Lizzo Caves To The Rage Mob, And The Rage Mob Thinks Of New Things To Rage At.

There’s a lesson here. NEVER CAVE TO THE RAGE MOB. Not ever.

According to NPR, Lizzo recently released a new song called “Grrrls” which included the word “spaz” in it. The lyrics originally read, in part, as follows:

“Hold my bag, bitch, hold my bag/Do you see this shit? I’ma spaz.”

Now, you should know that I was voted biggest spaz in my high school class (I think the actual award was for “Most Hyper” but I distinctly remember being called a spaz and not minding one bit, because the terms were used pretty much interchangeably). Fast forward to being a mom of a kid with severe cerebral palsy, and I think I qualify to weigh in on the term “spaz.”

First of all, it wasn’t until hullabaloo around Lizzo’s song started that I even learned that the word “spaz” is considered to be a slur. This was brand new news to me. But apparently activists in the world of disabled people have decided that because the word “spaz” is sort for “spastic” which can describe the tense muscles that are part and parcel of having cerebral palsy, now saying “spaz” is a slur against disabled people.

This is all so stupid I can’t even believe I’m writing about it.

Lizzo apparently hadn’t heard about this “slur” either when she was busy writing her song lyrics. And of ALL THE POTENTIAL THINGS for people to be mad about in her song lyrics, they chose “spaz.” Here are the rest of the lyrics, by the way.

Bitches, uh
Bitches, uh, uh-huh
Hold my bag, bitch
Hold my bag
Do you see this shit? Hold me back
I’m about to knock somebody out
Yo, where my best friend?
She the only one I know to talk me off the deep end (ah)’Cause that’s my girl, we codependent
If she with it, then I’m with it
Yeah, we tussle, mind your business
Zu, zu, zu, zu, zu-su-lu
That’s my girl, we CEO’s
And dancin’ like a C-E-ho
We about to throw them bows
Let’s fuck it up
Where my girls, where my girls at? (Woo, hoo)
Where my girls, where my girls at? (Woo, hoo)
Yeah, this the type of fight I’m lookin’ for
Where my girls, where my girls at? (Woo, hoo)Let me take these earrings off
And hit the boosie ratchet with my friends
Woah, oh, woah, oh (whoop that ho)
I’ma go Lorena Bobbitt on him so he never fuck again, no-oh, oh
Now you can’t fuck again, bro
That’s my girl, we codependent
If she with it, then I’m with it
Yeah, we tussle, mind your business
Zu, zu, zu, zu, zu-su-lu
That’s my girl, we CEO’s
And dancin’ like a C-E-ho
We about to throw them bows
Let’s fuck it up
Etc. etc. repeat repeat repeat

Once Lizzo faced the backlash from the crazy activists, she promptly changed the lyrics and removed the word “spaz.” She even issued a giant apology.

Look how stunning and brave she is to cave to the rage mob.  (Insert every eyeroll here).

And as is typical when the rage mob comes for you and you cave, it wasn’t enough.  As you can read in the sourcelink, there are now people angry that BLACK disabled people have been apparently overlooked in this conversation.  BEHOLD:

When singer-songwriter Lizzo’s new single, “Grrrls,” sparked a heated online discussion over the weekend about ableist language, Black disabled activist Vilissa Thompson noticed that the conversations were dominated by certain people within the disability community.

White disabled people in the U.S. and the U.K. were calling out the singer for using the word “spaz,” which many consider an ableist slur. Buried among these critiques, however, was the perspective of Black disabled people, who raised points about the need for cultural nuance and an intersectional lens to the situation.

“The erasure of Black disabled people, when it comes to a Black entertainer, has been very prominent throughout this whole thing,” Thompson, a licensed master social worker, told NPR.

Give me a freaking break.

This policing of language has become so tiresome, but there seems to be no end in sight.  More from the sourcelink:

She pointed out that language evolves and that if the history of the word is offensive or has been used to oppress a particular group, it’s on each person to unlearn it.

“The onus is on us to not just unlearn but also update and improve the way that we communicate with each other, so that our words are intentionally used, so that they don’t cause unintentional harm,” Thompson said.

Imagine being a person as exhausting as Vilissa Thompson is.  Imagine being on high alert at all times – just seeking out things to find offensive.   It HAS to be exhausting.

My son has severe spasticity in his whole body. He has also been known to be a TOTAL SPAZ – especially when being wheeled over bumps on the road or seeing his favorite people. I was voted the biggest spaz in my high school class.  Most people are able to differentiate these things without difficulty, and recognize that these words are not “harmful.”