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this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2026
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Unpopular Opinion
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I'll insult an inanimate object all I like, thanks. They're not people. If you can't see the difference, I don't know what to say to you. The only example you gave was for fictional robots.
You're missing the entire point. I never ever said anything against insulting AI, or potatoes, or rocks.
But swapping a letter or two in an existing racial slur that has been used against many people for a long time is not a good way to do that. Every AI insult that I know of is a direct play on an existing racist or homophobic slur.
Those terms hurt people. That is the problem. Explaining to a little girl why some assholes in her class keep talking about clankas and clankers staring at her and laughing.
If I'm 'missing the point' it's only because you're making no sense whatsoever. I'm done here.
https://www.thedailystar.net/star-youth/news/troubling-ethos-behind-anti-ai-rhetoric-4064471
Clanker is used in place of nigge* all across the internet. It's now spreading to being used literally in it's place to insult black kids.
Every popular anti-AI slur I know of is just a thin coat of paint on an existing slur. Using something that's just a slight twist on an existing slur means that those "new" slurs are going to cause damage to the groups the original slur was used against already, and makes it extremely easy to use as a cover.
Some kids at my niece's school now think it's cute to stare at black kids and talk loudly about how much they hate "clankas" making it very clear what they mean by it. If it's brought up with the school administration they respond the same way people in this thread are, trying to condescendingly explain that it's a term against AI and not a racial slur. I'm sure there are places where families are going through the same with "wireback" and the rest of them.