Let me preface by saying, I would love to hear counter points and am fully open to the fact that I could be wrong and totally out of touch. I just want to have some dialogue around something that’s been bothering me in the fediverse.
More and more often I keep hearing people refer to “normies”. I think by referring to other people as “normies”, whether you intend to or not, you inadvertently gatekeep and create an exclusive environment rather than an inclusive one in the fediverse.
If I was not that familiar with the fediverse and decided to check it out and the first thing I read was a comment about “normies”, I would quite honestly be very put off. It totally has a negative connotation and doesn’t even encapsulate any one group. I just read a comment about someone grouping a racist uncle and funny friend into the same category of normie because they aren’t up to date on the fediverse or super tech savvy or whatever.
I don’t want to see any Meta bs in the fediverse. I barely want to see half of the stuff from Reddit in the fediverse. I don’t want to see the same echo chamber I do everywhere else.
I do want to see more users and more perspectives and a larger user base though. I want to see kindness and compassion. I want to talk to people about topics they are interested in. I want to have relevant discussions without it dissolving into some commentary on some unrelated hot topic thing.
I think calling people normies creates a more toxic, exclusive place which I personally came here to avoid.
Just my two cents! I know for most people using the term it isn’t meant to be malicious, but I think it comes off that way.
Love to hear all of your thoughts.
Normie is a term used in many circles, not exclusively fediverse. I don’t think it’s a slur, as the people who use it aren’t inciting violence or enacting discriminatory pricing or whatever. It’s like calling a person boring.
Or…
“Normie” shows a hint of self awareness that the people on this platform aren’t representative of the general public. We’re a bunch of tech weirdos.
We’re the “abnormies”.
Pretending there isn’t any condescension toward the “normies” when using the term is blatantly exhibiting the exact behavior the OP referenced. It’s not how inclusivity works in a community at all. It alienates anyone that isn’t already a part of it.
Why? Because I don’t expect a person who’s not entrenched in a specific hobby to understand the ins-and-outs of that hobby?
It’s not condescension. It’s setting reasonable expectations.
I guess that’s something I didn’t consider. I kind of feel like that is still creating an us vs them mentality though…
But that’s pretty much what a group of people is? The people who are inside the group and those that are outside. What is the problem with this?
You missed to very key letters here. Here’s the original statement with the two key letters highlighted:
[…]creating an us →vs← them mentality though…
Nobody that I’ve seen here has said that there is no “in” or “out” vis a vis the group. The objection is over those two key letters.
Normies just means people who aren’t in the in group and to me means we are the weird ones, exclusive group or have uncommon interests or knowledge.
It is important to be self aware that in the context of the fediverse and meme culture things you are use to are weird, different, and sometimes confusing. Perfect example has been the beans and the 3 day poop thing. Normal people don’t get and will think it is weird if they know nothing about the trend. Another example is I am a rock climber if I reference a jug or a sloper it means nothing to normies or people unaware of the lingo. So a jug joke isn’t something other people get
I just see the term to mean the opposite of specialist, or someone who is passionate about the topic.
In internet terms, it generally means not a geek.
It’s a good distinction, because for geeks, internet is something inherently interesting on a technological and philosophical level. For, well, normies, it’s just an appliance they don’t need to know much about.
Similarly if you go to a car show but don’t really know shit about cars other than they have 4 wheels, you’re a normie in that environment. Your requirements on what a car should be like, are fundamentally different from someone who likes to tweak and tinker.
I wish the term could just mean that without any negative connotations, because I don’t see anything wrong with that distinction.
Ed/add: Nobody can know everything about every topic, so everyone is a normie in some category. Usually without realising it. So that’s just it. Not necessarily an insult, and doesn’t even make much sense as one, I think.
I have seen the word normie used in almost exclusively sarcastic or tongue in cheek contexts.
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normie = person who comes into discussion without much understanding of the topic but lacks self awareness to understand their limited perspective.
classic example would be:
commenter: Big tech and government collude to spy on us
normie; I got nothing to hide!
If anyone reads this whole thread, the problem and lack of self awareness of the danger of this word becomes apparent. There are folks who say it means something entirely different than what you just said. It’s clear this is a loaded word and you’re making it clear that it is indeed an insult. Communities grow and your perspective isn’t necessarily always the best. Growth is difficult and differing opinions aren’t always bad. The issue is when people bring hate into it. Tolerance is important, but one can never tolerate intolerance.
Being called out for asine opinions not grounded in reality is part of the growing process.
Under your logic, bad faith or stupid actors deserve a discussion beyond providing facts. This is the internet, not baby sitting service.
Community establishes a consensus and if you come with counter point, you better bring facts.
If the community can’t facethe facts, it will turn into echo chamber.
Reddit got a ton of those. Trying to step up discourse here though.
That literally isn’t my logic at all. You just made up your own claim and argued against it. I never said they deserve anything beyond admission. You are free to ignore people. You do truly understand that right? You can ignore stupid. You don’t need to discuss with everyone. But not letting them in the room because of some preconceived prejudice is absolutely an asinine opinion and not grounded in reality. I never said you have to discuss things with people. You’re the one who seems to think people are owed some sort of discussion. I’m not even sure where you got such a ridiculous notion. And you even missed the whole point where half this thread literally disagreed with you in regards to what the word means. You’re a prime example of acting elitist and holier than thou for some unknown reason. And then you serve as a prime example of the kind of person you want to keep out. You use ridiculously bad logic and horrible arguments and opinions. Honestly, you’re either a brilliant troll or an atrocious idiot. The line is so thin, it’s hard to tell.
Wtf
A slur always tells you more about the person who uses it than about the person they’re referring to.
How about “I hate Terfs”? What does that make me?
TERF isn’t a slur, it’s an accurate descriptor.
Terfs are trans exclusionary. Terfs are on the borders of feminist thought, making them radical (and not in the cool way).
They only want it to be a slur so they aren’t accurately described as what they are.
Actually I think it is quite a stretch to call them feminists in any way. 99% of the time they ally with the far right and many of their leaders advocate against things like contraception and healthcare for women
Thats more of the term being overused. Only a vanishing small number of people are terfs.
Yeah but “Radical”… TERFS ain’t radical, nor bodacious nor totally tubular dude!
Accept everyone, that’s the TMNT way!
if terf isn’t a slur, Normie isn’t either. people seem to get irrationally upset about the word normal. normal is a well defined word, the same way cis is but it seems one group is fine with one whilst the other isn’t.
instead of focusing on labels and how much they upset you (I don’t mean who I am replying to), focus on understanding and respecting people’s differences, regardless of terminology.
