...one of the things that totally confused us about online snark groups, when we still thought it was required that we try to find them funny, was how blithely people threw around racist and homophobic epithets. Apparently you were supposed to regard those as somehow unconnected to actual racism and homophobia, even when it was things like people using handles like "Nigger Fag." Because if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's REALLY A WOMBAT CAN'T YOU SEE, IT'S NOT A DUCK OR EVEN A BIRD AT ALL. The "reasoning" seemed to be something like... anything that offended people was funny, but even though it was funny, it somehow didn't have the same spirit behind it as people who use those as actual terms of hate and found it funny to refer to people that way. It's still funny, though! Lulz!

It's kind of interesting that when you remove all the bells and whistles, the underlying conception of reality there, of what it is and what aspects of it are and aren't worth focusing on, is really similar to that of hardcore capitalism-worshipping, Ayn Rand-worshipping Objectivists. Even when a majority of people in those kinds of communities ostensibly seem to be lip-service liberals.