I wasted my time going back and forth with an intellectual-ableist rando in the replies of my year old post about the CDC's decision to get rid of their "no-nit" policy.
And I notice a pattern time and time again that people use intellectual-ableism and sanism as a way to try and put other people down for passionately caring about... anything really, but especially caring about the reality of the ways we've been let down as a society with the systemic normalization of the spread of viruses and pestilence.
It's appalling how comfortable people are with using intellectual-ableist language towards/about people they deem worthless or pathetic or "paranoid", and it's a shame that it's casually used in spaces that are supposedly trying to combat ableism too.
I know it's ingrained in a lot of us to use words like "stupid" and "dumbass" regarding people we feel frustrated by, but I really urge everyone to work on using non-ableist language to denormalize putting the focus of your issue with these people on levels of intelligence. It may briefly put you on a "I'm smarter" pedestal in the moment, but 1. it does not get to the heart of the issue and 2. it reinforces this made up heirarchy of intelligence that is completely arbitrary and rooted in eugenicism.
Practicing true pandemic solidarity & disability advocacy requires you to unpack tolerating intellectual-ableist language in our everyday conversations and resist the urge to call the person you despise an "idiot".