PSA against the use of the r-word

[makemegood]

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"Not Acceptable" is a powerful and compelling 30 second television PSA which gives voice to a variety of diverse communities each of whom expresses that it is not acceptable to call them by what were once common words, but are now recognized as offensive slurs. It culminates in actress and self-advocate Lauren Potter from "Glee" stating that it is

Comments

[tiddlywinks103]

Awesome.

I hardly ever slip up with this, and it sucks every time I do. I think this ad is great for putting the word in perspective in terms of offense.

[hinoema]

Ironically enough, one word I can't stand using or seeing used is 'sucks'.

[odannygirl7]

And I've started replacing everything with 'sucks'. We need better words.

[star_maple]

I had Mormon friends in high school who weren't supposed to say "sucks." One of the more ingenious and nerdy ones replaced it with "siphons." :D

[astridmyrna]

Hmmm..... I give this PSA a passing grade, but I wish they went for a shorter, more intense "I am not a..." instead of "It is not acceptable to call me a..."

[sihaya09]

Good PSA. The hardest thing for me language-wise has been eliminating this word. And it's just because I grew up with it and it was common and it was years and years before I had a lightbulb moment how shitty it was to say. By that time, it was ingrained. This is a good reminder.

[victorialupin]

Yeah, these reminders are hugely important since these sorts of words become ingrained, almost to the point where we sometimes don't even remember the original connotations of the word.

I don't think I've ever used the r-word regularly, but not using the word "lame" has taken me a long while to adjust to, especially since I still have yet to see anybody IRL point out the problematic nature of the word (in fact, I'm pretty sure that if it weren't for LJ I wouldn't even know that it's an ablist term). These sorts of reminders need to be way more common.

[sihaya09]

Oh, MAN. "Lame" is one I really struggle with, too. My husband comes from a community (surfers/snowboarders) where it gets said ALL THE TIME, and we've been trying to be mindful of the ablist roots. Words change over time, and hardly anyone actually uses that word in its original context these days outside of veterinarians, and yet it's still squicky. If it would hurt anyone's feelings, I tend to err on the side of not saying it, but like you said. Super hard.

[anjak_j]

In an attempt to explain why it's problematic...

The original meaning for 'lame', from Old English 'lama' (to break, fragile), was, to steal from an online dictionary:1. (Medicine / Pathology) Disabled so that movement, especially walking, is difficult or impossible: Lame from the accident, he walked with a cane. A lame wing kept the bird from flying.

2. Marked by pain or rigidness: a lame back
In fact, 'lame' has been an accepted medical term to describe such disability, though it is not used much now. (It was also later used as a term for disability generally, and the term 'lame brained' was used for intellectual/mental disabilities.)

The remaining definitions of 'lame' are where it gets problematic:(slang) unconvincing or unbelievable: He had a really lame excuse for missing the birthday party.

(slang) failing to be cool, funny, interesting or relevant: He kept telling these extremely lame jokes all night.
because, as per Wiktionary's usage notes, 'referring to a person without a disability as "lame" is offensive to many as it

[thedorkygirl]

<3 your dad!

[saintly_heretic]

love it