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-heavily opinionated post-
I am obviously an Afro-American person, so I’ve been taught to notice certain patterns in speech and how to change how I speak to suit the needs of others. I understand when racialized things are intended to be funny, but just aren’t. The use of “clanker” is one of them.
“Clanker” isn’t a new term. It apparently originated in 1958, first appearing in an article written by William Tenn, used to describe robots from science fiction films. It has also appeared in the Star Wars universe as a way for clone troopers to refer to battle droids. When the word “clanker” first hit my eyes, I knew it wasn’t going to stay within these uses.
Sure enough, another trend emerges in 2025 on TikTok. This time, the POV is “Me when my future daughter brings a clanker home.” or “Me when I see one of those clankers.” Is it sounding familiar yet?
Now, we can all “It’s not that deep” ourselves to death, but sometimes it’s productive to confront issues before they go further…and further…and, oh look, people are calling AI “Rosa Sparks” and “George Droid”.
Clanker is that deep. It has always been deep. Many phrases we say are that deep.
This isn’t funny, it isn’t cool, you know what it is? WEIRD.
I’m not here to tell you that words like “canker sore” or “clicker” shouldn’t be used because you can change a few letters and it turns into the n-word. I’m telling you to increase your pattern recognition. Slurs are used against people [or things] the user feels superior to. All of the above slurs are ripped from their original context and used to make light of. Used for humor. In short, it’s weirdo behavior!
People have also been feigning innocence when it comes to this topic, but it’s not gonna work. The facade can’t hold up forever, and eventually it’ll be cemented over with an “It’s not that deep.”
No one will “It’s not that deep” me to death. It is all that deep because people make it that deep. People are racializing AI and robots, something that has been done numerous times before 2025. Yet, it’s only gotten more malicious and more condescending.
Disclaimer: I am NOT pro-AI. I only urge you to think with a little historical context before you participate in harmful rhetoric and language.
If you have any opinions on this, please comment. Spacehey is really good for exiting echochambers and expanding reach.
Comments
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NEOG_LOLZ
its not that deep
⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆Penny⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺
I 100% agree, when I first heard the word on TikTok it just... didn't sound right, and then I also saw people lowkey making racist jokes but they pretend it was about robots basically... which is absolutely disgusting.
And then I watched this video from Sad Boyz witch Jarvis and Jordan (I love them so much btw) and they talked about it too and had some good points too.
But nooo of course there's these mostly white peeps who keep who keep saying ''Its not that deep" as if its for them to decide, they wouldn't know if it's that deep or not is it really that hard to listen to people for crying and respect their feelings and boundaries out loud!?
A
I mean id like to disagree with the part on being able to move around a few letters and get the n word, the only letters they have in relation is ER. So id say that part isnt rlly true. It is true that their connotation can be similar but i think its going a hit far to say you "only gotta more a few letters "
My bad, theres also an "N" but its no closer to the n word than runner is
by A; ; Report
Thank you for pointing this out! I actually said...
>"I’m not here to tell you that words like “canker sore” or “clicker” shouldn’t be used because you can change a few letters and it turns into the n-word."
I never said you could move letters and the above words would turn into the n-word. I added this sentence because I wanted readers to know I wasn't simply going off the similar sounds of the n-word and "clanker." You're right, not every word that ends in -er is mimicking the n-word, which was part of my point. It's the intention of using clanker to discriminate against a fake race for giggles.
by Skye; ; Report
arro140
Let me preface by saying that "Rosa Sparks" and "George Droid" are jokes that have little to no relation to "clanker." They've been a joke long before people have even thought of the word "clanker." If you knew what various imageboards have been cooking up in their communities (4chan, the 'ru, and ESPECIALLY the Soyjak Party) as jokes for the past year, you'd recognize that only THOSE PEOPLE would make those names up.
I think the reason people say that it's not that deep is because what you're describing isn't really a common experience. In my experience, for one, "clanker" has almost always been used pejoratively against AI and robots in general, and mostly ironically too. I think a good 90% of the people saying that don't actually see other races as inferior, and only exclusively stick to "bucket of bolts" or just "clanker." The connotation may feel like it's there, but please note when I say that not all unique insults ending with "-er" are racially motivated; they're not.
