Just had to out this somewhere and this is probably the most safe space for it.
I am an ultra left anarchist so i support any progress shift in us political polls and i do get it.
I dont and wont ask people to stop using effective political memes. But whenever i see a top comment labeled these bad people as weird, i feel like i too would not be accepted, even if i know thats not what its about.
Sorry.
Weird in modern parlance by the laity is an expression of uncanny oddness, as per The Weird Sisters ( or Wyrd Sisters ) in the play MacBeth. It’s a common reaction to esoterica which is information or knowledge that sounds odd and dangerous without understanding of context. There’s intersection with secret as in secret societies like the Freemasons which are actually esoteric societies in that they dabble in esoterica (in the case of Masons, pro-tips on how to build structures so they stay up for a long while).
In context of the current election seasoin Kat Abu explains it really well ( on YouTube ), weird is not the point, and some adjectives may serve better. The point is some of the policies and statements of Trump, of Vance, of Project 2025 (and the other usual suspects, e.g. The Republican Party, The Heritage Foundation, The Federalist Society, etc.) seem odd to those of us who want to live in a functional democratic society and want a public serving government, and those policies / statements require more context than we’re being given.
- Why does Trump need dictatorial powers on day one?
- Why does Trump say Christians won’t have to vote again (or accuse them of not voting much when they do)?
- Why does Vance have contempt for childless women who like cats?
- Why do they (Trump / Vance / P2025) keep talking about immigration invasions and crime waves even when crime is low compared to our history, and migrant populations have significantly lower crime rates than the general population? Also it’s generally a right and proper thing to provide sanctuary to refugees from abroad?
- Why do GOP officials begrudge children school lunches, or library access (even to adult matters, if they’re interested)
- Why do they want to defund Social Security
- Why do they encourage police brutality on protestors?
- Why do they freak out over trans folk?
The list goes on and on, and normal Americans appear to believe it’s right and proper to feed our kids, to have social safety nets, to have free and open abortion access, for education to be affordable, for workers to be able to balance work with parenting, recreation, civics and getting the laundry done. And yet, the Republican party (including Trump, Vance, etc.) seem to think the opposite is true.
In fact, a lot of them sound like an NSDAP party member trying to explain why mass executions are a pretty good idea.
So either they need to explain themselves, or we get to tag their positions as unsuitable for elected offices in the United States, especially the presidency. Weird is an easy word for it, but there are dozens of others, including just bollocks.
You know, you’re right. I’m weird. I love being weird. I associate with weird people, generally those who would also self-identify as weird.
It’s a fluid word that can be used in a lot of weird ways.
But it has never bothered me that it’s used in this context personally. I understand it’s directed at people who are just not right, and in other times that could’ve included some of us.
It’s of course meant in the context of “You are acting unacceptably and we can’t be quiet about it anymore.”
And the meme came from Gov. Walz, who carves butter. That’s weird! In a strange and adorable Midwestern way.
I’ve had this handle since '94, and I am not letting any of this bother me.
Others have said it better than I can, but how you see yourself as weird, and why it bothers the politicians it does, are not the same thing.
They live in a different world where conformity is king and being different is scorned.
Don’t let it ruffle you, none of this has anything at all to do with you, how you live your life, or how you perceive yourself.
You’re weird in a different way. Unless you also normalize bigotry and hate… Which is weirder.
I just want to say that I really appreciate your post. I’ve wondered about this and the comments have been enlightening.
Ive embraced it. I mean look at what lead to 2016. Tried to stay on point and ignore the wierd (call it crazy or stupidity or whatever you like but it all boils down to the same thing). Its not like intelligent discussion is not going on but you know we are having some fun to and hey given what we may have coming up we need all the fun we can get.
Sorry you’re going through that. I guess one silver lining is that your name isn’t Karen. Could be worse, right?
I was literally just thinking about this, like a few minutes before seeing this post. It sounds like for some reason this political usage of “weird” is working, and annoying me is a small price to pay to stop Trump. But it does bug me, mostly because anything the left starts using, the right will eventually appropriate, and then it will spread and get widespread use outside of politics. I can see it becoming like “snowflake”, which used to mean “special and unique”, and then started being used in political discourse to mean “oversensitive”, and is now being used everywhere. I wouldn’t be surprised if this trend means that a couple of years from now, “weird” is a very popular go-to insult even outside of politics, which will habituate people to associating weirdness with negativity (not that people need any incentive to do that).
Obviously it’s a better outcome than a lot of other things that can result from politics, but it’s irksome now and I can imagine the world being mildly more uncomfortable for everyone who doesn’t conform to mainstream social standards in a couple of years than it is now.
