I do find the rhetorical treadmill to be pointless. It’s a purely semantic replacement for actual material struggle. Unhoused will become derogatory as soon as it becomes mainstream, because the mainstream attitude towards people who don’t have a stable living condition won’t change, and the term will be absorbed by that attitude. Then we’ll come up with, like, residence-deprived as our next term and we’ll all shun unhoused for its degrading connotations.
I agree. The important question is, who sets the terms for liberation of any oppressed group? I’m always skeptical of patronizing solutions concocted by their “betters” especially when said solution (which doesn’t solve the root problem) is then used as a cudgel against substantive change. Of course, that Reddit thread is really about the snide sentiment that we must accept “biological reality” that there are betters and lessers in society and that one need not mince words when referencing the latter.
![[CW: Misogyny, Ableism] "The left thinks it’s cool to be homeless because they probably think you can do whatever you want and live free in a nice tent."](https://hexbear.net/pictrs/image/52917f1d-5884-4bd0-88bc-e1c9dba15651.png){kind=link}
“We already gave you a new derogatory term that you are supposed to like better. Why are you so ungrateful?”
I do find the rhetorical treadmill to be pointless. It’s a purely semantic replacement for actual material struggle. Unhoused will become derogatory as soon as it becomes mainstream, because the mainstream attitude towards people who don’t have a stable living condition won’t change, and the term will be absorbed by that attitude. Then we’ll come up with, like, residence-deprived as our next term and we’ll all shun unhoused for its degrading connotations.
I agree. The important question is, who sets the terms for liberation of any oppressed group? I’m always skeptical of patronizing solutions concocted by their “betters” especially when said solution (which doesn’t solve the root problem) is then used as a cudgel against substantive change. Of course, that Reddit thread is really about the snide sentiment that we must accept “biological reality” that there are betters and lessers in society and that one need not mince words when referencing the latter.