Latest / Stuff Mom Never Told You / Monday Mini: Problematic Insults
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha, and welcome to stuff
- 0:07Speaker 1: I've never told your protection of I heart radio. So
- 0:18Speaker 1: I'm going to be real honest with you listeners. And Samantha,
- 0:23Speaker 1: I have been putting this one off for a long time.
- 0:26Speaker 1: I've wanted to talk about it for a long time,
- 0:28Speaker 1: but I'm nervous to talk about it. I think we
- 0:31Speaker 1: should talk about it, though, because it's about problematic insults.
- 0:34Speaker 1: But one of the reasons I really don't want to
- 0:35Speaker 1: talk about it, but I feel like we've got to
- 0:37Speaker 1: talk about it is because Trump and I hate that
- 0:39Speaker 1: guy and I hate talking about him. And it's like
- 0:44Speaker 1: I lied awake at night thinking about this and just
- 0:46Speaker 1: thinking like, oh no, oh, I don't want to do it,
- 0:51Speaker 1: but we're gonna do it, okay. And I just want
- 0:53Speaker 1: to know, like if it's not obvious, please No, I'm
- 0:55Speaker 1: not ever defending him ever, never know. But I just
- 1:01Speaker 1: think that a lot of the insults I see used
- 1:03Speaker 1: against him, while maybe very very satisfying, are extremely problematic. Yeah,
- 1:09Speaker 1: so we're just gonna talk about that for a minute.
- 1:11Speaker 1: Also another note, I understand there's a history of racist, homophobic,
- 1:15Speaker 1: abilists and sex sistlers and insults that are horrifically problematic.
- 1:19Speaker 1: That's not what we're really talking about, UM, because I
- 1:22Speaker 1: feel like that stuff is people do it because they're terrible,
- 1:25Speaker 1: But it's more like we all a lot of us
- 1:27Speaker 1: are like, that's terrible, don't do it. I'm talking about
- 1:30Speaker 1: more of the mainstream popular stuff we see, like from comedians,
- 1:37Speaker 1: talked to hosts, like everybody, um about about this is
- 1:42Speaker 1: just the most high profile thing I could think of. Um.
- 1:48Speaker 1: I just wanted to talk about it because I think
- 1:51Speaker 1: a lot of us to hate this guy, and for
- 1:53Speaker 1: very good reason. But the way that people are using,
- 1:59Speaker 1: the insults they're using around him are damaging other people. Right,
- 2:03Speaker 1: there's a social responsibility as someone who can have commentary
- 2:08Speaker 1: about not liking or disliking any specific things, policies, politics,
- 2:14Speaker 1: all of that, attitudes actions that we really don't have
- 2:18Speaker 1: to do where we're damaging other people who also dislike
- 2:22Speaker 1: this person. Like that's a thing and we should be
- 2:25Speaker 1: very cognizant of that in general. Yeah. Yeah, And so
- 2:28Speaker 1: one of the big ones I've seen our physical insults UM,
- 2:33Speaker 1: in particular fat phobia. And again, I know it's it's
- 2:36Speaker 1: hard because it bothers him and you want to bother him.
