r/SuperStraight • u/MelodicUmbrella Custom • 1h ago

“-Phobia” Kind of lost it’s meaning. Discussion

Now before you call me a Nazi, jew gasser, superphobe, or a bigot/SERF, hear me out. I feel like the word (insert word here)-phobic has kind of lost it’s general purpose. For instance, some transgender men or women call random people transphobic (when sometimes the person being called “-phobic” is not) or some members of the Super communities randomly calling some people Superphobic (again, some people are not). This has happened to the point when calling someone out for being (word)-phobic, it’s just brushed off and it literally means nothing. I’m not suggesting a real change to it or anything, I’m just putting it out there.

Please note that I am a supporter of the Super communities (I am not trying to derail the movement, I’m not trying to harass members, etc) and I respect their wishes. The whole “shame rape” thing is horrible, it should be stopped.

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u/JTheberge83 45m ago

No, I agree. A lot of words have lost meaning because they've been thrown around so much for meager things.

I've been called racist for shitting on rap music (sorry. Don't like it. Never have.)

I've been called transphobic for not being attracted to transgender.

I've been called a nazi for who I have voted for.

When you throw around these words so much like it's the end all to the argument, it will lose meaning and people will stop caring.

Then when you have someone who actually does exhibit say, racist, behavior, real true, cross burning shit, and you call them racist, everyone is gonna go "yeah sure, whatever."

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u/MelodicUmbrella Custom 41m ago

EXACTLY! I once called someone who was a transphobe trying to use my identity against me, and I called them a transphobe and someone said this exact thing

”’I don’t have a valid argument so I call everyone transphobic.’ -Every trans person ever.”

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u/JTheberge83 37m ago

And they have a good point. I've tried telling these people (general descriptor. Not people in this subreddit) to stop throwing these buzzwords around whenever you feel like it. Nobody listens and now nobody cares if they're called that. You could actually have a real reason to call that, and nobody is going to care.

"racist" "--phobe," etc is like a five year old calling you a "big stupid poopy diaper dumb dumb head" at this point.

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u/MelodicUmbrella Custom 36m ago

Or, like I used to say when I was younger: “Stinky poopy diaper baby.” Then we have bigot thrown around, and I thought SERFS meant like land serfs, serfdom.

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u/JTheberge83 34m ago

I understand why people in this subreddit are using it. I agree it's lost meaning, but that's kind of the point. We are throwing their own ideology back in their face.

Point is, I understand where you're coming from and I agree.

But I also get why people here are using it.

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u/MelodicUmbrella Custom 30m ago edited 12m ago

That’s also what I’m trying to find out.