#queer is a slur it literally means strange and lgbt people arent strange

[diabetesnscoliosis]

I had thought that the rhetoric of "I'm a part of x group and don't think y is xphobic" would eventually come crashing, but I didn't anticipate it would take oct 7 to do that. Not that it doesn't make retrospective sense.

from my perspective over the years, there were all sorts of conversations around this: is criticism of Islam racist? Is Queer a slur? The concept of "identifying" as disabled, which then expanded to various sexualities, gender, sex and incredibly rarely... race.

My experience looking at these circles showed me that the answers to these questions and concepts lied in who thought it was OK, rather than critical analysis of the questions and concepts itself. It was the priority of token representation than dealing with the issue itself; the bigotry in question.

This would culminate in the US 2016 election, with many justifications for voting in one of the most dangerous and impactful presidents in the world boiling down to "I'm Mexican and I agree" or "I'm gay and I agree". No discussion of why agreeing with a politician that has tangible, negative impacts on the target demographic would render one individual protected from rhetoric or policy.

What am I seeing post October 7 is similar . "My statement isn't anti semitic, x jewish person agrees with me!" This statement doesn't address why the statement isn't antisemitic, but shuts down criticism by tokenising the Jewish person and dehumanises them; they are a prop to use to "prove" the point of someone else and no more.

The use of tokens to prove arguments instead of facts and reasoning is probably the byproduct of the US "culture wars" ideology that's been forcibly exported to every anglicised state. That doesn't mean i don't expect better from leftists, who should be the group to use facts and reasoning to argue against individualist right wing policies. It is such a shame to see my political ideology become downtrodden by intellectual laziness.

If you cannot use reasoning to prove your point, who are you acting for?

That's a rhetorical question. If you cannot use reasoning, you use ideology, and ideology only serves to divide the "believers" and "unbelievers"; it's about power.

Bigotry is irrational and can always be argued against.