Canadian Politics Today

I think that I found some new terms I hate:
incel
Goes with woke and terf.

I think that terms that group people based on a single opinion they have aren't useful.

Single use slags... No no no...

Strong disagree on this, Michael.

"woke", "terf", and "incel"  are much like "communist", "socialist", or "fascist". They are terms that are flung around indiscriminately as pejoratives by people who don't know or care about their actual meanings, but they are also terms that do have a real meaning. The fact that they're frequently used by people who aren't aware of their meaning doesn't mean that these terms don't have a real meaning.

Mouthbreathers frequently say "that's socialism!" or "that's communism!" or "that's fascism!" to describe literally any political proposal that they disagree with. But socialism, communism, and fascism are still terms that do describe actual philosophies.

"Terf" is widely used as a synonym for "transphobic woman", but it actually stands for "trans-exclusive radical feminist". There are plenty of transphobes whose views have nothing to do with radical feminism; describing every transphobic woman as a terf is simply inaccurate.

"woke" is widely used as as a pejorative to describe progressives, but "woke" is a philosophy of its own that frequently diverges from progressive ideas. (that's a topic for another thread).

And "incel" might be used as a slang to describe any guy who isn't getting female attention, but it's a term that refers to a specific community with a specific ideology.  Incels have their own online forums, their own identifiable beliefs, and are considered by safety and security analysts to be a radicalized community. Alek Minassian (the Toronto van attack guy) explicitly cited incel ideology as his motive. Incels have killed more people in North America in recent years than Muslim terrorists. Minassian, Elliot Rodgers, and the Atlanta massage parlor attacks are three well-known examples of mass murder motivated by incel ideology.

To dismiss "incel" as "siingle use slang" is to bury your head in the sand.


 -k