Thad wrote:Also, words that are used in a certain way on leftist Twitter are not necessarily used the same way among the general public.
Well, I genuinely can't speak to "leftist Twitter", but I've seen this usage from left-leaning people across a wide variety of common/popular internet sites. You've definitely noted the steady increase in strong left-wing tendencies from younger generations, so if you were a betting man where would you say the language is going to end up?
I suppose shit's in flux. Maybe the term 'liberal' will be reclaimed. Maybe it won't.
Maybe it'll continue on as it is now, being used in different ways by different tribes, but IMO that potential for confusion makes it rather useless in more generalized conversations, even if you can
mostly tell by context which meaning is intended.
But more importantly - and as I already said - there's a fair few members
right here on the forums who've used 'liberal' in a negative sense, and quite a few more who've expressed their disgust with the conventional American version of Liberalism.
I'll agree that Twitter as a format fucking blows, though.
No disagreement there. At least conversations on it don't read bottom-to-top anymore, fucking hell that was absurd.
And question the wisdom in amplifying bad takes from nobodies.
Nazis saying the quiet parts out loud seems fair game to me (if posted as a screenshot so as not to give anyone any clicks), but let's leave it at that.