• Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    Some people disagree, though IMO it is ultimately ableist.

    The term “braindead” originates from braindeath, a mental condition, and can also be taken in similar contexts to the “R-word.”

    • NaevaTheRat@vegantheoryclub.org
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      2 months ago

      Are you sure about braindeath being a mental condition? My thoughts, confirmed by quick googling, was a medical-legal standard for death based on permanent death of the brain. As a person can otherwise be vegetative/comatosed or whatever, or like a liver can keep operating for a while etc.

      As an insult I think it’s meant to be taken as “This is only explainable if you have no brain activity” not “you are like a living human with a different or damaged brain”.

    • Simmy@lemmygrad.ml
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      2 months ago

      The original series Quantum Leap used the R-word referring to people with mental difficulties not as an insult. I understand today times have changed and used as a slur. Still used in medication today, meaning slow release tablets.

      • davel [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        Still used in medication today,

        It is not.

        meaning slow release tablets.

        That’s a different context.