Tl;Dr - sounds like you’re thinking exactly what I was thinking, down to the mild-to-moderate level of discomfort and the acknowledgement that it might be necessary
Thank you for putting this into words. I got called weird all the time as a kid, made the choice to take it as a compliment. It getting used right now the way it is to offend bad people doesn’t bother me, but I am worried about the knock on effects of weird being more heavily perceived as negative over time.
Just another bump for good weird.
My most prominent vest patch just says ‘stay weird’. Because good weird is good!
What a weird hill to die on. This is not about you. Learning to separate yourself from things like this is a virtue. Clearly you recognize that you “know that’s not what it’s about.” So what is this thread about? Just a way to make something about yourself. Be weird, don’t apologize for it, and learn to respect yourself well enough to separate yourself from things that have nothing to do with you as a person.
That’s not a very nice or smart reply. It’s pretty clear that they’re logically aware of what you said, but that it still feels hurtful.
The world doesn’t revolve around you.
Seriously lol
If you’re name is Karen you have a right to express your discomfort with the Karen meme.
Not every expression of discomfort is an attack on the source of discomfort.
I am not asking anyone to stop doing what they are and i express i understand that what is happening is positively effective.
Are you asking me to not share my feelings in an autistic community because you believe the feelings don’t apply to a large enough population? People have on this post expressed that they do feel similar to me and are sharing perspectives on how they they are dealing with this feeling. That alone justifies my reason to share.
Have you considered holding up a mirror and reasoning that this post and the personal feelings i express do not revolve around you and your commentary serves of no value besides devaluing the experience of beings who do relate to the subject matter?
Peace be with you stranger.
You’re quite right and your post is absolutely not giving off any level of “the world revolves around me” energy so don’t take that comment to heart my friend. I agree with the other comments telling you that there’s different kinds of weird. If you proudly identify as “weird” then I’d probably argue that your version of “weird” could probably be described as “non-conforming”, “alternative” or “unorthodox”. The version of “weird” that is used to attack someone like Trump or his cronies is meant as “creepy” or “unhinged”. Basically it’s meant to take the wind out of the sails of a bunch of elitists trying to pass themselves off as some kind of man of the people by calling attention to the fact that they are not the strong average Joe they try to present themselves as. No need to feel like you might be mistaken for one, that shoe doesn’t fit you and you can probably trust that everyone can see that.
Hell no, please continue to share your feelings and thoughts wherever you please, just know that there are a very small minority of people who enjoy seeing others suffer to feel better about their own shitty feelings.
The fact that you identify as weird doesn’t make you unique, so please don’t bet on hedging the foundation of your personality on that and then in consequence get troubled enough about it to post online for random strangers to validate you.
You are fucking powerful and weird and amazing. You don’t need dipshits on the internet to empower that, you should own it.
People use mean words incorrectly often. Think about calling some “dumb” when they mean ignorant or lacking intelligence, the word means “mute” which is a real affliction that affects people and could happen to anyone, thus pushing down a demographic who literally does not have “a voice” to speak up. Abelism is rampant in the English language
My advice is don’t take it to heart but note it since they might use mean words directly against you, or if you’re vulnerable enough with the person, gently talk to them about it
There’s good weird and bad weird. They’re bad weird. Which are you?
They’re good weird because they openly embrace being weird. It’s the denial that gets weird weird.
I’m my weird.
Hell yeah
I just feel it’s weird how many people suddenly have an issue with the word “weird” now that someone used it against a Republican once. Oh, the humanity, for such a word to be (very accurately) applied, oh, the horror.
Could be people who got mocked for being weird growing up, owning the term and letting go of their masking of (quite common) neurodiversity and now feeling threatened by people who start to equal weird with hateful or bigoted.
In a world where weird equals horrible, how does that colour those that call themselves weird?
Yeah, and none of that is new in any kind of sense, but suddenly now it’s an issue with this specific word.
My opinion:
Humanity doesn’t evolve sociologically or technologically with out weird. If the world was all middle of the road beige “yes” men and women to what those in power say is correct way to live, laugh and love then the interesting things in this world die.
“Weird” people are the ones that challenge this middle of the road thinking. They are the brave ones. They are the ones that say fuck it to this middle of the road life and just do their thing. I envy the Weird, they have to fight against the easier/conformist way of living to be themselves, but by doing so they are happier and in a small way they make the world a better more interesting place.
In this context I talk of weird as in good weird, trump et. al. are not weird by my definition they are instead the ones fighting against the weird because to them it’s scary, different and it challenges their hold on reality and what is “right.”
