About a week ago, I was confronted by the idea that I can't
use certain words used historically to disparage the mentally ill, which struck
me as wrong. I prescribe to the idea that words are just words. Context is
everything. I'm also of the belief that people who have weak positions often
take words out of context in order to either improve their own perceived moral
high ground or because they truly think that a word can actually cause harm.
I'm here to refute that idea. Mind you, I am not here to say that everyone
needs to feel the way I feel. I'm only here to state my opinion because not
only did a social justice warrior type chastise me for something that was
completely innocuous, but I also felt like someone should stop the insanity
when it comes to what language adults can use in conversation. Yes, I said
insanity.
I was discussing the use of psychiatric medication with a
conspiracy theorist when I said, "Where do you wackos get these
ideas?" or something along those lines. It wasn't long before social
justice warrior popped in to inform me that "I am better than that,"
insinuating that I was stooping to an unspeakable level by using the term
wacko. Firstly, I wasn't using the word to imply that the conspiracy theorist
was mentally ill. I was using it to say she was being wacko. People use this
term all the time to express that something is odd, unusual, extreme, etc.
Moreover, I was speaking to a woman who was essentially telling me to become a
vegetarian and that would cure my severe OCD. I think my language was mild, but
that's not point. Why did this person think it was okay to police my language?
Why did she feel it was a slight to the mental health community? It's something
I will never understand and I'll explain why.
When you don't look at the context of a conversation, a ton
of words can be misconstrued as being harmful to a certain group of people. For
example, if I call a movie lame, I could be accused of being ableist. The
problem with that is I certainly didn't mean that the movie was disabled. That
would be absurd. I meant it was boring, tired or something along those lines.
It's a little "wacky" to take offense to that. Using an example that
is a littl closer to the point, what if I build a slip 'n slide in my house and
slide around on it, inviting my sister to come over to play. When she comes
over and laughingly says, "You're crazy," should I take offense? I've
been in a mental hospital. I have a long-standing mental disorder. Should I be
p*ssed at my sister? Of course not! She didn't mean to disparage the mentally
ill or even me. She's using widely accepted vernacular.
The same principle of context can be applied to region. In
some places, a pack of f*gs is a pack of cigarettes, a f*ggot a meal. Where I
live and in my opinion, it's a horribly mean thing to say to a homosexual.
However, if someone from the UK said they smoked or ate one of these things, I
would certainly take context into consideration. This leads me to my next
point.
There are certainly cases where it is not okay to say things
that are okay in other contexts. For example, someone saying "I'm so
OCD" because they have a neat car is annoying, but it's not hurting anyone
directly and usually isn't meant to be hurtful. However, a boyfriend calling
his girlfriend bi-polar in order to gaslight her into feeling like she's
mentally ill is not harmless. That is not okay. Criticizing someone's ideas is
okay, else we'd all have to politely deal with climate change, Holocaust and
AIDS denialism. Telling a person who is hallucinating that they are crazy is
not. Will I tell people not to say these things? Of course not. I'm not the
word police. I will let them deal with the consequences of being a mean person
themselves. I will lend comfort to people who have been hurt and need help. I
will spread awareness of the issue. I will not tell people how to speak or
think. That can't lead anywhere good.
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