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sandglass (![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} sandglass) wrote in ![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/community.gif){kind=small} unfunny_fandom, |
I can appreciate using one's personal experience to decide whether or not something seems reasonable. Personally, I'm not sure if words like stupid and idiot are as ableist as "crazy" and am quite ambivalent to whether or not I'd completely remove them from my vocabulary.
The biggest problem I have is when people wield their personal experience as contradicting all argument and evidence. Especially since personal experience is so often colored by unconscious bias (as we've seen amply shown, even members of minority groups who are active in reducing their bias still show the bias), the flaws of memory, or just plain not getting it. Especially when discussing language, which is a normative force that people are unlikely to see directly affecting themselves and their situation, because it works at such a deep and unconscious level. (IE when we're discussing the rights of the mentally ill, just saying, "Mentally ill" is going to spark some association between that term, "crazy", and then everything crazy has been used to mean. And this might not be super valid to the individual, who is logical and reasonable, but it is when we're talking about a Democracy where everyone has a say and not everyone thinks their thoughts and feelings through before casting their influence.)
Basically, my rather harsh response was because the comment I was replying to came a little too close to, "My experience invalidates yours experience/logic!" especially since it came attached to no argument for why it is not offensive. Which is unfair, for sure, but at the same time, with the ableism, apathy, and privilege present elsewhere here, it is better for everyone to fully explain themselves.
The biggest problem I have is when people wield their personal experience as contradicting all argument and evidence. Especially since personal experience is so often colored by unconscious bias (as we've seen amply shown, even members of minority groups who are active in reducing their bias still show the bias), the flaws of memory, or just plain not getting it. Especially when discussing language, which is a normative force that people are unlikely to see directly affecting themselves and their situation, because it works at such a deep and unconscious level. (IE when we're discussing the rights of the mentally ill, just saying, "Mentally ill" is going to spark some association between that term, "crazy", and then everything crazy has been used to mean. And this might not be super valid to the individual, who is logical and reasonable, but it is when we're talking about a Democracy where everyone has a say and not everyone thinks their thoughts and feelings through before casting their influence.)
Basically, my rather harsh response was because the comment I was replying to came a little too close to, "My experience invalidates yours experience/logic!" especially since it came attached to no argument for why it is not offensive. Which is unfair, for sure, but at the same time, with the ableism, apathy, and privilege present elsewhere here, it is better for everyone to fully explain themselves.
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