What is the best way to react, if someone calls you a degenerate? Just leave them, remembering the insult?
This type of insult targets disabled people specifically?
Tell them to dengerate these nutz
I laugh and call them a loser
Calling someone a degenerate is their way of saying you have low/no morals etc. Is a lame insult used by people who think they have some high ground over you.
Like I’d imagine some fundamentalist Christian using it about skaters back in the 90s.
I’m not sure why it would be used to comment on disability.
If it’s not being used ironically or self deprecatingly I generally assume the person in question is a fash or some sort of right winger
“I like eating grilled cheese and playing with monster trucks”
What did you do?
“Your opinion has no value”, or some variety thereof. Then get on with your day.
“I’ve seen what makes you people cheer, your boos mean nothing to me.”
No, it is a general insult usually aimed at your moral character.
Yeah, I’ve never heard of it being used to target people with disabilities (although looking it up, I see it can be used that way, TIL) - I’ve only ever thought of it as a judgement on character/behaviour. Like I’d have no issue with anyone describing Trump as a degenerate, because he’s a sick, twisted, vindictive, corrupt prick.
So is it an okay insult to use depending on context?
I am not justifying the insult, just explaining how most people would use it.
When I call someone a degenerate gambler I am not going after the disabled.
“You wanna fuck me so bad it makes you look stupid”
No decent person would use the word degenerate. Just don’t interact if you can
I may not be a decent person, but I do have a discord channel called The Department of Degeneracy where we post dark, spicy, and doomer memes that would make grandma gasp and clutch her pearls.
Unless it’s a consensual sex thing
meow just meow at them
Throw a dildo at them
Alternatively,
I associate this with fascists and right-wingers going back a few generations as being broadly equivalent to ‘woke’ these days: i.e. anything vaguely progressive that they didn’t like.
So, without additional context, my reaction would be to assume that the person saying this was a fascist - and therefore to treat any further interactions accordingly - and to wear the term with honour.
I commonly get called names and have disparaging comments fly my way.
At first, I let them get under my skin. I would get depressed. But I realized this is exactly what they want me to feel. They won.
Now when someone “makes a joke” I just tell myself they won’t win and realize whatever credibility or trust I had for this person is lost. They are wholly uneducated and I make the choice not to engage with them any further.
I win this round. Not them
