If you are insulting someone you don’t like, this necessarily requires that the thing you are using to insult them is something you consider bad or shameful.

I’ve posted quite a lot in the past about body shaming. People really seem to still not get it.

  • If you make fun of Elon Musk for his gut, that means you think being fat is shameful. Elon Musk won’t hear your insult, but your fat friends will. Make fun of Elon for the emerald mine, or his ignorance-based transphobia.
  • If you make fun of Jack Black for his teeth, your friends with bad teeth will notice. Make fun of him for being a shitlib.
  • If you mock big ute drivers as having small penises, that means you think having a small penis is shameful. Make fun of them for their egos instead.
  • If you call Trump “orange man”, that means you think having a… ok y’know what, if your fake tan is that bad I can’t save you, you’ll just have to accept some laughter.

But, and I don’t see this talked about enough, this is NOT limited to appearance / body!

  • If you mock a cop for being an OF model, this means you think being an OF model is more shameful than being a cop.
  • If you call someone a slur, even if the slur doesn’t apply to them you’re still harming the people that the slur is intended to apply to by treating their identity as an insult.

Some important nuance is that pointing out hypocrisy is ok! For example, the other day I had the misfortune of running into a technician who does drug tests for police. They were also a recreational drug user.

If I called him a druggie or a filthy addict, that would be WRONG.

But if I criticise him for sending people to prison for behaviour that he clearly thinks doesn’t deserve prison, that’s A-OK! Just be careful to be clear what specifically it is that you’re criticising.