- 2:40Speaker 1: But the messages that being fat or overweight is bad
- 2:44Speaker 1: and that's not a good message, and a lot of
- 2:46Speaker 1: people are taking that in and hearing people laugh about it,
- 2:50Speaker 1: hearing it used in this way where it's an insult
- 2:55Speaker 1: and picking that upright and seeing that, yeah, we're laughing
- 2:58Speaker 1: about it. So that's not good. This is so like,
- 3:06Speaker 1: because I agree it's not good, but I just hate
- 3:08Speaker 1: this guy so much. It's so like, oh, but it
- 3:10Speaker 1: shouldn't be like that shouldn't be an insult. And in general,
- 3:14Speaker 1: I get physical insults make me uncomfortable. Yeah, and we've
- 3:21Speaker 1: talked about I mean, it is definitely also a double
- 3:25Speaker 1: standard when because this gets used against women all the time,
- 3:30Speaker 1: physical insults all like, that's probably people's go to. I
- 3:35Speaker 1: just think because this is a public figure that people
- 3:37Speaker 1: hate so much, they're sort of forgetting that it doesn't
- 3:40Speaker 1: stop just because you hate that person. That's still harmful narrative. Yeah,
- 3:47Speaker 1: and you know, I think the problem with this is,
- 3:50Speaker 1: as you were saying, this is something that gets under
- 3:53Speaker 1: his skin. So therefore people really want to use a
- 3:56Speaker 1: personal blow because we know at least it's going to
- 3:58Speaker 1: bother him as well. As the fact that oftentimes your reaction,
- 4:03Speaker 1: especially because people like him with his UH tactics in general,
- 4:09Speaker 1: go for the low blow, and so we meet him
- 4:11Speaker 1: there as well. And I've talked about it before with
- 4:15Speaker 1: like TikTok stars who use this tactic too, and I'm like, yeah, finally,
- 4:19Speaker 1: for me, it's both of those things, like, finally you're
- 4:21Speaker 1: going after them for what they're doing. You're meeting them
- 4:25Speaker 1: to their standards. But it shouldn't have to be that way.
- 4:28Speaker 1: There's a lot of conversation back and forth because I
- 4:30Speaker 1: have an internal conflict with that as well, because I'm like,
- 4:33Speaker 1: I'm not skinny, and I've definitely been called chunky like
- 4:36Speaker 1: in many ways, and it hurts my feelings a whole lot,
- 4:39Speaker 1: like for the longest time, because I saw that narrative
- 4:41Speaker 1: as so like a negative that I it would hurt
- 4:44Speaker 1: my feelings. Even now, I'm very self conscious of it,
- 4:46Speaker 1: even though I've become more aware of myself and more
- 4:48Speaker 1: confident in myself, and I'm like, you know what, I
- 4:50Speaker 1: don't love this necessarily because I've been taught I shouldn't
- 4:53Speaker 1: love this. But at the same time, I have to
- 4:54Speaker 1: weigh that to the fact that I'm actually happy and healthy,
- 4:57Speaker 1: Like I've gone to the doctor and I'm still mine.
- 5:00Speaker 1: So I'm like, so what is this? But having to
- 5:03Speaker 1: change their mindset and altogether it is also this whole
- 5:06Speaker 1: conversation we're having and that this is not the row
- 5:09Speaker 1: we should be going. But it's easy when to take,
- 5:12Speaker 1: especially when they're the ones that seem to be doing
- 5:14Speaker 1: it first, and you really want to go after it,
- 5:16Speaker 1: you really do, and it's easy to do. But also
- 5:21Speaker 1: I think most people are smaller enough to see that
- 5:23Speaker 1: the truth in itself, it's sort of an insult, Like
- 5:26Speaker 1: there's factual things that we can insult, like not not
- 5:29Speaker 1: necessarily about body and image and of that, just like
- 5:31Speaker 1: the things that he has said, the things that he
- 5:33Speaker 1: is doing, the things that we are like what what
- 5:35Speaker 1: is it wrong with you? His own like past history. Yeah, definitely,
- 5:40Speaker 1: there's plenty two truths from there. Um. But I am
- 5:43Speaker 1: glad you brought that up because there has been a
- 5:46Speaker 1: reclaiming of of words like fats um and so I
- 5:51Speaker 1: think that's important to mention too. But it is I
- 5:56Speaker 1: feel like a lot of people using it are not
- 5:58Speaker 1: using it in that way. They're using it because they
- 6:01Speaker 1: think it is an insult, and it is bad, right,
- 6:03Speaker 1: It's definitely uses. Its weaponized for sure, and it's according
- 6:06Speaker 1: to who was coming from. Again, I don't think there's
- 6:10Speaker 1: a lot of people who are going to tell you
- 6:12Speaker 1: that they're fine with that word fat or overweight or
- 6:17Speaker 1: obese or any of those things. But in the end,
- 6:22Speaker 1: it's not really ours to claim when we're talking about
- 6:24Speaker 1: other people. That makes sense, Yes, yes, yes, absolutely, and
- 6:29Speaker 1: there are another double standard. I want to talk about this,
- 6:31Speaker 1: and this is actually what inspired this. I'm just gonna
- 6:33Speaker 1: show you how long I put off this episode when
- 6:36Speaker 1: we were talking about strategic incompetence, but even before that,
- 6:39Speaker 1: when we were talking about um kind of the stereotypical
- 6:43Speaker 1: sitcom hetero relationship of a fat man with a thin
- 6:46Speaker 1: woman and how that sends a message as well in
- 6:51Speaker 1: terms of like one of these is more acceptable less
- 6:55Speaker 1: sad um. So like, yeah, basically the message there is
- 7:02Speaker 1: a fat woman is sadder than a fat man, right,
- 7:06Speaker 1: and more acceptable. Fat man is more acceptable than fat woman.
