i respect the distinction, and, in fairness, i do not know whether these friends identify specifically “with” or “as” robots / machines / etc (if i think about it, the answer probably varies by the person)
regardless, i believe your post was adding useful context, and you generally agree with me that people should be allowed to identify however way makes them happy, and that the use of a slur against people who identify with something is probably equally applicable to people who identify as something (/gen, just given the unfortunately controversial nature of the topic, i did want to restate these points just to be very clear about communicating them)
i respect the distinction, and, in fairness, i do not know whether these friends identify specifically “with” or “as” robots / machines / etc (if i think about it, the answer probably varies by the person)
regardless, i believe your post was adding useful context, and you generally agree with me that people should be allowed to identify however way makes them happy, and that the use of a slur against people who identify with something is probably equally applicable to people who identify as something (/gen, just given the unfortunately controversial nature of the topic, i did want to restate these points just to be very clear about communicating them)