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Re:Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems fro... by taneq on Friday June 25, 2021 @06:19PM (#27636967)
This whole trope of recasting "anti-X" as "X-phobic" is something that really irks me. Maybe there's a group of closeted X who doth protest too much, but there's generally a much larger group of people who are just assholes to X, and trying to spin it as "they're just afraid of you" smacks too much of the old "the bullies are just jealous". No, often it's not jealousy, it's just people being assholes to targets they think can't fight back.
Re:Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems fro... by pseudalopex on Friday June 25, 2021 @07:16PM (#27637407)
Phobic doesn't just mean afraid. Hydrophobic molecules for example.
Re:Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems fro... by slipframe on Friday June 25, 2021 @11:10PM (#27638714)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_phobia

> Specific phobia is an anxiety disorder, characterized by an extreme, unreasonable, and irrational fear associated with a specific object or situation.[1][2] Specific phobia can lead to avoidance of the object or situation, persistence of the fear, and significant distress or problems functioning associated with the fear. A phobia can be the fear of anything.

Whatever the term originally meant to the greeks, it does seem to be knit with the concept of fear today.

Re:Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems fro... by pseudalopex on Saturday June 26, 2021 @02:00AM (#27639526)
The suffix has more than 1 meaning.[1]

[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/phobic

Re:Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems fro... by taneq on Friday June 25, 2021 @08:17PM (#27637820)
Phobic literally means fear, from the ancient Greek 'phobos', meaning... fear.

It's used for things (like hydrophobic molecules) that avoid other things (in this case water) as if they fear them.

Unless we're doing one of those "literally literally means figuratively" things here in which case... meh?

Just to be crystal clear here, I'm not saying we don't have groups who are anti-X for whatever value of X. I'm saying that recasting (and often miscasting) that antipathy as (maybe masked) fear is counterproductive.

Re:Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems fro... by pseudalopex on Friday June 25, 2021 @10:26PM (#27638511)
That's the etymological fallacy. Phobic literally means having an intolerance or aversion for.[1]

[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/phobic

Re:Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems fro... by taneq on Friday June 25, 2021 @11:15PM (#27638741)
There's still a chasm between "having an intolerance of or aversion for" and "being mean to".
Re:Disproportionate amount of bad online behaviour stems fro... by pseudalopex on Saturday June 26, 2021 @02:01AM (#27639531)
Being mean to people because they belong to a group is intolerant of that group.