The rhetorical minimization of capitalist harm, treating systemic failures as minor, isolated, or even humorous. It reduces profound suffering to anecdotes about “avocado toast” budgets, frames exploitation as “hustle culture,” or mocks demands for change as the whining of a “snowflake” generation.
Trivialization against the Victims of Capitalism Example: A meme showing a homeless person with a smartphone captioned, “Priorities.” This trivialization reduces the complex crisis of housing and mental health to a single, misleading image, suggesting poverty is a choice of frivolous spending rather than a systemic trap.
The treatment of colonialism’s legacy as a niche academic grievance, a political correctness fad, or a matter of simple statues and vocabulary. It reduces centuries of structural violence to a debate about “offense” or “changing names,” mocking demands for reparations or accountability as oversensitive.
Trivialization against the Victims of Western Colonialism and Imperialism Example: Calling for a museum to return looted artifacts and being told, “Get over it, it’s ancient history. Should we give back the Roman roads too?” This trivialization equates millennia-old infrastructure with recent, culturally sacred plunder, reducing a moral claim to a silly reductio ad absurdum.
Portraying the negative consequences of liberal policies as minor inconveniences or as the hysterical complaints of groups seeking “special treatment.” It mocks demands for substantive equality as a desire for “coddling” or a refusal to engage in the “free marketplace of ideas.”
Trivialization against the Victims of Liberalism Example: Dismissing calls for robust anti-discrimination laws with, “So now we need a ‘safe space’ from every mean comment? Grow a thicker skin.” This trivialization reduces the material and psychological impact of discrimination to mere hurt feelings, framing the liberal norm of resilience as the only valid response.
Mocking or belittling the human cost of neoliberal policies as the complaints of the “uncompetitive,” the “resistant to change,” or those who “can’t keep up.” It portrays the gig economy, student debt, and housing insecurity as lifestyle choices or youthful struggles, not structural traps.
Trivialization against the Victims of Neoliberalism Example: Calling millennials struggling with debt and rent “the avocadolatte generation,” suggesting their precarity is a result of frivolous spending, not stagnant wages and asset inflation. This trivialization turns a systemic economic condition into a moral failing and a punchline.
The mocking, aestheticized dismissal of the system's most grotesque outcomes as lifestyle quirks, generational memes, or personal brand opportunities. It turns systemic despair into a series of ironic jokes ("I can't afford to retire, lol"), viral challenges, or content about "quiet quitting" and "bed rotting," thereby dissolving collective rage into atomized, consumable experiences. The violence of the system is trivialized into a mood.
Trivialization against the Victims of Late-Stage Capitalism Example: A viral TikTok trend where users humorously list their "five side hustles" while showing their maxed-out credit cards, set to an upbeat song. The trivialization converts the brutal reality of wage stagnation and the need to work multiple jobs to survive into a relatable, funny personality trait, deflecting anger toward the system into a performance of resilient irony for likes.
The rhetorical minimization of anti-communist persecution, either by mocking its severity, reducing it to a historical curiosity, or treating its contemporary legacy as a joke. It dismisses the lasting trauma of blacklists, ruined lives, and state violence as "ancient history," "political correctness," or the over-sensitive whining of "tankies" and losers, thereby preventing serious moral reckoning.
Trivialization against the Victims of Anti-communism *Example: Responding to a discussion about the millions killed in the anti-communist massacres in Indonesia in 1965-66 with a comment like, "Old news. Should we also cry about every medieval war? Move on." Or, making light of the McCarthy era with a meme about "naming names" at a Hollywood party. This trivialization treats genocide and political terror as trivial footnotes or edgy humor, actively stripping them of their gravity and ongoing political relevance.*
Precedes or follows either a gratuitously disrespectful or honest remark, originated in New York City. Used in similar fashion to "no offense" or "to be honest," interchangeably.
Ya mans is wild buns, respectfully. Respectfully he's washed.
After school, The Modells on Jamaica Ave was active. Respectfully.
Adjective. Used to describe persons who have adjusted or altered their lifestyle for environmental reasons. Crunchy persons tend to be politically strongly left-leaning and may be additionally but not exclusively categorized as vegetarians, vegans, eco-tarians, conservationists, environmentalists, neo-hippies, tree huggers, nature enthusiasts, etc.
Also used to describe establishments where alternative foods and products are sold, i.e. natural food stores.
In a tabletop game, a murderhobo is a player who murders NPCs indiscriminately. This is normally derogatory, referring to a player who totally ignores quests, dialog, backstory, trade, world building etc.
The term is most common with Dungeons and Dragons, but it can be applied to most RPGs where the player is allowed to kill most quest-giving NPCs and NPC traders. E.g. Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Divinity original sin.
DM: The sad little orphan girl tugs at Steve's trenchcoat to get his attention, and ask for help saving her pet dog from...
Steve: I'd like to roll a strength check against strangling the orphan.
Dave: I call dibs on the dog.
DM: You murderhobos disgust me.