this post was submitted on 22 Jan 2024
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I'll start: "Shoving x down our throats"

the amount of people who have told me i'm one of the good ones because "at least you don't shove gayness down our throats," or "i'm fine with it if they dont shove it down our throats" has made me cringe whenever i hear that phrase used in any context, even harmlessly. how about you guys?

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[–] Tankiedesantski@hexbear.net 67 points 9 months ago (1 children)

88

I'm Chinese and we fucking love 8 since it rhymes with fortune in Mandarin. I'm also born roughly around 1988 so a lot of people in my generational cohort have 88 in their screen names.

Every time I see username_88 I gotta try to figure out if they're Chinese, my age, or a Nazi.

[–] blakeus12@hexbear.net 24 points 9 months ago (2 children)

damn, that's a rough one. Nazis really took a whole ass number

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[–] Sal@mander.xyz 51 points 9 months ago (6 children)

Expatriate/expat

Maybe it is not a popular opinion. And perhaps calling it "bigotry" is too far. But I work in a different country from where I was born, and I consider myself an immigrant. I have however seen this trend of referring to educated professionals as "expats" to distinguish us from people who immigrate to escape conflicts and/or poverty. I don't agree that this distinction is necessary or valuable, and I feel uncomfortable when I am described with that term. If I am called that, I usually chuckle and let people know that I'm an immigrant!!

[–] YearOfTheCommieDesktop@hexbear.net 35 points 9 months ago (1 children)

yeah I feel like the use of expat borders on us-foreign-policy

[–] PointAndClique@hexbear.net 30 points 9 months ago

Expat emphasises where they came from (wealthy, 'first world') rather than where they've moved to. It's a way of keeping themselves seperate and unsullied with oblique reference to where they previously lived.

[–] Tankiedesantski@hexbear.net 27 points 9 months ago

To me am "expat" is a person who's dispatched by their company or organization to work overseas and often has all their housing and expenses paid for. Almost always they'll be PMCs or PMC adjacent. The term used to imply a certain degree of prestige and wealth (imagine a PMC salary but you didn't have to pay for housing or transportation) so other people also latched onto it.

In Asia, where I'm from and live, it's mostly white western English "teacher" types who insist on being called Expats. For that reason, I make it a point to call them "migrant workers". Though if anything that's an insult to migrant workers since they work hard and perform socially valuable tasks, unlike most English "teachers" I know.

[–] blakeus12@hexbear.net 17 points 9 months ago

this for sure! this kind of bigotry doesn't apply to me as a cracker but this does always bother me

[–] CTHlurker@hexbear.net 12 points 9 months ago

I always just thought that "expat" meant a person dispatched by a company or organization to do work in another country and with an expectation that the worker in question moves back to their country of origin when their contract is over. Whereas an immigrant tends to be a person who moves permanently / with an idea to settle in another country. Though i will agree with the other commenters here that my definition of "expat" is essentially a whites-only word for "migrant worker".

[–] Dirt_Owl@hexbear.net 35 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Logic, reason, realistic and idealist

[–] SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net 24 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Logic and Reason are dogwhistles for "I'm a massive shithead, don't listen to me".

[–] Dirt_Owl@hexbear.net 23 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (4 children)

"You're being too emotional/idealistic!" in reference to my beliefs regarding concepts like nature vs nurture, competition vs cooperation etc. Even though me, as an ecology undergrad, just used my scientific knowledge of ecosystems to justify my position.

And funny that this is always said to me by someone who has never studied anything to do with biology. But they have been taught to believe that anything that isn't vicious cruelty and domination is unrealistic and emotional.

There is also something to be said about emotion itself not necessarily being devoid of reason and logic too. But its something people just assume is unreasonable because of how "emotion vs logic" as two opposites is ingrained in our culture.

Sorry, I rambled a bit there.

[–] AlkaliMarxist@hexbear.net 19 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Ironically "idealism" is almost always an accurate way to describe the chuddier position on an issue.

