okay, so this is probably going to lose me followers but whatever. no one here seems to be saying anything even though there’s a lot of people going NUH UH all over livejournal, so here it is.
herp derp is ableist. it really is, okay. i literally flinch every time i see…
I had been wondering about this so I checked out Know Your Meme.
It seems as though the origination of “herp derp” (or more specifically, “derp”) was not about ableism (although it did come from a really awesome fat joke, apparently. cool.)
So, here’s my question: does “herp derp” become intrinsically ableist just because others have created ableist macros using the term? If I am, as is often done, using “herp derp” as a placeholder for words in a comic (see the example given at KYM), is that ableist?
I think the issue is that you have some people using “herp derp” in obviously ableist ways (I’m thinking of Carlos Mencia’s dur dur dur thing he did a lot, and “herp derp” being used as a corollary to that in macros about disabled people) and some people using it entirely differently.
Again and again, I think the issue is not simply banning people from saying words, but in educating people about their attitudes, where they come from, and why, when they use certain words in certain ways, they are contributing to oppressive systems.
(Source: learylooms, via pocketfullofpoesy-deactivated20)
