this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2026
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You don't have to be mentally ill to be these things. Considering the type of people that rule our world

(epstein ) it seems that the most well adjusted people in our society are not only more than capable of being this, it seems like a requirement.

So I am no longer comfortable using the word psychopath (or any other "dark triad" nonsense) to describe these types of people. These people aren't struggling to function with a mental illness, they're of the exact mindset that thrives in our backwards society.

However I'm struggling to think of a suitable replacement word that carries with it the same "This is serial killer coded shit" vibe that calling someone a psychopath carries (and associating such a thing with psychopaths is ableist so I don't want to use the word in that way anymore)

Calling them ghouls, fascists or nazis doesn't carry the same weight. What kind of word bests describes the casual, dangerous heartlessness of people without throwing the mentally ill under the bus?

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[–] d_cagno@hexbear.net 10 points 11 hours ago (3 children)

Related, but I'd also like a punchy non-ableist word for someone who is just monumentally and deliberately ignorant. Like, whatever the fuck Matt Yglesias is.

[–] Enjoyer_of_Games@hexbear.net 3 points 7 hours ago (1 children)
[–] WhatDoYouMeanPodcast@hexbear.net 3 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (2 children)

Garlic hater

Cartoon villain

Satanmaxxer

Hell builder

One way brain

Paid floating head

Underpaid floating head

Unpaid floating head

[–] decaptcha@hexbear.net 1 points 3 hours ago

One Way Brain rocks, thanks for that one

[–] Enjoyer_of_Games@hexbear.net 1 points 6 hours ago

BioLLM

Onionvore

Fukuyama acoylyte

[–] Ildsaye@hexbear.net 7 points 11 hours ago

Perhaps you are looking for 'dense motherfucker'

[–] Erika3sis@hexbear.net 3 points 11 hours ago

The Hiberno-English word "gobshite" (which I like to americanize as "gubshit") is good enough for most cases, I reckon. "Nezzie" is the idiosyncratic one I like to use in my inner monolog, but it's pretty opaque, coming from Russian "ne znáyu" ("I don't know").

If I were to make up some less opaque but still idiosyncratic words on the spot, then I guess "plug-ear" would work — we love a good "cutthroat compound", do we not? Or if we want to get more vulgar than that, then "earfuck" or "earfucker" would take the finger as a phallic symbol and crudely liken these people constantly going not-listening to them fucking their own ears.