[–] BurgerPunk@hexbear.net 16 points 9 months ago

Yeah, to chuds and libs, idealism is just when you think maybe cruelty is bad

[–] BurgerPunk@hexbear.net 13 points 9 months ago

But they have been taught to believe that anything that isn't vicious cruelty and domination is unrealistic and emotional.

That perfectly captures the mindset of the "facts and logic" crowd. Believing that cruelty is good actually is the mature smart adult in the room position. It doesn't matter whether they've studied anything or not, believing in cruelty makes tgem smart. You could have every credential and relevent degree imaginable, but if your position is anything approaching "maybe cruelty is not good" you're a bleeding heart, emotional, idealist, childish, untealistic, etc.

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[–] SkingradGuard@hexbear.net 17 points 9 months ago

The fascists that say "logic and reason" tend to be the most unreasonable, illogical and emotionally charged shitheads out there.

[–] Antiwork@hexbear.net 11 points 9 months ago

Anytime people say I'm not logical. I'm emotional

[–] SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net 35 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Spook, because it's actually a slur.

It used to be an innocent word when I was a kid or a phrase for people working in intelligence, now I can't say or see it without racism coming to mind thanks to chuds.

[–] booty@hexbear.net 35 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I still don't think this one is used enough as a slur to retire. Using it as a slur would make me think you're literally a boomer, it's not common. Using it to refer to feds is more common, and using it to mean "scare" is even more common than that, so it's basically just a normal word

[–] SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net 15 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Using it as a slur would make me think you're literally a boomer

I am old and I've heard it used as a slur in person, but I have seen it used innocently enough by most normal people that it's been like reclaimed.

[–] JohnBrownNote@hexbear.net 36 points 9 months ago

less reclaimed and more "the non-slur use is and maybe always has been primary"

[–] pooh@hexbear.net 14 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I am fairly old but I've never heard it used anywhere outside of Back to the Future. I'm also not from the south, though.

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[–] InevitableSwing@hexbear.net 13 points 9 months ago

The British tv series Spooks is called MI-5 in the US.

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[–] muddi@hexbear.net 35 points 9 months ago (5 children)

POC. Idk if this counts exactly since it started with bigotry then was reclaimed/euphemized

The part that bothers me is that it feels a little like I'm still being called a "colored person" just in a different phrasing, and later on, in abbreviation. I still call myself brown, white people as white, etc. without issue.

So I think it's more that brown people have always known ourselves to be brown, but not "colored" — that is a slur used by white people against us. Like in our native languages we have a concept of skin shade. But not "coloredness"

Also "POC" sounds a little weird to me, like how saying "people of brownness" or POB feels artificial and awkward.

Not really against "POC" though since people use it broadly already.

[–] Maoo@hexbear.net 21 points 9 months ago

irl I usually see POC or BIPOC used in three ways:

  • Someone is pissed and wants to weaponize their or someone else's identity and not think any deeper than "you just did a racism becauss that person you criticized? Yeah they're BIPOC". That someone is almost always a liberal and the person in question is usually being validly criticized.

  • HR types talking about their DEI program.

  • The nicest and most empathetic lefty on the planet is trying their very best to be inclusive while organizing.

I also try to just say brown or black etc it's just so much less awkward.

[–] blakeus12@hexbear.net 20 points 9 months ago

yeah, when POC started becoming more mainstream i did feel a little weird saying it.

[–] Antiwork@hexbear.net 15 points 9 months ago

I'm back to saying black and brown folx. If there's a group that refers to themselves as BIPoC I use that, but not really as a means to describe people. It's very vague as an acronym.

Speaking of, it's always been odd to me that race is a totally made up construct and yet black and brown are okay and yellow and red are racist.

[–] CarbonScored@hexbear.net 12 points 9 months ago

I appreciate it tried to come from a supportive place, but I feel like any term that groups an entire range of people as being a single label is going to be inherently problematic. As opposed to just using an adjective to describe a human, it turns people into something else. It's an important but subtle lingual distinction between describing one part of you, and ascribing your entire existence as beholden to that one part of you.

If I'm a person who likes beans, I'm still a human being with many other complex dimensions to learn about. If I'm a "Beanlover" then people suddenly assume they know everything about me, and I can be separately thought of and judged from the rest of the population.