- 7:09Speaker 1: So that's also something we have to think about when
- 7:11Speaker 1: we're using these and who it's impacting, these insults, who
- 7:15Speaker 1: it's impacting, and that makes me really angry, just to
- 7:17Speaker 1: type it and just say it UM. But that is
- 7:21Speaker 1: I mean, that's what we talked about. You never it's
- 7:23Speaker 1: almost always that dynamic. I mean, that's even taught in
- 7:28Speaker 1: specific cultures, Christian culture. I've talked about it before with
- 7:32Speaker 1: the famous author Elizabeth Elliott, who was a big Christian
- 7:35Speaker 1: author who was talking about purity essentially um and has
- 7:39Speaker 1: a like she has sold millions and millions of millions
- 7:42Speaker 1: of dollars worth of UH copies. I think she's gone now,
- 7:46Speaker 1: but that was one of our things, was like, if
- 7:48Speaker 1: you want to keep your man happy, you should be
- 7:50Speaker 1: thin um. And if you're not doing that, you are
- 7:52Speaker 1: not fulfilling your wifely duties. Like this level of standard
- 7:55Speaker 1: that really pushed into Christian women, that there was a
- 8:00Speaker 1: perfection level and your weight in your body and your
- 8:04Speaker 1: sexualfe all the things that are so pushed against us
- 8:07Speaker 1: to the detriment of women's self esteem and worth, Like
- 8:11Speaker 1: their worth is based on if they can please their husband,
- 8:14Speaker 1: and these are the things that pleases the husband. But
- 8:16Speaker 1: there's no narrative for the man except should be a leader,
- 8:20Speaker 1: which is a misogynistic ideal in any way. It brings
- 8:23Speaker 1: a lot of violence out but that's that conversation, is
- 8:27Speaker 1: that this level that is like ingrained into so many
- 8:30Speaker 1: women who really feel like this is their godly slash
- 8:34Speaker 1: just duty in general. Right. Yeah, that's something we've talked
- 8:37Speaker 1: about a lot about how religion, and particularly Christian religion
- 8:42Speaker 1: here and morality got all tied up with wait for women, um,
- 8:45Speaker 1: and we still see that um. Something else I wanted
- 8:49Speaker 1: to mention is able is um, which again, like I
- 8:53Speaker 1: never want to make it sound wise, we're talking about
- 8:56Speaker 1: this as a feminist podcast, we get a lot of
- 9:00Speaker 1: terrible insults and a lot of problem insults, Like that's
- 9:04Speaker 1: part of the problem is that like Trump is ablest.
