief for them as they see it as the mainstream culture is coming to socially ostracize them form the very space they retreated to avoid social ostracism.
The truth of things is more complicated of course but I think it's important to understand where people are coming from.
That's not to say that there isn't a large and growing issue of anti-intellectualism in the US. Because there really is. It may not be on the level of how bad it is for LGBT, or for ethnic or religious minorities, but it's there and it's growing worse.
That's not to say that there isn't a large and growing issue of anti-intellectualism in the US. Because there really is. It may not be on the level of how bad it is for LGBT, or for ethnic or religious minorities, but it's there and it's growing worse.
Anti-Intellectualism isn't what is being discussed here. In a world where Ready Player One is a multimillion dollar movie and cis men still play trans roles in films, this complaint is ridiculous.
Yeah, this definitely seems to the second important disconnect: when one of the key features of being assigned a group is being not one of the popular kids, having popular kids such as film actors listed as nerds sounds at least partially off. Similarly, I'd say that some (but not all) interests just stepped out of the 'nerdsphere' into the 'mainstreamsphere'.
Part of the point is nerdosphere really never has been about being out of the mainstream. It has been, and some people embraced that, but a Trekkie is a nerd whether they're at a small con in the 80s or Simon Pegg today.
Nerd does not own being out of the mainstream and nor is it the key part of being a nerd.
Any more than rock means being anti establishment or a punk group stops being punk when it's popular. It's something *some* nerds chose to embrace but others don't.
There are degrees of computerness of jobs. 90% people may be able to type a message to a friend in ICQ, but experience tells me that not 90% people can speed up the yearly optimisation of teachers' workhour schedule by using Excel instead of a piece of paper (let alone administer a network of work computers or write code or assemble a machine).
That's not to say that there isn't a large and growing issue of anti-intellectualism in the US. Because there really is. It may not be on the level of how bad it is for LGBT, or for ethnic or religious minorities, but it's there and it's growing worse.
Anti-intellectualism doesn't target nerds, it targets use of intellect.
There's plenty of nerd entertainment that barely requires a spine, let alone a human brain.
People saying that global warming isn't happening and that god will regenerate the oil reserves play Civ 4. People saying that vaccines cause autism and shoving bleach up their kids asses to cure it watch GoT alright. There's a lot of nerd anti-intellectualism, look at your average 8chan user. There are MLMs targeting nerds specifically, there's even several that were made without realizing they were some like bitcoin.
This is some seventh level supernova galaxy brain shit.
I almost shudder to ask what on Earth makes you think attitudes towards nerds are "going" towards concentration camps and gas chambers but my chakras are not yet fully aligned so enlighten me master
Part of the point is nerdosphere really never has been about being out of the mainstream. It has been, and some people embraced that, but a Trekkie is a nerd whether they're at a small con in the 80s or Simon Pegg today.
Nerd does not own being out of the mainstream and nor is it the key part of being a nerd.
Any more than rock means being anti establishment or a punk group stops being punk when it's popular. It's something *some* nerds chose to embrace but others don't.
We definitely have been exposed to very different usages and experiences, but I think if I pursue this further I'll just repeat myself in descriptions of the differences of experiences and usages encountered.
A job is a criterion of identity just like many other things, by virtue usually coming with skill sets and activities. E.g. if I were to work in pharmaceutical R&D, people would identify nerdy traits (the nerdy job) and become more inclined towards branding me a nerd, and if I were to make a living as a rugby player, they'd identify my jocky traits (a jocky job) and incline towards seeing that I'm a jock. It's even possible to have contrasting job and interests (as was in fact the case with me), which would mean having a near-equal mix of nerdy and jocky (and/or other) traits, which society would identify but be unable to reach a consensus how to categorise me, or identify me as a member of a mixed category. (In actual life, my 'jock points' were too low to cause such uncertainty.)
That's a matter of choice, dude. Find other things, do different activities, if you don't want your job to define you. The world isn't two binary camps of 'jock' and 'nerd' except in 1980s movies. Real human beings don't think the way you're describing - it's not "that dude Phil, a nerrrrrrd," it's "Phil, my friend from college who plays video games, is real into fantasy football, and fishes every other weekend."
If we wanna start talking about the problems of vague societal concepts like Jocks and Nerds, it's the "Jocks" who are more likely to die overseas in pointless wars, be less financially successful in life, be taken advantage of by colleges to fuel an endless demand for college football, be injured in ways that haunt them later in life, and be hurt the most psychologically by a toxic culture that denies them the tools to actually deal with trauma.
