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Shaunodon on 24 June 2018
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Super_Boom said:
CGI-Quality said: 


So, here's what I'll do. From this post on, I want genuine responses to this. How do you feel about a Global (Sitewide) restriction on words like these? This is simply to know where many of you stand.

I'm not a fan of blocking words outright, but I can't think of a single time where I would condone using it in a negative context. I mean come on...surely the English language is diverse enough that we don't need to be double-dipping on mental conditions to insult people. Outside of its intended use, I've only seen "autistic" used in the same context as "retarded"...and I really don't see why anyone would want to reserve that right. Freedom of speech shouldn't imply freedom to be an asshole, and surely a little empathy isn't so hard to grasp.

Overall, I'd say context is key, like usual, but I just can't imagine someone calling another user or individual "autistic" negatively and not supporting moderation on it.

It's not about negatively calling someone else autistic. It's about people using the word autistic as part of a joke, but they're not intentionally trying to insult anyone.

As the OP says, people should have the general courtesy not to use it if others are bothered that much, but you can't ban people for a word if they're not being intolerable or abusive.
People have different views on what's appropriate or how sensitive they should have to be, but if they're not being malicious I don't see why you can't just ignore them.

Hanlon's razor: "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."

A good read: https://medium.com/personal-growth/hanlons-razor-how-to-avoid-common-missteps-in-judgment-c83afc4e2168

" Hanlon’s Razor is an effective check on a tendency that we humans have: to quickly judge that something bad that happens to us is the result of an intentional evil action. This kind of thinking is mistaken for 2 reasons:

  1. Intentionality of the robust kind we assume is rare.
  2. Evil intentionality is even rarer. "

In other words, people who use memes like "autistic screeching" are just having stupid fun. The chance of them actually thinking ill of autistic people is pretty low.