I sent this on the 7th, and haven’t heard back. I have blocked the site in the interim:
To whom it may concern:
I am neurologically disabled. I believe that the normalization of eugenicist slurs, such as “imbecile,” contributes to the social exclusion and violence against people like me. I am in a lot of pain right now, due to strobe lights. So naturally, I am offended when these words appear in your headlines and articles, they’re bad enough below the line.
“Karen Bradley routs her rival imbeciles with Ladybird guide to Northern Ireland,” September 7th, 2018, online through Waterfox.
I believe this comes under language. If swear words are an issue, slurs associated with attempts to remove a population from society and eliminate us from future generations are that much more of an issue:
“Language. Respect for the reader demands that we should not casually use words that are likely to offend. Use swear words only when absolutely necessary to the facts of a piece, or to portray a character in an article; there is almost never a case in which we need to use a swearword outside direct quotes. The stronger the swearword, the harder we ought to think about using it. Avoid using in headlines, pull quotes and standfirsts and never us asterisks, which are just a cop-out.”
Marja Erwin