- 9:08Speaker 1: He's shown it, said it, done it, and beyond and
- 9:14Speaker 1: beyond like terrible and he is a terrible person. But
- 9:22Speaker 1: I've seen people use ablest language to insult the right. Right,
- 9:27Speaker 1: is really insulting to those people who are in the
- 9:30Speaker 1: disabled community who have done so much good, uh and
- 9:34Speaker 1: have continued to do so good. And yeah, again it's
- 9:38Speaker 1: just that negative, really harmful, and we mean harmful as
- 9:42Speaker 1: in causing violence against these communities. We are being literal
- 9:45Speaker 1: when we say harmful, not just metaphorically. Oh it hard,
- 9:50Speaker 1: the feelings, no, it is getting key people killed. And
- 9:52Speaker 1: this ablest trope is absolutely it was as well as
- 9:56Speaker 1: everything else. But I feel like, yeah, it kind brought
- 10:00Speaker 1: on this whole like shining light because he was, for
- 10:04Speaker 1: better or for words, like very open about his able ism,
- 10:09Speaker 1: very open about his racism, very open about his classism
- 10:13Speaker 1: and sexism, like this is not hiding it one bit,
- 10:16Speaker 1: and it was. It brings harm, physical violent harm onto
- 10:22Speaker 1: these communities and we have to be aware of that.
- 10:24Speaker 1: And the able ism was one of the biggest up
- 10:26Speaker 1: there because he used it for all the things, Like
- 10:29Speaker 1: he used that language in so many ways. He used
- 10:31Speaker 1: that language to actually go after a disabled a journalist.
- 10:35Speaker 1: He uses a language in general when he just didn't
- 10:38Speaker 1: like someone caused his constituents that way, like talking about
- 10:41Speaker 1: their intelligence, and then he went after his own coworkers,
- 10:45Speaker 1: other politicians, those who are supposed to be on his side,
- 10:48Speaker 1: like he went after them and used absolute ablest language
- 10:51Speaker 1: when he could think of nothing else because if they
- 10:53Speaker 1: were known as sis hetero white man, he had nothing
- 10:57Speaker 1: else but to make up things and using ablest language,
- 11:00Speaker 1: right yeah, yeah, and and something else if you just
- 11:18Speaker 1: opened like more doors for me, that this is gosh um.
- 11:23Speaker 1: Because there's also I get uncomfortable when I see people
- 11:26Speaker 1: making fun of Malania's accents and in general, a lot
- 11:30Speaker 1: of women in Trump's orbit, who again I do not like.
- 11:34Speaker 1: I don't like what they've done. I get it, but
- 11:37Speaker 1: we're using stuff that's harmful to other people. So I've
- 11:39Speaker 1: seen a lot of like sexism about what I like
- 11:42Speaker 1: her past um, Stormy Daniels. There's a lot of sexism.
- 11:46Speaker 1: And this is coming from like people who are you know,
- 11:48Speaker 1: a liberal or democratic or they're making fun exactly exactly,
- 11:54Speaker 1: and so I just gosh, this is so hard to
- 11:57Speaker 1: talk about because I'm just like, I know it's because
- 12:01Speaker 1: they use this stuff and they use it against like
- 12:03Speaker 1: people like you and I. Right, but it's not right
- 12:06Speaker 1: for us to use it in response, even though they
- 12:09Speaker 1: deserve to be punished and they're not getting punished. They
- 12:11Speaker 1: deserved to be called out, and they get called out
- 12:13Speaker 1: and nothing like. Right. That's the thing is that we
- 12:16Speaker 1: don't want to continue to perpetuate the negativity they have
- 12:19Speaker 1: spurned upon us. And I say they, I mean those
- 12:22Speaker 1: who want to continue in this supremacy. Um, don't get
- 12:26Speaker 1: me wrong, Like, I absolutely hate my voice. So when
- 12:29Speaker 1: people criticize my voice, okay, but I also want to
- 12:32Speaker 1: be like, you know, this is the language thing, right.
- 12:34Speaker 1: You know, I spoke Korean until I was eight, learned
- 12:36Speaker 1: a completely different accent, and trying to like adapt is
- 12:39Speaker 1: a whole hard thing. Also, like, big ups to everybody
- 12:43Speaker 1: who was in this industry who are actual voice actors.
- 12:46Speaker 1: That takes talent and I'm not there yet. That's a
- 12:49Speaker 1: whole different conversation. But yeah, I'm not gonna tell you
- 12:52Speaker 1: you're being racist or that you're being uh prejudiced without
- 12:56Speaker 1: knowing that you're being prejudiced, because that seems like a stretch.