Regardless, I do agree with you that we shouldn't be tying racial slurs with insults towards AI. You can hate AI and it either won't care or will respond "I'm sorry you feel that way." The George Droid memes, and by extension, the list of insults and slurs above that can be reasonably tied to racial slurs, were and still very much are NOT funny and obviously offensive, and the more astute of you may recognize those memes to come from those imageboards, especially because they have anti-semitic references in a good half of them.
In short, when it comes to using "clanker" to racialize AI/robots, it is that deep. Otherwise, when it comes to using "clanker" to describe AI/robots and them ALONE without racializing them, it isn't that deep in my opinion.
One further note: Sorry if I may be coming across as insensitive here, it's just that I'm trying to approach this as logically as possible. Again, I mean no harm or offense.
Whoops. I'm now realizing I'm only using my experience as a base reference for my points. If any one of you want to chime in with your personal experiences regarding "clanker" and its more offensive variants, please chime in. I apologize for that LOL
by arro140; ; Report
Obviously those two phrases (the rosa sparks stuff) are derogatory and dehumanizing, which is one of many reasons why I didn't find them funny at all, though I should have specified that, and I apologize for the confusion. I can certainly understand that the dehumanization of people via those phrases are very bad, but I should reiterate my point, as I think we're straying a bit.
What I meant to convey in my reply is that "clanker," in a general sense, does not attempt to racialize robots unless there's obvious intent shown in evident speech patterns. Language can indeed form new meanings, but if new meaning is found in a completely different, isolated and rare group of people (namely, the imageboard communities I mentioned before), then that doesn't represent a wider view of the intentions and connotation(s) behind "clanker."
That's why I don't think that most people pass off "clanker" because of ignorance. Most people are aware of what the word means literally, though I'm aware it may not be as known to most as to what the potential interpretations of it are by other people.
(EDIT) Said something I shouldn't have at the end. It was a glaring logical fallacy and frankly very ignorant, so I removed it. Again, I apologize.
by arro140; ; Report
M3ZZ0!!XD
As an African-European I'm so glad people are actually speaking about it now because the patterns are just ther,e but it's being brushed of,f which is ridiculous
XxL1ZZ13LUN4CYxX [VV]
Thank you for writing this blog post. I agree with you completely. I wrote my own blog post about the "clanker" phenomenon a few months ago, and I'm glad that I am not the only person who believes that the clanker meme IS racist.
strawberrywafer
Ehh i can't rly comment much about people using african-american things to insult ai. (since i'm asian)
But if some random white kid went up to me and said "Oh I HATE these bat soup eating, slanted eye, yellow skinned, rice farming CLANKERS!!!!!" or "get rid of all these CLINK CLONKS and go back to your own country!!!" I'd honestly burst out laughing if i'm being 100% honest lmao...
My personal rule is, if the joke is some typa thing i'd see in a family guy episode or smth, i'm not gonna get offended. I AM aware there could be genuine racists making jokes like this but I assume most of the people making these jokes are just edgy teens and stuff, not people who legitimately see other races as inferior.
Yeah, I get what you're saying, and it's okay that you laugh at what you think is funny! I just wanted to point out the racialized motivation behind "jokes" like the ones you've stated. Especially because the examples you've listed would be targeted at you, not the AI, despite it appearing as such.
by Skye; ; Report
Ehh I was just saying what I personally feel about the matter but if you personally get offended by that kinda stuff then you do you, i'm not really one to judge.
by strawberrywafer; ; Report
mouse (\_/)
glad to see an actual black person speaking on this issue. what's also eye opening is how this shows spacehey's current demographic. i'm nonblack so i'm gonna refrain from talking too much about it, but again, glad someone here sees how weird it is that (mostly white) people are so quick to say slur stand-ins.
SQUIDYTHEONE
guys dont be fooled, this person is secretly a robot themselves!!
兎𓂃🐇
ITS NOT THAT DEEP!!!!
Indeed not deep
by Fiogamil; ; Report
lulix
I think that clanker itself is okay, and good when it's used to replace the usual racism as for example "me when my kid brings a clanker home" because it shows that people now do not care anymore about race ! But it it bad when they mix it with racism. So clanker isn't bad but the deviation that it created is
No???? That example is literally an example of how white peoples reacting to their child saying a blank person just mixed with the word clanker
by kiko!; ; Report
I feel like it's more of the opposite. Everything is so racialized that people have resorted to racializing inanimate things to feel better than something because they aren't confident enough to do it to other people online.
by Skye; ; Report
I was agreeing w/ you Kiko!
