Even so devoted a bootlicker as Senator Lindsey Graham declared the debate a “disaster” for the ex-president.

Donald Trump is so feral and narcissistic, so unrestrained and so outside the norm of American politics, that he’s difficult to debate. It’s disorienting. Very few people have been able to stand up to him without being pulled into the muck. In the past, even when he lost debates on points, he dominated his opponents.

But on a Tuesday night in Philadelphia, Kamala Harris cracked the code.

    • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      So wait is it okay to use the black slur to a white person, or the gay one to a straight man? Say what you will about using this particular word at all, but that’s a weird distinction.

      • lurch (he/him)@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        no, for those it depends on who’s saying them too. those are special. this one was more like “lame”, which can be cruel if you’re calling it someone who is disabled, but is an okayish mean thing to call someone who is not. however, when i wrote that, i was angry and wanted to be mean. so i’m not mad at all it got removed now that i’m no longer angry.

        • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          The issue is, you’re using a disability as a weapon. You’re saying “it’s bad to be retarded. You’re retarded. Therefore you’re bad.” The very act of using that term as an insult necessarily insults all people who are themselves medically retarded. In short, if being retarded wasn’t a bad thing, why would you use it as an insult?

          • lurch (he/him)@sh.itjust.works
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            2 months ago

            One can certainly see it that way, but what I meant was: “There are people who think a bit slower and then there is what this guy just did. Only the latter action is retarded.”

            • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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              2 months ago

              I can see that as a legitimate intent. Unfortunately, intent is often hard to convey, without like, what, 4 posts worth of comments on a social media thread? I don’t really care about the word myself. I just wanted to highlight how, even without malicious intent, you can end up hurting someone you don’t want to.

          • RavenFellBlade@startrek.website
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            2 months ago

            I can tell you from experience that I’d rather spend my time in the company of special needs people than Conservatives. Most of the special needs people I’ve worked with are some of the kindest and most compassionate people I know, while Conservatives seem to have built their entire ideology around having the compassion and empathy of a sociopath.