I really tried to ignore it and let it go as just another passing trend. It’s not my language, not my culture and not my battleground, but it’s hard. It hurt me seeing it slowly spreading and getting bigger. What made me decide to vent was reading someone talk about their struggles and seeing a familiar sentence that might be familiar to all: “I was a weird child”.

Being weird is not usually a problem, the issue usually is people being incapable to accept what they consider weird. Different is not wrong, queer is not wrong, expressing yourself and living the only way you know when it’s not hurting anyone around you is definitely not wrong, even if it doesn’t conform with society.

All these horrible people hate being called weird because it’s what they having been calling us the whole time, but in more specific ways. I feel using it as a slur now just reinforces the negative connotations and validate their view.

Update: semantic satiation to the rescue. Weird became a meme and a trend everyone wanted to take part and use regardless of it making sense.

  •  millie   ( @millie@beehaw.org ) English
    53•1 month ago

    Too much thinking.

    The right doesn’t care about accuracy, but they will pretend to to keep us busy. To counteract it, we can’t spend our time engaged in good faith arguments of carefully considered wording. We need to beat them on that flippant energy that shows we won’t take their bait and we know we’re right, so we don’t have to prove it.

    Weird is perfect for that. They don’t want to be weird.

    Now when they turn it around and try to call us weird? Then is the time to say ‘hey, that’s cool! I’m happy to be weird!’ and literally not worry about the contradiction at all.

    They picked an arena where they can’t beat us. Let’s meet them there.

    •  ninjaphysics   ( @ninjaphysics@beehaw.org ) English
      27•1 month ago

      This, 100%. Did I have a hard time being called a weird kid growing up? Absolutely. I feel how this might make someone very uncomfortable. I embrace being called weird now after much struggle, and use it as a badge of honor. And currently, that exact flippant energy being used at people who can only parrot hateful things? That’s my bread and butter now, baby.