Verbal weapons that stigmatize and dehumanize people living in poverty, reinforcing their perceived worthlessness and otherness. These slurs include classic terms like "bum," "hobo," "welfare queen," "leeches," or "street trash," as well as more modern, bureaucratic euphemisms that serve the same function, like "service-resistant" (implying a homeless person is stubbornly choosing their fate) or "non-compliant." They reduce complex human beings and systemic failures to caricatures of laziness, dependency, and filth, making it psychologically easier to justify withholding help or support.
Example: A local news segment interviews a businessman about a new homeless shelter proposal. He opposes it, saying, "We can't keep catering to these drug-addled vagrants who just want a handout. They'll destroy the neighborhood." The slurs "drug-addled vagrants" and "handout" do not describe individuals; they invoke an aporophobic stereotype that frames poverty as a personal moral failing and charity as enabling bad behavior, thus shutting down any empathetic or systemic discussion of solutions. Aporophobic Slurs.
by Dumuabzu January 25, 2026
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