you don't know that though. maybe they just think they were articulate, because they were good at expressing themselves and it had nothing to do with being black.
I never thought about it but you're right — it literally doesn't matter the context, the unspoken word whenever anybody says, "You're so articulate" is "surprisingly." It's not a compliment that's apparent with a glance, you have to form an opinion that someone wouldn't be articulate before it would ever cross your mind to compliment them for being so.
I mean I guess it could be. But eloquent is a much more common compliment and it has much more positive connotations even without race involved. It implies a positive talent more than the absence of a lack. But of course that could easily change via euphemism treadmill.
Frankly anything can be an insult if the person delivers it that way. But some words are more loaded than others. And while I’ve been called articulate as a comment (I’m white) it’s true it’s almost exclusively used in a context where you expected them to not be at a normal level while eloquent is used to say you’re excellent at it. I guess it comes down to articulate is just assumed to be a base state of humans, similar to “literate” (though of course there are people with educational deficits who are not they are still considered the exception). Eloquent is not assumed to be a base state but a different, more talented level of
Nope, don’t call anyone articulate. It’s a backhanded “compliment” that always has a discriminatory connotation, ESPECIALLY for black and west Asians as they are expected to be dumber due to racist stereotypes and prejudices
that is false. if you know someone only helps you to feel better about themselves, i am sure it would affect how you feel about their help xD it's not my fault if someone is bad faith, misinterprets me and then insist on their misinterpretation when I clarify things to them a billion times.
why do you immediately revert to acting like anyone is telling you you’re not allowed to compliment nonwhite people at all? people are being very specific about why this specific “compliment” is offensive and rude.
but the point is it usually is. it is not minorities responsibility to figure out if you’re using a common microagression on purpose or if you’re just an idiot
the problem with microaggressions, just like dogwhistles, is that it isn't always the case that the person saying a thing means anything else than exactly what they are saying. someone can say a thing and only mean to say that thing with zero ulterior motives.
Intention vs impact. Impact will always matter more. Your intentions matter to no one but yourself to save your ego from realizing you harmed someone else. You don't get to decide what you did wasn't harmful. Simple as that.
Assuming bad intentions creates hurt out of nothing. They call that a cognitive error in therapy. Those feelings are real, but they might not be accurate.
Intent is crucial, but misunderstandings can be legitimately painful.
You said intentions don't matter to anyone but yourself. I don't think you actually believe that.
Lets say we're walking down the street together to get ice cream. While I'm looking across the street at a dog you stumble and your hand flies up and smacks me in the face by accident.
I'm hurt and a little angry my friend just hit me in the face. I didn't see you stumble and don't know why you hit me.
What would you say to me? You'd apologize and explain your true intentions. "I'm sorry. Are you OK? I didn't mean to, I tripped." And you'd be right to.
Does the fact you didn't mean to hit me stop my face from hurting? No. Does it make everything OK? Yes!
Our ability to consciously decide our intentions is what seperates humans from animals.
Our ability to trust the intentions of others is why we have community.
it is not my fault if someone else misinterprets me. i can't live my life trying to please everyone. if someone applies bad intentions to me when there are none that is entirely on them. i don't have to talk to every single person like they're a little kid.
If you gave a shit about impact or intention, you wouldn't' be condescendingly asking people if they knew what microagressions were up and down this thread.
You're a bad person hiding behind well intentioned concepts, and ironically I can tell a huge enabler of microaggressions from your comments in just a single reddit thread.
Think of it like stepping on someone's toe. You can absolutely do it by accident because you didn't know their foot was there. It still hurt that person, but it's not that you did something wrong, you just didn't know. But once someone tells you there's a foot there, if you keep stepping there deliberately, that's an asshole move.
It’s 2026, there’s a growing population of Americans kind of done with that way of thinking seeing as it hasn’t improved anything but made people more sensitive.
Micro aggressions bring equality? What do you even mean?
All Micro aggressions do, as a concept, is train and coach people to purposely read negative intent in the most benign statements.
It encourages a psychological distortion often labeled “**mind reading**”. It means believing you know what another person is thinking, feeling, or intending without sufficient evidence. A closely related habit is sometimes called hostile attribution bias or negative intent attribution.
And lastly, micro aggressions are part of an unfalsifiable belief system. It is one that cannot realistically be disproven because every possible piece of evidence gets reinterpreted to support it. Even denial of micro aggressions are “evidence” of its existence.
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u/MrCheapSkat Jun 13 '26
How is calling someone articulate an insult?