My reply was for user lulix
by Skye; ; Report
omg i thought you were saying it was a good thing. sorry about that < / 3
by kiko!; ; Report
I get what y'all say, but I don't think it has anything to do with racism. It's about human connections. It's about being scared or robots. I just think that this fear is unconscious and it's a way to cope with it. You're defending it like you'd want a robot in your house. And I'm 100% honest when I say that I accept everything and everyone, but I cross the line at robots.
by lulix; ; Report
We're not talking about the reason people use "clanker" it's the way they use the n-word among other black slurs to replace with something robot equivalent. look at the chart, almost half of the "robot slurs" originate from slurs used against Afro-Americans and the like. It's racism packaged in a bow so people like you can say it's not actually racism because it's towards robots. It is literal micro-aggression.
by kiko!; ; Report
dude then why are you arguing ? That's what I said. Clanker itself is not bad but the derivations are, for example George Droid or whatever they say
by lulix; ; Report
ok
by kiko!; ; Report
yumiki ゛ ⸝⸝.ᐟ⋆
honestly some of these are harmless (like bot and fartist for example lol) but bringing up historical civil rights people is plain racist
Mikey
I think clanker itself is hilarious but people making jokes abt ACTUAL racism are fucked up and evil
Karmii𐔌՞. .՞𐦯
THANK YOU!! I've been saying this for the longest, and no one hears me. The whole joke started off funny-- when it was limited to making fun of the main thing currently destroying our environment. But, when they started changing 'Clanker' to 'Cligger' and 'Cligga,' It started getting so out of hand. Parodies of African American historical figures, of real-life situations AA people actually went through and STILL ARE going through?? It got unfunny REAL fast.
Dashie
People are not "feigning innocence". As always, they are playing coy and you are falling for the joke. Any reaction you give other than indifference is the reaction they want. Its just agitation, and people of your disposition fall for it easily. But too be fair, most normies do, so I will not hold it against you
I can see the point that you're making, but playing coy/being alluring is feigning innocence in my opinion. Also, I do think reacting to things is quite important. Turning the other cheek isn't for everyone, and that's okay. Thank you for your comment!
by Skye; ; Report
Its a complicated topic because many people feel liberated by being able to be politically incorrect. So they feel that a criticism of what they consider to be a edgy joke is just moral browbeating. The solution is to make your own funny joke to make fun of their joke.
An example of this would be a joke where the "clanker" is the sad victim of oppression by humans. Jokes can latch on to people more easily than in depth explanation of how the world should work
by Dashie; ; Report
NixErebus 🇧🇷
Damn… I hadn’t noticed the pattern. Thank you for bringing it out in such simple manner, hopefully more people see this!
ashton
thank you for addressing this! i wish your blog had garnered more attention then it has. this is well written, clear, nuanced and not overly accusatory whilst holding those involved accountable! great blog, excited to read more by you :)
Thank you! I really want people to be conscious of why they're saying the words they use. I really appreciate this <3
by Skye; ; Report
Chocodeath {ALT!}
Finally someone on this site said it! I myself am not African American, but honestly the way certain people used the term, along with nicknames like "George Droid" really irked me.
VAIZLUVRR
random and unrelated- but how did u get the background on your blog?
When you go to write a blog post, look right beneath where it says Content. You'll see a button that looks like '<>', but in blue. Click that, then you can type in the same code you used on your profile. The code I use is :
body{
background: url("IMAGEURL") no-repeat fixed; background-size: cover;
}
Then, when you're done entering your code, click that same button, which turned into an '👁️' when you clicked it the first time. Then it should work!
by Skye; ; Report
Junk-Kitten
Strongly agree ! As someone who studied history and now studies sociology, this whole "it's not that deep", racialization of AI and normalization of hateful and harmful speech really is a big social issue...
I wish more people were taught critical thinking, it's always been and always will be that deep !!
Yesss, hateful speech has become far too accepted. Especially because people flick between "It's not that deep," to "It's the internet, what did you expect?"
by Skye; ; Report