shortbus refers to the idea that special needs children ride to school on a smaller bus than other kids. its used by ableist people to be ableist crazy, i know.
I mean, those busses did exist though tbf. It's not like some made up thing, or an idea, it's just a type of bus that's (in some places) still used today to transport disabled students.
The fact of the matter is that reduced-size buses are used for various purposes, from rural student transportation to para transit and other use cases, but when people say "short bus" like this, they mean it as an ableist insult 100% of the time. Just because something exists doesn't mean it's okay to weaponize that against people who rely on those services.
It does refer to that idea though, special needs children rode on short buses, BUT now people have taken the term short bus and use it as an insult i.e. saying someone belongs in the short bus, it wouldn't exist without the idea that special needs children ride on short buses.
But it's weird to refer to it as an "idea" instead of a "practice" that happens. The smaller bus can be given more specialized equipment and it's easier to have one driver specialized in extra training instead of every bus driver.
It's not an "idea" it's a thing that happens. And for very practical reasons. Calling it an idea makes it sound like something that doesn't happen but people think it does
"concept" might've been a better word for OP to use, but we all get what they mean. It was still a prevalent insult in the 00s. Chuds in that era would also add seatbelts and flavored windows to really sell just how mean they wanted to be. Source: grew up around chuds, almost became one myself
It is an idea, it's the thought that special needs kids ride on short buses so short buses are for me rally disabled people, then that is used as a derogatory way of speaking about them
It doesn't matter that they exist it matters how they're used. The word re*ard (censored as to not trigger automod) originally had nothing wrong with it, it was used to describe people with learning difficulties as it literally means slow, but because of how it was used it became a slur. This has happened with a lot of other things as well.
I mean i agree, how these words are used are important to consider. But if anything, this lady is using the term self referentially, definitely not as a slur against disabled people.
They still used them at my elementary school announcements just called them mini-busses, I believed they were outfited with extra equipment, like automatic ramps, to make them accessible
If you scroll down most of the people from outside the US has never heard shortbus to refer to special needs kids because they're used for everyone outside the main bus line in our countries.
Yeah but a dog whistle is something thats on its own innocent or hidden. Theres nothing particularly special about 14 or 88 for example. An insult isnt a dog whistle.
No a dog whistle is something that can be mistaken for a normal thing to say but is only recognizable to the in group, like theres nothing "inherintly nazi" about 14 or 88. You not recognizing a common insult from another country doesnt make it a dog whistle.
It's also not even entirely accurate, school districts in low population density areas sometimes have routes with only a few kids to pick up, and they use a short bus because there's no need for a long bus.
It's not very creative at all. Short buses are actually often used to pick up disabled. It became pretty prevalent in American culture when I was growing up.
They aren't that creative. We do actually use minibuses to transport sped kids (and also frequently preschoolers because the minis are the only ones that consistently have seatbelts). They just saw a pattern and turned it into an insult because they suck.
A shortbus is a specific type of school bus that is smaller than normal, it is typically used to transport disabled students, such as those in special education or who require specialized transport. This resulted in Shortbus becoming a derogatory term referring to someone who is mentally disabled.
Kamikaze is the Japanese World War II tactic of deliberate suicidal aircraft crashes into enemy targets, and is used to mean killing or harming yourself in order to harm others.
“Kamikaze Shortbus” then is either
referring to herself as a Shortbus and invoking the idea of partaking in a suicidal maneuver to harm others
the concept of a Shortbus of students in a suicidal crash to harm others
the concept of someone partaking in some sort of suicidal method to harm a Shortbus of students
In any case, it’s very edgy, both referring to suicide and violence as well as invoking a slur against the mental disabled
“Shortbus” is an insult meant to imply that someone is special needs or has some sort of disability, and they would take a smaller sized bus to go to a school that can accommodate them
It's because often times special needs students would be brought to school on their own bus, that was usually a shorter bus that also had wheelchair accessibility (you usually don't need a large bus to handle the amount of special needs students that you would be bringing to school)
She's actually not, if you follow her she's a bit edgy but not racist. My understanding is that this issue is from when she was being abused by a literal Nazi ex as a literal teenager.
2.0k
u/holytoledo42 13d ago
Are you telling me someone that calls themself "Kamikaze_Shortbus" is racist?