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

[Alucard135]

you misspelled tumblr 2.0

It needs a Calamity.

[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!

[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.

[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.

[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").

[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!

[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.

[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?

[Iromi]

I don't care for it either one bit either OP. But in the end I find its best to just remember..they're just words with no meaning behind it besides misery, the people saying them can't really do anything and probably won't. I usually get mad for a second..then block them and try to move on. It's just not worth the energy to me. Not to say the words aren't hurtful and don't bother me, they do..but in the end that is what those types want, they want us to be miserable like them and suffer..so I try not to. I gave in plenty of times..not anymore. Now I stand up for myself or ignore them and go and do something productive to piss them off.

There is a lot of horrible things I've come across in FFXIV, people making fun of disabled folks, calling people names, using lots of childish insults, etc. I even had someone attacking me on here and outside the game for "stealing" a character and calling me all kinds of names..it seems like some people who play this game get too involved and I find it best to just block and move on, and I know sometimes that's hard because words can be hurtful but it has been working well for me. I grew dragon scales for myself to deal with all the hate I get.