I don’t know exactly why its usage would come up more frequently again. But I feel bad because when I grew up, the word was used frequently, and I never made the connection to it being offensive.

I’m always terrified I’m going to say it or something else that could hurt someone or offend them. Like I wouldn’t want to make someone feel bad because I’m being foolish.

On the flip side, I’ve never been one to let words hold so much power over me. I feel like words and language are very flexible, and so words don’t bother me unless I know someone intentionally is trying to be rude towards me.

But again, that’s just me, and I know for others that’s not the case. So, I’m always trying to be mindful. I guess what I’m trying to say is that some people using it might not realise how it can make others feel. So try not to take it all to heart. Hopefully, it’s just a phase that will pass soon enough.

Edit: one thing I have noticed is as political tensions have risen over the past decade, I feel like I’ve seen way more discourse online in general. I suppose that could just be a coincidence. It could be just due to more people having access to the internet overall. One thing I found when I used reddit a lot, was that sometimes young people could be the rudest and most hurtful. I sometimes wonder if it’s just due to a developing brain and the emotional fluctuations people can get in their teens? I don’t know

I don’t see it. But then, I haven’t been on Reddit for almost a whole year now and by all accounts, it’s devolved into a right-leaning, bot-filled shitbox even more than it was when I left. The WSB crowd never had a problem with that word before, and by now those are the only type of user truly left there that isn’t some kind of AI.

The US is fascist now. Lots of inappropriate stuff us making a comeback.

I’m not seeing it… but it might be due to Reddit having become the R word for me, never having been into T (𝕏), refusing to go on TT or D, and FB still having wide whack-a-mole word filters (main issue being flerfers, and “praise God for the AI stairs” kind). Haven’t seen it on the fediverse yet, but that might be due to curation.

You’re not imagining it.

I’ve seen it (and many other ableist slurs) used far too often, especially for a site that is generally supposed to be more left leaning (which tbf isn’t saying much when it comes to combatting ableism because we seem to have very few true allies) but is also full of tech-bros, who love punching down at others based on perceived intelligence, and who also have quite a lot of crossover with 4chan type cesspits, so sadly it isn’t unexpected.

I call it out it when I see it, and generally block and report, but what I find most frustrating is that mods throughout lemmy/fediverse (again, even on the most supposedly left leaning instances like lemmy.ml) just ignore the reports and don’t remove the comments (I know people are busy, I don’t expect instant action, I give it a week or two in general before I check the modlog).
I’ve had to block several large communities, most that I’m actually interested in (mostly tech and science related, again, places where people love feeling superior based on perceived intelligence), because I get the message - making people like me feel safe and included isn’t a priority in those spaces, so I refuse to occupy them.

Whether the privileged group accept it or not, that is the result of using slurs - making already marginalised people feel unwelcome and excluded.

And when they tell me not to be so easily offended, I link this (or maybe this or this) with the full knowledge that they will probably never read it, but with the hope that someone else might, and that it might make them reconsider their use of certain words (though I don’t hold my breath in anticipation of society at large giving a shit).