Just had to out this somewhere and this is probably the most safe space for it.
I am an ultra left anarchist so i support any progress shift in us political polls and i do get it.
I dont and wont ask people to stop using effective political memes. But whenever i see a top comment labeled these bad people as weird, i feel like i too would not be accepted, even if i know thats not what its about.
Sorry.
A comment I saw recently said if someone is called weird and they agree with you, they are the good weird, but if you call them weird and they get defensive/aggressive they are the bad weird. You are clearly the good kind of weird, and I think everyone else will recognize that if you call yourself weird.
Try to remember, words are just that, words. Intent is what makes them good or bad.
whenever i see a top comment labeled these bad people as weird, i feel like i too would not be accepted
Not sure if this helps
If you were the presidential candidate and would spout this type of complete nonsense, things that are just not true, obviously not true, are just mean and cruel and bullying. And at the same time would pretend that you are normal, as in you represent the pinnacle of the norm and the others are the weird ones - yeah then you would not be accepted either.
Trump had this weird immunity shield for 8 years now and finally the frog is cooked enough that his outrageous behavior has become so unhinged and untethered from reality and so out of the norm that it’s just - weird.
We should be a society that grows more and more tolerant of how different we are and treat people equally with respect. The same is not true for unacceptable behavior.
But the fascists believe the opposite - they believe in inequality based on some made up identity and hate towards whoever is different. That is why it works as an insult at all. It robs them of their power. And the more they spin out of control the funnier it is. The joke is on them not on you.
I feel like “weird” misses the mark. It’s quite hurtful to people who are outside the norm and proud of it.
“Creepy” is a way better description of those guys.
It is amazing that weird works better than something more accurate like creepy.
Creepy is almost too specific. Too harsh. It’s too “out of line”. People are surprisingly sensitive to that kind of thing.
But “weird”… Weird is fuzzy enough to get away with. It’s non-specific. It’s the sideways head-nod or glance to “creepy’s” direct finger point. People know you mean they give you the “ick” when you say it, because it comes with the body language that communicates that, vs that which communicates “quirky”.
“Weird and unsettling” is an accurate phrase to describe these people, and I don’t see much overlap with how people talk about me at all. And they’ve been calling me weird for 35 years or more now.
Honestly? Some of those SoBs are ontologically evil but you call them that and they’ll laugh.
One of very few bits of rhetoric that actually phases them is the claim that everyone isn’t, at least secretly, just as evil as they are. That there’s something abnormal about how hateful they are, or in other words that they are weird in being so detestable.
The trouble with “creepy” is that it’s emotive. Although it’s absolutely a correct word to use, it can easily be dismissed as an insult.
“Weird” is less of an insult, and can be taken objectively. I’ve got OCD, I know I’m weird - I’d be lying if I pretended otherwise.
But the thing is, Trump and Co don’t just want to be seen as “normal”, they want to be seen as the best at “normal”.
This is why “weird” works. It’s possible to argue that Trump being creepy is just someone else’s opinion, but it’s very hard to deny that he doesn’t do and say some weird things.
This is sticking because, even with the ludicrous amounts of good-faith his supporters have for him, it’s undeniably true, and possibly taps into any underlying misgivings they may have.
I assumed “weird” was used intentionally as an understatement for comedic effect.
I just want to say that I really appreciate your post. I’ve wondered about this and the comments have been enlightening.
I was literally just thinking about this, like a few minutes before seeing this post. It sounds like for some reason this political usage of “weird” is working, and annoying me is a small price to pay to stop Trump. But it does bug me, mostly because anything the left starts using, the right will eventually appropriate, and then it will spread and get widespread use outside of politics. I can see it becoming like “snowflake”, which used to mean “special and unique”, and then started being used in political discourse to mean “oversensitive”, and is now being used everywhere. I wouldn’t be surprised if this trend means that a couple of years from now, “weird” is a very popular go-to insult even outside of politics, which will habituate people to associating weirdness with negativity (not that people need any incentive to do that).
Obviously it’s a better outcome than a lot of other things that can result from politics, but it’s irksome now and I can imagine the world being mildly more uncomfortable for everyone who doesn’t conform to mainstream social standards in a couple of years than it is now.
Tl;Dr - sounds like you’re thinking exactly what I was thinking, down to the mild-to-moderate level of discomfort and the acknowledgement that it might be necessary
Thank you for putting this into words. I got called weird all the time as a kid, made the choice to take it as a compliment. It getting used right now the way it is to offend bad people doesn’t bother me, but I am worried about the knock on effects of weird being more heavily perceived as negative over time.
You’re weird in a different way. Unless you also normalize bigotry and hate… Which is weirder.
I’ve had this handle since '94, and I am not letting any of this bother me.
Others have said it better than I can, but how you see yourself as weird, and why it bothers the politicians it does, are not the same thing.
They live in a different world where conformity is king and being different is scorned.
Don’t let it ruffle you, none of this has anything at all to do with you, how you live your life, or how you perceive yourself.
