Using autism and cancer in comments and as a derogatory term...

[AnnaRosa]

Once again, the term 'cancer' or 'cancerous' has been used in this way, as a metaphor for really bad, destructive, insidious and malignant things, for a very long time. It is not a new, internet based phenomenon, there is nothing at all offensive about it being used in this way, and there is absolutely no way its use will ever translate into violence against cancer sufferers.
Please stop conflating it with the use of autism in this way, you're only showing how naive you are.

It is ok joke all you want use all the metaphor you want not giving my two cents about it is the virtual world after all you can make as many jokes you want don't use a filter even if it makes you more comfortable.

Use your monitor screen protector to express your right of freedom of speech after all we all have that right to express ourselves.

[Alleo]

I understand you OP. I know of that macro because someone else on my friend list saw it once in a dungeon and posted it in our private chat. (He has changed the words and is using it as something else now) I am one with a lot of dark humor but there are things that really annoy me, using macros like that is one of them. First the macro itself is rude and then I just dont like using a sickness like that.

I also say to people that I know and that use handicapped as a curse word that they should stop that since I have someone in my family that is handicapped and I hate that people use this term to talk others down..of course I might be a bit sensitive about this but imo it just gives the word a much more negative meaning if they are used like that. (Just like the famous "this is so gay" for something strange/bad)

Edit: Reading through this thread I just shake my heads at quite some comments. Disagree or agree with it but lets not fall to attacks..also why not simply ignore a thread? It would not be so many pages without all the posts that complain about such threads.

[Lucinda]

I feel that using these words aren't always a wise choice. There are better words that can be used. I personally do not use any forms of the word autism, as it personally doesn't make me feel comfortable. However, I have used the word cancer before. As it happens - I'm 18, and my father passed away from stage 4 lymphoma in March. Of course, I hate the word cancer. It sometimes makes me want to curl into a little ball and cry, but I do understand context. When I see the word cancer being used, I would not take offence to it. However, I'd only be upset if they were making jokes about any family members dying of cancer. Only assholes do that, though.

I think the most important thing here is recognising that not everyone means to be offensive when they say certain words, and it can be a slippery slope when we start policing what people can say. However, I do think there's much more appropriate words that can be said!

[JowyAtreides]

It's impossible to police speech in a global game as different countries have different laws when it comes to what is considered hate speech.
In some countries, disability is considered a protected attribute therefore any derogatory comments around autism are actionable in the eyes of the law. In other countries it is not.

I empathise with the OP on this, however the best way to deal with things is to go to the root source and simply ask they don't use that meme again and explain why that particular thing bothers you. That way you deal with the situation, hopefully educate someone about tolerance and don't get called a snowflake on a public forum (wrongly in my opinion but hey ho, "it is the Internet").

[ScarboroughFairy]

I feel that using these words aren't always a wise choice. There are better words that can be used. I personally do not use any forms of the word autism, as it personally doesn't make me feel comfortable. However, I have used the word cancer before. As it happens - I'm 18, and my father passed away from stage 4 lymphoma in March. Of course, I hate the word cancer. It sometimes makes me want to curl into a little ball and cry, but I do understand context. When I see the word cancer being used, I would not take offence to it. However, I'd only be upset if they were making jokes about any family members dying of cancer. Only assholes do that, though.

I think the most important thing here is recognising that not everyone means to be offensive when they say certain words, and it can be a slippery slope when we start policing what people can say. However, I do think there's much more appropriate words that can be said!

Didn't want to reply with anything except to say that I'm terribly sorry for your loss and even as a stranger on the Internet, you have my condolences.

[ScarboroughFairy]

Right now they feel comfortable using jokes to dismiss the real importance of both conditions, what if later escalates to some sort of violence or any other criminal activity against persons with autism and cancer?
Imagine you being treated at the HP and one of those enter and start to harass you in the HP or any other public place just because you are going into treatment for any of the conditions or both.

That's what they did in WW2 they did dismiss the importance of such conditions to detach themselves from it and be able to study using humans as test subjects without any ethic or morals.

We approached Godwin's Law pages ago, but it was nice to see it get in a victory lap. No, really.

[Fynlar]

I just chalk this up to the same sort of thing as high schoolers using terms like "gay" or the "R word" to describe things they don't like. The majority of them don't actually have anything against gay people or autistics or whatever. The majority of them are just parroting what basically amounts to slang that they hear from their peers.

I feel it's best to save your scorn for the people that actually do mean you injustice and/or harm, otherwise you will be fighting a *lot* of relatively pointless battles.

[Lucinda]

Didn't want to reply with anything except to say that I'm terribly sorry for your loss and even as a stranger on the Internet, you have my condolences.

Thank you, I really appreciate it. Haha, I'm crying now. He ended up dying 6 days before his birthday. Screw cancer. Every part of me wishes I could hug him one last time... anyway. To be on topic, that sort of cancer does suck! But it is all about context. Plus we can't expect people on the internet to know about personal situations either. Even though I understand it's contextual, friends around me are really careful because they don't want me to cry and mess my day up.

Ah well. Sorry, this response seems all over the place.

[Gula]

I just chalk this up to the same sort of thing as high schoolers using terms like "gay" or the "R word" to describe things they don't like. The majority of them don't actually have anything against gay people or autistics or whatever. The majority of them are just parroting what basically amounts to slang that they hear from their peers.

I feel it's best to save your scorn for the people that actually do mean you injustice and/or harm, otherwise you will be fighting a *lot* of relatively pointless battles.

Can the thread end here please?

[AnnaRosa]

I empathise with the OP on this, however the best way to deal with things is to go to the root source and simply ask they don't use that meme again and explain why that particular thing bothers you. That way you deal with the situation, hopefully educate someone about tolerance and don't get called a snowflake on a public forum (wrongly in my opinion but hey ho, "it is the Internet").

That would be the wisest solution but for the posts you can read there is not much interest on their part to change their word choices, so for you and someone else who would try to help would be a waste of time and energy.
They prefer to win the reasoning and continue stuck to the same old slurs and jokes about illness and conditions so not much we can do about it on the virtual world.

We approached Godwin's Law pages ago, but it was nice to see it get in a victory lap. No, really.

Whatever floats your boat be happy and have fun!