I mean I am a bean lover, but that's beside the point. cool-bean

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[–] tactical_trans_karen@hexbear.net 31 points 9 months ago (1 children)

"Shoving down our throats" just makes me think about foie gras. 🤷‍♀️

[–] Dirt_Owl@hexbear.net 31 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)
[–] tactical_trans_karen@hexbear.net 12 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Just a PSA if anyone is curious to try it:

Like, I'll try anything once. I have a passion for culinary arts and food culture. But this was way over sold. I remember reading a description of it from Anthony Bordain where he basically said it would be his death row last meal. So my partner and I were out for a fine dining anniversary dinner at a celebrity chef's restaurant (it's hard to come by in the US, so I figure if I'm going to try it, do it right), and I ordered it. All that hype, all the abuse of the animals to produce it...

CW: gross animal productIt's like thick meaty snot.

The flavor was different from anything I've tried, but it was relatively bland. And that texture... Why would anyone want this?

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[–] Sinistar@hexbear.net 25 points 9 months ago

Surprised I haven't seen "Gamer" yet. There was a time when I'd call myself that, now I actively avoid the label at all costs and if someone asks what I do for fun I list every hobby I have except gaming unless they bring it up first.

[–] Graphite22@hexbear.net 25 points 9 months ago (1 children)

"Piece of cake!" "Wow this is a cake walk!" or just the term "Cake Walk".

[–] SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net 26 points 9 months ago

"Cake Walk".

TIL this has a racist af history, whew

[–] ReadFanon@hexbear.net 24 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Goober. Not even joking.

I really enjoy language. Doesn't matter which one, doesn't matter what aspect of it. I just thoroughly enjoy learning about language. So it's not uncommon for me to encounter a word and ponder its etymology or whether it's related to another word, that sort of thing, and I'll be preoccupied with figuring out this little linguistic riddle that I have happened to encounter somewhere in my life. And of course this is exactly happens when I encounter the word "goober" one time.

I mean, wtf kind of a word is goober anyway? Seems like there's nothing like it in English. So I look up the etymology of the word.

Turns out that goober likely comes from the central & south African word for peanut - nguba. So immediately "goober" is associated with slavery. Very cool. What a start!

The word nguba makes it over to the US and then it develops racist and classist undertones because "goober" begins to refer to people, specifically backwards, uncultured, and largely black people. It's the uncultured and uncivilised people who call peanuts nguba, thus they themselves become goobers.

For such a seemingly benign word that's about as mild an insult as you could imagine, it carries the weight of slavery, the white man's burden, and largely institutionalised classism on its shoulders.

[–] silent_water@hexbear.net 18 points 9 months ago

I think this one has gotten so far from its roots as to be unrecognizable - people call their own kids goober. language is wild

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[–] Antiwork@hexbear.net 23 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Just recently I learned square dancing has roots in slavery. Not that I ever really enjoyed square dancing,

[–] Smeagolicious@hexbear.net 22 points 9 months ago

Don't forget that square dancing had a major revival when Henry Ford started a campaign to promote it in order to counter the growing popularity of Jazz, which of course he saw as a Jewish plot to corrupt the youth with Black culture

[–] Acute_Engles@hexbear.net 15 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (4 children)

Ch*g when used to describe finishing a drink quickly

I'm not sure if it's a slur everywhere but here it's a slur for indigenous people

[–] blakeus12@hexbear.net 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

i didn't even know this was a slur! definitely not gonna use that again

[–] JohnBrownNote@hexbear.net 23 points 9 months ago (8 children)

that seems excessive unless your

here

is the same as his

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[–] ButtBidet@hexbear.net 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I remember 4 years ago when lefty sorta people would use "woke" unironically as a compliment.

[–] CTHlurker@hexbear.net 11 points 9 months ago

I do whenever my annoying coworker begins complaining about "the woke", just as my way of fucking with him.

[–] JohnBrownNote@hexbear.net 12 points 9 months ago

the potato variety, because i heard about the racist football team more often than i shopped for non-local potatoes

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