- 12:58Speaker 1: But you need to understand why my voice and my
- 13:01Speaker 1: speech sound like this. As the person on this end,
- 13:06Speaker 1: I hate it too. I hate my voice also, so
- 13:10Speaker 1: you know it only feeds into that. But yeah, absolutely
- 13:13Speaker 1: goes into that same narrative of I do not love
- 13:16Speaker 1: that Milannia is sitting here and elevating Trump as if
- 13:22Speaker 1: he is the savior of a country. But and yes,
- 13:27Speaker 1: there are many faults with that, But to attack her
- 13:31Speaker 1: if she was involved in sex work, that's not something
- 13:34Speaker 1: we need to do. Uh, to attack her because she
- 13:36Speaker 1: has an accent that's not us and by the way
- 13:40Speaker 1: the US does not have one concrete accent, as we
- 13:43Speaker 1: all know, there's different dialects as well as the fact
- 13:46Speaker 1: that US made up of many cultures that came as
- 13:49Speaker 1: a young country still that's come together, and this is
- 13:52Speaker 1: that narrative. They want to feel that you should that
- 13:54Speaker 1: sound one way. We don't want to add to that.
- 13:57Speaker 1: We don't want to add to that. I know it's
- 13:59Speaker 1: hard going that higher road quote unquote, and I'm angry
- 14:02Speaker 1: about that because it doesn't feel like it's getting anywhere.
- 14:05Speaker 1: So it feels like the people that we have pushed
- 14:07Speaker 1: to put in to fight for us are too polite
- 14:11Speaker 1: to a certain extent. But there's a difference in doing
- 14:14Speaker 1: it correctly and in doing it in a way that's
- 14:17Speaker 1: not beneficial and only looking out for yourself. Yes, yes,
- 14:21Speaker 1: because as you said, like, there's plenty of other stuff
- 14:24Speaker 1: to go after, right, And that's actually factual that has
- 14:28Speaker 1: gone downly. If we want to talk about Trump and
- 14:31Speaker 1: his policies and how that he literally gutted policies that
- 14:34Speaker 1: to protect women, let's talk about that he literally gutted
- 14:38Speaker 1: to protect marginalized communities. Let's go after that. If we
- 14:42Speaker 1: want to talk about the fact that he has opened
- 14:45Speaker 1: up the platform for supremacists who come out and be proud.
- 14:48Speaker 1: Let's talk about that, because that in itself is bad.
- 14:51Speaker 1: I know not everybody agrees with that, or people have
- 14:53Speaker 1: conspiracy theories, but we can talk about that in their selves. Again,
- 15:00Speaker 1: there are own moments that I want to take the
- 15:01Speaker 1: low road as well, especially when it comes to sexist
- 15:03Speaker 1: men and calling out there high uh standards that that
- 15:07Speaker 1: will never be met because they don't deserve those standards.
- 15:12Speaker 1: And I'm going to let the people who are good
- 15:13Speaker 1: at it do it, but I think we need to
- 15:15Speaker 1: be careful in on understanding what this can do when
- 15:21Speaker 1: it comes to uh, the larger picture and who is
- 15:24Speaker 1: actually hurting. Yeah. Yeah, And I think that's a great
- 15:29Speaker 1: point too, because I know here's the whole argument about
- 15:32Speaker 1: like comedy and public figures and all of that, but
- 15:34Speaker 1: I just think there's there's a way to do it
- 15:38Speaker 1: that doesn't hurt a bunch of other people are hurt.
