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It bothers me seeing weird used as a weapon
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this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2024
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This article shared by @TheRtRevKaiser@beehaw.org earlier today has a section where they explore this idea a little:
I guess I'm not getting what bothers you about it? I wrote most of a paragraph about how I view the word, but then I realized that we are basically on the same page. "Weird" means different things depending on who is saying it, and depending on who they are saying it to. Just like "queer" has taken on a new context, even though it was used as a slur for quite some time. You know that if a leftist calls you "weird", they mean it in an endearing way, while if they call a right winger "weird", they mean it in a derogatory way. I am gathering that you agree that this is how it works. So what am I missing?
I sometimes say to my best friend, among other generally inappropriate things, that something she does is gay, and she does the same to me. It is a private reclamation of the use of the word gay as a slur, but outside any context, to an outside observer, it’s just casual homophobia.
Let me go back to that child. I don’t think they will hear horrible people being called weird and see it as being bad weird. It’s just plain weird. If it’s not being different that’s the issue, but the specific bad behavior, why the focus is on weird? We know words help shape our perception, we fight for those changes. What bothers me is hearing the same harmful words I heard so many times towards me and around me being used by those who seemed to understand how they hurt. I guess it’s similar to the discussion of being okay to attack someone’s looks if they are on the other side.
My partner and I do the same. It's to the point where i don't even think of the original slur use anymore. This is pretty universal among all of the queer people I know IRL.
Because the specific bad behavior is childish and immature, but the weird people in question do not understand that their behavior is childish and immature. Weaponizing "weird", a word that is usually only weaponized by children, brings their immaturity into sharp focus, which pisses them off because they are trying so very hard to be viewed as tough and unstoppable. Most rational adults do not mind being called weird, which is why it works as a label. It makes conservatives mad, and if they try to go, "I'm not weird, you're weird!", most rational people won't really care, because weird isn't a bad thing to be. We've tried other words, but they generally don't work because they are either too academic to stick, or the Right simply "both-sides" it into obscurity.
You really should read that article I linked, it digs into this better than I can.
I read it. I was familiar with that form of activism, but I don't agree this is it. I saw all the examples presented as forms of reframing the situations to deflate their original meaning. The author says using weird is non violent, but it's an attack using a word. The advice is use it because it hurts, not because it makes their ideals less appealing.
edit: Anti-Authoritarian Clowns: A Revolutionary History