Also some of them might be autistic. Stop fucking acting like nerdy traits and autism are intrinsically linked.
That's a matter of choice, dude. Find other things, do different activities, if you don't want your job to define you. The world isn't two binary camps of 'jock' and 'nerd' except in 1980s movies. Real human beings don't think the way you're describing - it's not "that dude Phil, a nerrrrrrd," it's "Phil, my friend from college who plays video games, is real into fantasy football, and fishes every other weekend."
I thought my mention of mixed results and of '(and/or other)' activities was enough to ward off any accusations of binary black-and-white-vision, but apparently not. My point is that there are traits which make categories to which Phil belongs identifiable, e.g. videogamer or amateur fisherman. And everything a person does contributes to the list of such traits - jobs, hobbies, education etc. An astronaut doesn't stop being an astronaut while gone fishing, a videogamer doesn't stop being a videogamer while at work, a gold medallist doesn't stop being a gold medallist after retiring, an Englishman doesn't stop being an Englishman while abroad on vacation and so on. Yes, people can choose to perform different activities that may sometimes change the categories they're part of (but not always), and sometimes they want to make those choices without being looked down upon for them.
@Mistborn Okay. Let's say that the common caricature of a nerd really does have a large amount of traits that are also some of the symptoms of autism. Let's say that those are some of the traits that people ridicule/dislike the most about their conception of 'nerds.' Is that ableist? Probably not. The only way for that to be ableist is if it was, as you said, either an intentionally crafted caricature or just an extremely convenient one used to be able to be ableist without revealing it (a way to dogwhistle). I have a hard time beleiveing this for one specific reason: most ableists or people who make fun of things like autism do not know enough about autism, nor do they have the insight, to be able to either create a dogwhistling caricature or find one that matches the symptoms of autism. It's just Occam's razor, here.
That's not to say it doesn't hurt to have the symptoms of your condition mocked in any context, whether they're talking about you or not. Just that it's not targeted at them. It's inconsideration, not deliberation.
That's not to say it doesn't hurt to have the symptoms of your condition mocked in any context, whether they're talking about you or not. Just that it's not targeted at them. It's inconsideration, not deliberation.
I think you need to brush up your Social Justice 101 handbook specifically chapter 3 subsection 2 "intent is not magic". People don't need to have malice aforethought for their behavior to be problematic.
The person who posts neckbeard.jpg and considers it a blow struck for social justice is not consciously trying to spread ableism (usually) that's an unintended side effect. It's not that people are intentionally putting in abelist/ect to their discourse, rather ableism/ect is already part of the background radiation of society and that's going to filter in to any caricature of the other.
I think you need to brush up your Social Justice 101 handbook specifically chapter 3 subsection 2 "intent is not magic". People don't need to have malice aforethought for their behavior to be problematic.
The person who posts neckbeard.jpg and considers it a blow struck for social justice is not consciously trying to spread ableism (usually) that's an unintended side effect. It's not that people are intentionally putting in abelist/ect to their discourse, rather ableism/ect is already part of the background radiation of society and that's going to filter in to any caricature of the other.
Listen, people complaining about the traits of the 'typical' neckbeard and having some of those traits be shared by some disabled group does not mean the conversation is ableist. Context matters. Being a 'neckbeard' is considered a choice, a chosen lifestyle. Therefore, as it is something they have chosen, that makes it okay to criticize. That doesn't mean that people think that criticizing someone for that behavior or trait is always okay. They simply hold a belief that whatever trait or behavior is not something good and/or healthy in a person who can choose to not perform it (for behaviors), or who can choose to work on it (for traits). It is that they have the agency to make a change in themselves but choose not to that invites ridicule, not the traits or behaviors themselves.
Would it be okay to criticize an adult individual with no disability or disorder that lives in the united states for not understanding basic math? Most people would say yes. But if you changed the circumstance to someone with a disability or disorder that might hinder them, or even to just talking about a young child, the answer would be no. Calling an adult individual with no disability or disorder that lives in the united states a moron for that is not that person insulting children and the disabled. It may make people who don't know basic math but have some qualifying reason for that feel bad, as it is clear that it is a valued trait that they lack that society thinks is important and average for someone of their age, but that is why they are called disabled. They have a disability that hinders their ability to perform these actions.
Edit: Of course intent is not required, but context is important.
