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In reply to the discussion: Ironically, once you decide a person or group is "stupid," you are relieved from thinking about them [View all]JCanete
(5,272 posts)I don't think that your parsing is at all genuine. The word itself conflates those meanings. No poster I've seen except for the last two in response to my own, is trying to make a distinction about whether they mean intelligence or willfully dumb choices.
Besides, where does decision-making behavior derive from. If its cultural and learned, where is the win in calling people names? If it's intrinsic, again where is the win in doing this? Are you saying its something else entirely?
I don't know why you're telling me those things aren't in the same universe. I said that. I didn't try to make them the same thing. It's still violence, no matter how trivial you see it. It's still violence, no matter how much worse and how badly some might need it as a small semblance of counter-balance to cope with the very frightening shit that some right-wingers are willing to engage in, or even the mainstream common-place micro-aggressions towards women and people of color for that matter.
Ultimately, when it is shouted into the world, it is still ineffective and damaging to change. Hell, even if your diagnosis were correct, it would be a reckless and counter-productive strategy.
There are a lot of levels of dehumanization, but if you are lumping people wholesale into a group and calling them stupid, that is an example.