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Local mom in $__*_%%^IP-BASED LOCALE STRING__$%%%%$ has discovered that by avoiding the use of one word they can immediately invoke empathy in both themself and their listener, and improve their communications clarity by upwards of 169%. Click here to learn more about what word you should avoid saying in order to be a more fluent and well-communicated, lucid individual.

In my ongoing crusade against cishet able white males, whom I am determined to destroy, I’ve gotten a rapidly increasing distaste for the insipid and sophomoric. After hearing the 30,000th shithead dudebro mindlessly repeat email-forward-quality faith smashing or defend the status quo in AAA video gaming as “artful” or anything other than simplistic and problematic pop trash for children, it begins to wear on one’s patience to the point where you wonder why some people even bother to try to communicate when they clearly have absolutely nothing of interest or value to share.

In the previous paragraph, I managed to act like the huge pretentious asshole that I am and condescend to entire broad swaths of “sheeple” as it were, but there’s a word I didn’t use. This is because said word is imprecise, often hurtful, but maybe most importantly it’s just downright insipid to the point where it detracts from whatever it is one is saying. It’s also worse than “sheeple”.

That word, ladies, gender nonconfirmists, and males, is “stupid”.

Look everyone, I really don’t care what you think about 12 year olds on tumblr who identify as trans-otherkin, in fact, I’m not even sure why we’re talking about them. The most important focus here is that we’re squandering perhaps our greatest advantage as a species–communicating via abstract thought–by being dull and imprecise every time we use that awful word.

She stupid as a dumb bitch — Nick Harvat (@Dingers20) February 18, 2014

I think you quoted me you stupid ass >.> — Kdot. (@KenjyHoee) February 18, 2014

Lol stupid ass fuck — Alma ♍️ (@Almaa_013) February 18, 2014

https://twitter.com/asiyahfans54/status/435910294846439425

These are just tweets I found within like one minute of writing this part of this article’s draft. What are these people even trying to say? Who knows, and more importantly who cares? It’s hard to empathize with people who are speaking in a lazy and imprecise manner when they have the capacity to do better, especially when they do so by calling others “stupid” while saying something that lacks any sort of insight or value, and I hope I don’t have to point out the irony here.

Skepticism is all about being skeptical of the status quo and things that one is told without evidence or qualification, yet all too often within the skeptic community the incredibly flawed idea of intelligence as some kind of objective and linear measure, despite mountains of research, evidence, and direct lived experience to the contrary are held up with a fervor rivaling a Young Earth Creationist hearing the phrase “carbon dating.”

Basically, every time you use the word “stupid” you are holding up a flawed worldview that forces a very limited and sophomoric understanding of how human society works and people behave in order to prove to everybody that what you are saying has absolutely no meaning or value.

You can also stop saying it to avoid being a hurtful douchebag and holding up one of the most pervasive and broad systems of oppression that exist but apparently asking people to not be shitheads is just asking for too much.