- 15:42Speaker 1: Can they stop pretending like comedians should get a get
- 15:46Speaker 1: out of jail card for this situation, because no, just
- 15:49Speaker 1: because they were allowed to get away with it doesn't
- 15:51Speaker 1: mean we shouldn't be able to call it out and
- 15:53Speaker 1: those people who are let your ruining jokes, you need
- 15:56Speaker 1: a better sense of humor because your sense of humor
- 15:58Speaker 1: is based on racism, sexism, misogyny and any of the
- 16:01Speaker 1: other isms. Yeah, exactly, good dude, there's plenty of funny things,
- 16:05Speaker 1: and I promise yes, I'm not gonna lie like only
- 16:09Speaker 1: murders in the building. We watched it. There's some moments
- 16:12Speaker 1: that I'm like, oh, could be careful now, but like
- 16:15Speaker 1: the slapstick comedy that Martin Short and Steve Martin have
- 16:19Speaker 1: done from the past, they bring it back a little
- 16:21Speaker 1: bit and I'm like, this is hilarious. It's hilarious. Yes, yes,
- 16:28Speaker 1: and their legends. Yes, not currently a sponsored but I
- 16:31Speaker 1: am excited to check it out. So yeah. And I
- 16:34Speaker 1: also get like, I get the knee jerk wanting to
- 16:40Speaker 1: especially with evangelical voters who are like, oh Trump, and
- 16:46Speaker 1: then you were like, but look at what he's done.
- 16:48Speaker 1: But that's still hurting. I get it. But it's hurting
- 16:52Speaker 1: like the wrong people to think that he's done other
- 16:56Speaker 1: than they think they've saved babies. Oh well, just like
- 17:00Speaker 1: trying to uh point out he's had an affair, Like
- 17:03Speaker 1: they're not going to change their minds um, So yeah,
- 17:08Speaker 1: they're not going to change their mind and it's just
- 17:10Speaker 1: hurting other people. Um. And also, like I've seen with
- 17:14Speaker 1: putin a lot of homophobic rhetoric around him. So yeah,
- 17:23Speaker 1: I get I get I don't know. This is some
- 17:25Speaker 1: kind I get it. I get it, but be careful
- 17:28Speaker 1: think about it. And I really think if you're adding
- 17:31Speaker 1: to a toxic narrative already and I know it secks
- 17:33Speaker 1: because they do it, but that doesn't mean we should
- 17:36Speaker 1: do it. I mean again, I'm going to come put
- 17:39Speaker 1: this back to me because I'm that self centered. The
- 17:42Speaker 1: adoption trope that was happening with the memes, that's a
- 17:46Speaker 1: prime example. It's not as cute as you think it is.
- 17:49Speaker 1: And I know who you think you're getting back at
- 17:53Speaker 1: is that conservative group, but it's not. Yeah, it's not. Yeah,
- 17:57Speaker 1: that's exactly exactly it. Yep. Okay, all right, Well and Goad,
- 18:02Speaker 1: we talked about this. I'm glad you brought it up.
- 18:04Speaker 1: I hope you never because I feel like, if nothing else,
- 18:08Speaker 1: we have to have a reality check where we are,
- 18:11Speaker 1: what we're going, and how our language affects people. Yes, yes,
- 18:17Speaker 1: and I don't want to it's something that just I
- 18:19Speaker 1: would hear jokes and it would just like make me
- 18:22Speaker 1: cringe and I it was against somebody. I hated that.
- 18:24Speaker 1: I was still like, but it's not just against him. Yeah,
- 18:30Speaker 1: so it's been on my mind. I hope, I hope
- 18:32Speaker 1: we made this coherent and you're not like outraged at us,
- 18:36Speaker 1: because if it's not clear, we don't like a lot
- 18:38Speaker 1: of people, any of these people we talked about, but um,
- 18:42Speaker 1: we didn't need to talk about it. As always, if
- 18:44Speaker 1: you would like to contact us, you can our emails,
- 18:47Speaker 1: Stuff Media, mom Stuff that I Hurt mea dot com.
- 18:49Speaker 1: You can find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast
- 18:51Speaker 1: or on Instagram at Stuff I've Never Told You. Thanks
- 18:53Speaker 1: it's always to our super producer Christina. Thank you Christina,
- 18:56Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening Stuff I've Never told
- 18:58Speaker 1: you protection But I heeartradio for more podcast from my
- 19:00Speaker 1: Heart Radio. I heard you app Apple Podcast or wud
- 19:03Speaker 1: be listening to your favorite shows. H