"Libtards" & Other Slurs

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“Libtards” & Other Slurs

(h/t) to Vicious Babushka, Who Will One Day Make an Apple Pie for Me

By chadu

Opinion • 10/12/13 5:42:52 am • Views: 2,072

Additions in italics.

I’m anthropologically/linguistically interested in the word “libtards.”

Especially as we Lizardim have tried to remove the -tard suffix from this site, as well as the use of the word “retard” as a slur and an unnecessarily unkind phrase.

So, why do these RWNJs love using it?

Hurm.

I’ve also been thinking about the various names we call each other, or use to describe things.

Libtards
Teahadists
Obummercare
Socialist/Communist/Fascist (with no knowledge that all those things are different)
Right Wing Nutjobs (RWNJ) aka Wingnuts
Left Wing Nutjobs (rarely LWNJ) aka Moonbats
Barrycades
Saint John of Orange
Princess Dumbass of the Northwoods aka Caribou Barbie
Et cetera.

What’s up with name-calling?

Any ideas?

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8 comments

chadu Sat, Oct 12, 2013 5:49:33am

Just been seeing a lot of “libtard” being thrown around recently.

No Country For Old Haters Sat, Oct 12, 2013 6:21:02am

I don’t use “wingnut” as name-calling, but as a descriptor to differentiate right-wing nutjobs from conservatives as a courtesy to the few remaining sane conservatives.

When you’re talking about dangerous, often heavily-armed people who are completely disconnected from reality, it doesn’t get much kinder than “nut.”

Of course the wingnuts would claim that Liberals are actually retarded, so that their childish name-calling makes sense too, but it’s pretty clear that it’s actually the wingnuts that suffer from cognitive deficits.

A big difference, demonstrating a lack of symmetry in the situation is the fact that liberals can point to the constant very public stream of insanity from the right, and the right-wingers only derp out whatever wingnut media told them that liberals are like, rather than anything from non-imaginary liberals.

elizajane Sat, Oct 12, 2013 10:03:55am

Twitter and internet comment threads bring out the most juvenile instincts in everybody. There is actually a long tradition of name-calling in politics, but it is exacerbated by the kind of applause that “clever” insulting names seem to draw in these kinds of forums.
I make it a rule never to upding a comment on any site that includes a childish nasty name, even the really ordinary ones like “the Democrat party” or “Barry Soetoro.” Obama’s name seems to provoke the most egregious inventions of insults but the left does it too — Repukes, Rethuglicans, etc. etc. It’s infantile.

(Of course I love all Lizards, even the ones who use words like “Repukes!” Sometimes even the politest among us are sorely tried….)

wrenchwench Sat, Oct 12, 2013 4:05:27pm

‘What’s up with name calling?’ I think it’s frustration with people one disagrees with, combined with a desire to be clever.

Some name calling is too nasty for public use, some is more clever than hurtful, and most is in between. I like that the too-mean and too-nasty stuff is called out here. I also like that calls for violence are discouraged and sometimes deleted.

One kind of insult that I don’t like is well tolerated even here. The ‘fuck him/you/them with…’ some painful and corroded implement, often sideways or whatever. It’s basically a call for rape, since it would obviously not be a consensual act. But if the word ‘rape’ was used in in that context it would certainly be deleted.

To each one’s own, but it’s fun to watch a community develop its own standards.

Good topic for a Page, thanks for posting it.

Skip Intro Sat, Oct 12, 2013 4:25:13pm

Just a minor update.

Princess Dumbass of the Northwoods has been renamed the Wasilla Warblegarbler.

Romantic Heretic Sat, Oct 12, 2013 5:25:34pm

re: #2 No Country For Old Haters

I don’t use “wingnut” as name-calling, but as a descriptor to differentiate right-wing nutjobs from conservatives as a courtesy to the few remaining sane conservatives.

This. I use the term ‘teahadis’ because it is a quite precise description, in my opinion, of the mindset of those people of the extreme authoritarian end of the U.S. political spectrum. Like the jihadists they are on a holy mission to remake the world according to Scripture, as interpreted by self proclaimed prophets and holy men.

The teahadis regard it as an insult because they regard themselves as nothing like those people.