The color red is currently used by both “extreme” political groups in the U.S., the “extreme” leftists and the extreme conservatives. It’s red for leftists because of communism and it’s red for conservatives because of the republican party. The color has now also been co-opted by the far right and has made a comeback in the same spirit of the rise of fascism, so it’s even more charged.
Does this factor into how you dress on a daily basis? Maybe, maybe not depending on the context.
Am I dressing up as a character with a lot of red? Unless they’re political, it’s probably not a statement. Is the outfit predominantly red with patches indicating a political spectrum? Then well, it’s probably with that statement in mind. Are you in an area where the color red is affiliated with local gangs? Then you might avoid the color red entirely to prevent any accidents.
With that in mind, I still feel like weird is quite contextual. Sometimes things are weird because they are unusual. Sometimes unusual is mystical, sometimes unusual is haunting.
That’s the thing about language, English somewhat moreso than others because of its nature. Words mean things based on the words surrounding them, and the meaning of a word on its own is ethereal and faceted until it has been placed in permanence within its sentence. This does not apply to all words of course, as there are obvious examples of words that are originated intentionally to be harmful, then ones that have been turned into colloquially harmful (equally harmful of course). The current case of weird is definitely the latter due to its etymology, and looking at what I’ve seen in social spaces… is the fear that weird will become a slur because it’s being used against a person in politics, and trickle down into social insult? Because weird has always been a good and bad connotation of word. You have 2 kinds of weird uncles, you have 2 kinds of weird situations, you have 2 kinds of so many weird things because weird is weird. Sometimes it’s slimy. Sometimes it’s something beautiful, but unearthly. It is inherently a word far removed from the realm of concrete definition because, true to it’s etymology, it comes from wyrd which meant fate. This seems important as fate itself is not set in permanence until the events occur. Something is weird because you aren’t sure what to expect from it until it settles.
To me, this isn’t inherently a bad thing. It is inherently a contextual thing though. If someone comes up to me and describes themselves as weird, that isn’t very weird. It’s forthcoming about someones personality, that they may be unusual. If we then pass by someone screaming at their phone over a donut they dropped because they hated their wife (idk) and I described him as “extremely weird”, I don’t think anyone except the angry man would feel insulted, nor should they, because my comment was towards the person and the circumstances.
Similarly weirdo can be a term of endearment or more derogatory, it’s all just based on context. It’s good to broaden our vocabulary though, so definitely don’t let me stop you from shifting from using other words to describe the bizarre and vagary!
Also, this isn’t to say that weird couldn’t become a word we shouldn’t say. If one day “the weirds” start getting targeted and people being genuinely afflicted in their livelihood then, well, yeah we’re going to rethink the wording. I just am not sure that a few news outlets calling a sham politician and the last few days gestating that in the socialscape of the internet is really something we should be worrying about yet. Until then, weird will still be used by children to insult other children, it will be self ascribed by weird children and lauded by other children, and it will be used to describe unusual events both before and after they happen.
Weird is a great word for many circumstances. Do not let one circumstance define it, this one especially, not until it is so damning that it really should be brought to pasture.