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"Clankers" and adjacent new slurs
Aug. 13th, 2025 02:12 amThis post is about another post which I saw on Tumblr. It reads:
This post makes more sense in context, amongst the rise of AI. Some people hate AI so much that they need a derogatory word for those who use it, and those kinds of people are exactly who this post is talking about.
Just so you know, the slur most people I've seen land on for AI users is "clanker". I had no intent of using that word seriously since it sounded corny as hell, but reading the post from before solidified my stance on using it as well as bring into questioning the people who use it. Like yeah, why ARE you so eager to use your own made up slur?
For "clanker" specifically it must be more palatable to use because it's used against a group of people a lot of people look down upon for moral reasons. Doing it for moral reasons might seem better than the other reasons that spawned other, actual slurs, but I don't know. I don't think people should get used to the act of dehumanization, 'specially not as the one doing the dehumanizing. I will also come out and say that I think it's probably white people leading the charge on using "clanker". Some white people have already spent years fixating on the "N-word pass", so having a more socially acceptable version of the word as well as a group to bully probably seems very exciting. The word even has the same number of syllables...
Moving on, when I checked the notes of that Tumblr post, many people got the gist of what it was trying to say. However, because Tumblr is also the "piss on the poor" (piss poor reading comprehension) website, so there were a disappointing number of people who misunderstood. Like some people were trying to explain the reason why they think a new slur should exist (such as AI being annoying, or hating men) and like, buddy. It's kinda hard for me to articulate this since I'm writing this late at night, but this post isn't asking for your slur elevator pitch. It's asking you to examine why you want to make more slurs, words with *real* historical baggage, when a varied amount already exist. Would it make you feel good to call someone a slur? Would you feel good calling someone the N-word? If you answered yes to that then this blog post won't probably do anything to convince you, but if you consider yourself to be any degree of "woke" and also thought about using new invented slurs, take a moment to reconsider.
(Also wanted to note something: I am not a supporter of generative AI, quite against it actually. That being said, I mention "clankers" so much because I think it's still fuckin' weird to make up a slur for someone who's viewpoint you don't like.)
"'we need a slur for—' I actually don't think we need slurs in general but please tell everyone why you're gagging to make more"
This post makes more sense in context, amongst the rise of AI. Some people hate AI so much that they need a derogatory word for those who use it, and those kinds of people are exactly who this post is talking about.
Just so you know, the slur most people I've seen land on for AI users is "clanker". I had no intent of using that word seriously since it sounded corny as hell, but reading the post from before solidified my stance on using it as well as bring into questioning the people who use it. Like yeah, why ARE you so eager to use your own made up slur?
For "clanker" specifically it must be more palatable to use because it's used against a group of people a lot of people look down upon for moral reasons. Doing it for moral reasons might seem better than the other reasons that spawned other, actual slurs, but I don't know. I don't think people should get used to the act of dehumanization, 'specially not as the one doing the dehumanizing. I will also come out and say that I think it's probably white people leading the charge on using "clanker". Some white people have already spent years fixating on the "N-word pass", so having a more socially acceptable version of the word as well as a group to bully probably seems very exciting. The word even has the same number of syllables...
Moving on, when I checked the notes of that Tumblr post, many people got the gist of what it was trying to say. However, because Tumblr is also the "piss on the poor" (piss poor reading comprehension) website, so there were a disappointing number of people who misunderstood. Like some people were trying to explain the reason why they think a new slur should exist (such as AI being annoying, or hating men) and like, buddy. It's kinda hard for me to articulate this since I'm writing this late at night, but this post isn't asking for your slur elevator pitch. It's asking you to examine why you want to make more slurs, words with *real* historical baggage, when a varied amount already exist. Would it make you feel good to call someone a slur? Would you feel good calling someone the N-word? If you answered yes to that then this blog post won't probably do anything to convince you, but if you consider yourself to be any degree of "woke" and also thought about using new invented slurs, take a moment to reconsider.
(Also wanted to note something: I am not a supporter of generative AI, quite against it actually. That being said, I mention "clankers" so much because I think it's still fuckin' weird to make up a slur for someone who's viewpoint you don't like.)
