This is a screenshot giving personal information about that sexist rat bastard Nicholas Fuentes. Specifically: Full name: Nicholas J Fuentes Current home address: 1826 Home Avenue Berwyn, IL 60402 Telephone number: (708) 352-7859
Report all you want. This is not getting taken down. Fuck nazis.
I can think of a few that might work, but they aren’t common or guaranteed inoffensive. One that does and also describes his role is “tool”. On the other hand, is it really necessary to be that specific when “scum”, " Nazi", “fascist” all fit so well?
That’s fair for his case. But I do think that calling someone something generic like “scum” doesn’t drive home enough what they did wrong. Making fun of such people likely won’t change the person themselves, it’s more sending a message to onlookers that the behavior is undesirable and shouldn’t be emulated, so being more specific about what it is they did wrong is still important. I suppose we’ll probably just come up with new words as the need arises. I’ll have to keep up on the scene so I don’t fall behind, haha!
On further consideration, “shit-for-brains” might just be the phrase you’re looking for.
Is “shit for brains” as ableist as “moron” (with added vulgarity)?
(No doubt you’re the kind of person whose heart is always in the right place - love that.)
Signed,
Promise I’m not a nazi
I think it’s great that you’re considering this, and would like to add some food for thought.
Isn’t it strange how many words in English are insults derived from medical descriptions (and sometimes medical descriptions derived from insults)? Cretin, idiot, imbecile, dumb, moron, spastic… even words we don’t consider insults which do describe disabilities are used to describe bad things. Like being “blind/deaf to <something>” or making “short-sighted” decisions. Our language is a reflection of our culture, and the English-language culture really dislikes human variation.
Finding words with the same harshness can be difficult, and it’s also great to consider what makes a word harsh. Sending a message that behavior is not ok is important too, but I think we need to consider who we include in the collateral damage. Even if we don’t intend it, many of our insults are historically created with bound associations which we perpetuate with their use. For example, moron has close ties with the American Eugenics Movement. That’s something I think anyone with a shred of empathy would want to very much not associate with.
For practical advice on what to do, I’m a fan of using absurd metaphors. The Swedish have a good one for Fuentes. “Hjulet snurrar men hamstern är död” - the wheel is spinning but the hamster is dead.
That’s a great point. The use of a more indirect shunning methodology is interesting; I feel like it’s classic - what was used before the modern point-and-laugh method, but again I worry that it doesn’t drive home the message that the behavior is undesirable. It’s more something that 2 adults would agree is a scathing commentary on the bad behavior, but a child - who is more impressionable and therefore necessary to teach what not to do - wouldn’t understand is meant to be rejection of the behavior. But maybe that’s just another facet to the issue - maybe our society has become too reliant on fast, easy-to-understand quips, when we really need to subtly guide it back to the more thoughtful, introspective lexicon of yesteryear.