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Here is a thing that I wrote on Facebook which I will copy/paste here and which is an expansion on a comment I made here.
Has self-describing as a "free-thinker" become some kind of code-word/dogwhistle that means "I'm a member of the alt-right"? You know, sort of like what that red X and Pepe the Frog have become? It just seems like everyone on social media who feels the need to put "free-thinker" or "free-thinking" in their profile description almost immediately and invariably proves themselves to be shitstains of the worst sort. Sort of a "I say whatever (shitty thing) is on my mind and screw the consequences" thing. That's been my experience with it, anyway.
At first, I thought this might be due to that "Kanye West supported Trump" fiasco from not too long ago, where he talked about "free-thinking" and "dragon energy" or whatever the hell, though I sort of remember seeing it in the profiles of such asshats way before that.
(EDIT) Or maybe it's just code for "I am an asshole" in general, without being related to the alt-right in particular (though the Venn diagram for "assholes" and "alt-righters" is pretty much a circle entirely contained within a larger circle), as I'm seeing references to self-description as "free-thinking" (and to people complaining about and mocking such) at least as far back as 2012, which is well before the rise of the alt-right, or even of its predecessor, GamerGate.
Or, hell, maybe it's an actual, "official" philosophical viewpoint/group who holds such a viewpoint that I'd never actually heard of before this very moment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freethought That's not what I associate with "free-thinker" these days, though, so maybe the term really was co-opted the same way the red X and Pepe and other such things were.
You'd think being a "free-thinker" would be a *good* thing, and I think the (ostensible) concept behind the phrase is good, but people who use the phrase as a way to describe themselves really seem to be huge assholes, most of the time. (/EDIT)
Has self-describing as a "free-thinker" become some kind of code-word/dogwhistle that means "I'm a member of the alt-right"? You know, sort of like what that red X and Pepe the Frog have become? It just seems like everyone on social media who feels the need to put "free-thinker" or "free-thinking" in their profile description almost immediately and invariably proves themselves to be shitstains of the worst sort. Sort of a "I say whatever (shitty thing) is on my mind and screw the consequences" thing. That's been my experience with it, anyway.
At first, I thought this might be due to that "Kanye West supported Trump" fiasco from not too long ago, where he talked about "free-thinking" and "dragon energy" or whatever the hell, though I sort of remember seeing it in the profiles of such asshats way before that.
(EDIT) Or maybe it's just code for "I am an asshole" in general, without being related to the alt-right in particular (though the Venn diagram for "assholes" and "alt-righters" is pretty much a circle entirely contained within a larger circle), as I'm seeing references to self-description as "free-thinking" (and to people complaining about and mocking such) at least as far back as 2012, which is well before the rise of the alt-right, or even of its predecessor, GamerGate.
Or, hell, maybe it's an actual, "official" philosophical viewpoint/group who holds such a viewpoint that I'd never actually heard of before this very moment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freethought That's not what I associate with "free-thinker" these days, though, so maybe the term really was co-opted the same way the red X and Pepe and other such things were.
You'd think being a "free-thinker" would be a *good* thing, and I think the (ostensible) concept behind the phrase is good, but people who use the phrase as a way to describe themselves really seem to be huge assholes, most of the time. (/EDIT)
