Journal of Other Forum Analysis

[Hap Shaughnessy]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/time-donald-trump-told-his-nephew-fred-that-freds-disabled-son-should-just-die.935856/page-2?post=126268944#post-126268944

After months of people here and elsewhere taking ableist jabs at both Biden and Trump, the sudden caring about it when it comes from Trump feels a little hollow.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/time-donald-trump-told-his-nephew-fred-that-freds-disabled-son-should-just-die.935856/page-3?post=126269439#post-126269439

There's a bit of a difference between pointing out the cognitive decline of two old men and saying that disabled people should just die because they're a waste of resources. Huge difference. Especially when that cognitive decline is detrimental to the running of a nuclear super power.

Well first, I'm not talking about cognitive decline though while we're on that it's offensive to diagnose someone when you don't have the credentials to do it, and no doctor worth their salt would ever diagnose someone without examining him. But let's move on. In this very thread you have a "shits himself" post about Trump. It's always funny to make fun of the differently abled and give no thought to the everyday struggles of diabled members that have to see those struggles used for quick jabs. That's just one kind of joke that people have been using in every thread based on Trump or Biden. Instead of attacking their policies, people attack their stutters or their incontinence. It's ridiculous.



But by all means, let's have people dogpile the disabled guy for pointing out months of insults and jokes that no able bodied person gives a second thought to.

https://www.resetera.com/threads/time-donald-trump-told-his-nephew-fred-that-freds-disabled-son-should-just-die.935856/page-3?post=126271827#post-126271827

That post was clearly pointing out Trump's hypocrisy when it comes to his ableism...

And using ableism to do it. Got em!

https://www.resetera.com/threads/time-donald-trump-told-his-nephew-fred-that-freds-disabled-son-should-just-die.935856/page-3?post=126279183#post-126279183

No one is diagnosing them with anything, people have noticed their obvious problems with maintaining focus and forming their thoughts. It was clear in their debate and has been a talking point for months. It's not ableist to question the capabilities of the person running the country (or the guy with ambitions of running it again). As public servants of the highest level they have certain standards attached to them. Similar concerns were expressed with Ronald Reagan when he was in a decline.

People disagreeing with a post you made isn't a dog pile. I was disagreeing with your post and had no idea you were disabled. Throwing out that shit at the end in an effort to guilt me is really just kind of shitty. My mother is disabled and I wouldn't target you, or any other disabled person, with anything regarding your disability. Your opinion is another matter. Questioning a possible cognitive decline is, again, different than someone mocking Biden's stutter or mocking a disability. Conflating the two is, I feel, disingenuous.

I'm sorry I hurt your feelings by complaining about the massive amount of ableism I've seen here and elsewhere over the years. It's not like I'm the only one who noticed. We've literally had threads about this.

When ResetEra first started it was billed as a safe space for everyone, but right from the start you could go anywhere, especially on gaming side and see ableist slurs and insults. When I and others complained we were told that that was how gamers talk and they didn't mean anything by it. Imagine people saying that to any other marginalized group. That they had to put up with it because that's just how people were. Eventually after constantly complaining it became a warning, and finally when I was a mod we got them to give a 3 day ban for it when any other kind of bigoted slur was punished with a month ban and a final warning. Years later, what are we up to? The most I've seen recently was a two week ban.

In the meantime I've had to sit through people going on and on with their ableism, largely unpunished when it went to people who "we" don't like. Whether it was Crenshaw's eye patch or Abbot and Cawthorne's wheelchair, the jokes and insults abounded. To say nothing of the Dementia Joe rhetoric that went unpunished for months in the 2020 election season and even in the former ResetEra staff discord I had people pushing the garbage arguments. I've had the current events channel there muted ever since. Trump is just the latest in a long line of our concerns being ignored.

The point in my saying that I'm disabled wasn't as a gotcha or a guilt trip, it was because when any other marginalized person on this site aside from the disabled voices their concerns about things that impact them, people at least claim to take it to heart. But when a disabled person tried to get people to take the concerns around ableism seriously, they're accused of grandstanding and pearl clutching.

Hit dog shits itself.