I just feel it’s weird how many people suddenly have an issue with the word “weird” now that someone used it against a Republican once. Oh, the humanity, for such a word to be (very accurately) applied, oh, the horror.
Could be people who got mocked for being weird growing up, owning the term and letting go of their masking of (quite common) neurodiversity and now feeling threatened by people who start to equal weird with hateful or bigoted.
In a world where weird equals horrible, how does that colour those that call themselves weird?
Yeah, and none of that is new in any kind of sense, but suddenly now it’s an issue with this specific word.
I’m fine with that. They’ve called us weird forever because they think it should bother us. IMO it doesn’t, but saying they’re weird bothers them even more.
Sorry you’re going through that. I guess one silver lining is that your name isn’t Karen. Could be worse, right?
Ive embraced it. I mean look at what lead to 2016. Tried to stay on point and ignore the wierd (call it crazy or stupidity or whatever you like but it all boils down to the same thing). Its not like intelligent discussion is not going on but you know we are having some fun to and hey given what we may have coming up we need all the fun we can get.
Weird in modern parlance by the laity is an expression of uncanny oddness, as per The Weird Sisters ( or Wyrd Sisters ) in the play MacBeth. It’s a common reaction to esoterica which is information or knowledge that sounds odd and dangerous without understanding of context. There’s intersection with secret as in secret societies like the Freemasons which are actually esoteric societies in that they dabble in esoterica (in the case of Masons, pro-tips on how to build structures so they stay up for a long while).
In context of the current election seasoin Kat Abu explains it really well ( on YouTube ), weird is not the point, and some adjectives may serve better. The point is some of the policies and statements of Trump, of Vance, of Project 2025 (and the other usual suspects, e.g. The Republican Party, The Heritage Foundation, The Federalist Society, etc.) seem odd to those of us who want to live in a functional democratic society and want a public serving government, and those policies / statements require more context than we’re being given.
- Why does Trump need dictatorial powers on day one?
- Why does Trump say Christians won’t have to vote again (or accuse them of not voting much when they do)?
- Why does Vance have contempt for childless women who like cats?
- Why do they (Trump / Vance / P2025) keep talking about immigration invasions and crime waves even when crime is low compared to our history, and migrant populations have significantly lower crime rates than the general population? Also it’s generally a right and proper thing to provide sanctuary to refugees from abroad?
- Why do GOP officials begrudge children school lunches, or library access (even to adult matters, if they’re interested)
- Why do they want to defund Social Security
- Why do they encourage police brutality on protestors?
- Why do they freak out over trans folk?
The list goes on and on, and normal Americans appear to believe it’s right and proper to feed our kids, to have social safety nets, to have free and open abortion access, for education to be affordable, for workers to be able to balance work with parenting, recreation, civics and getting the laundry done. And yet, the Republican party (including Trump, Vance, etc.) seem to think the opposite is true.
In fact, a lot of them sound like an NSDAP party member trying to explain why mass executions are a pretty good idea.
So either they need to explain themselves, or we get to tag their positions as unsuitable for elected offices in the United States, especially the presidency. Weird is an easy word for it, but there are dozens of others, including just bollocks.
Just another bump for good weird.
My most prominent vest patch just says ‘stay weird’. Because good weird is good!
Weird already has a definition. You can decide if you want to be associated with it. But you can’t decide you want it to mean a certain thing you like it to be and then get mad that the public at large use it in the defined sense. This works for everything in life so keep that in mind as you navigate society.
Language and definition are a part of culture and subject to change though. (TIL: a word for a definition that is no Longer in use is archaic)
There is also my own interpretation of information.
I do wanna make a quick note that i am very aware of the difference in how i feel about stuff and how it is commonly perceived It is however my experience that such conflicts does not remove the reality of the subjective experience.
I would not actually say its troubling me or that i am in distress but it was simply an observation of inner discomfort associated with the expression of which i correctly assumed other neurodivergent must have sensed it.
So having leveled that pitfall (attempt):
Following wiktionary the definition of weird can portray to one of the following:
1. Unusually strange character or behavior. 2. Deviating from the normal; bizarre. 3. Relating to weird fiction (macabre speculative fiction). 4. (Archaic) Pertaining to the Fates. 5. (Archaic) Connected with fate or destiny; able to influence fate. 6. (Archaic) Pertaining to witches or witchcraft; supernatural; unearthly. 7. (Archaic) Having supernatural or preternatural power.I believe many on the spectrum have experience expressing 1 and 2
Personality i would call republicans sick. I think they are perfectly reasonable if you consider that they have a completely broken perspective of reality.
Greed, inflated ego, lack of empathy. They are illnesses because they are undermining the survival of our species as a whole.
Yeah but that’s what I’m saying. When people call Trump weird it’s because he fits the definition of 1 and 2 when compared to every other candidate in the modern era. So he really is weird in that way. Where as you may feel 1 and 2 but just different from your peer group. It’s not an insult in either scenario. Although colloquially it’s meant to be.
