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It's the toxic, parasocial internet communities that define a lolcow, not the person being harassed. The problem was always those who view people as animals for their entertainment. The real freaks were always those who paid to see "freakshows," not the people they gawked at.

[-] VerilyFemme@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

You're 100% correct, but you're still using the term 'lolcow' to refer to a human being.

I don't see how I could put it more simply - it's the same dehumanization problem as calling someone trapped in an abusive relationship a 'cuck.' Furthermore, how does using 'cuck' reenforce the right wing ideas of one community that uses it, but 'lolcow' doesn't do the same?

You are correct about your analysis of the usage of 'cuck', but I fail to see how 'lolcow' doesn't do the same exact thing. Cuck or lolcow - you're both implying he's a loser for his personal failings as percieved by a wider audience.

That's a fair criticism. I wish there was an easier way to refer to the assholes who create the culture than the person being exploited

[-] VerilyFemme@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 3 days ago

The internet is just hard to deal with in general. I'm almost positive that 50 years from now we'll still be struggling to understand what it's done to us. It just allows culture to develop far faster than we can analyze it. Once people stop using 'cuck' and 'lolcow,' there will probably be like 50 new words that aren't called slurs but are definitely used like slurs. Nobody can change from where they came, slang propagates itself, and I think that's part of the problem.

this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2026
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