There are situations where the word “NIMBY” applies. It’s short for “Not in my backyard”, like someone might think needle exchanges and refugee housing are great but don’t want them in their own neighborhoods (FWIW, I used to live in a neighborhood that had both and it was great). When something is good for everyone including the people who live there but the people who live there are squeamish for bad-faith reasons, NIMBY has been a pretty appropriate slag on them.
But it can also be completely misapplied. If the Galactic Empire wants to excavate your entire planet to death in search of kalkite for its Death Star, and you protest that, it’s not really fair to trot out the old “NIMBY” slag as you’re under the boot.
I’m not saying I know all the ins and out of each situation. I was pretty surprised when Thunberg protested a wind power installation—I thought wind power was good?—but I’m not fully read up so I’ll hold off on coming to a conclusion on that. Similarly, lots of communities here have been protesting uranium mining. Since I’m pretty sure nuclear isn’t the solution we’re looking for, I’m leaning in their favor even more than the wind power thing.
To my surprise, an acquaintance of mine said something like “Oh, what NIMBYs they are!” and it made my jaw drop. “Calling NIMBY” seemed like fair game as long as it was between peers. Like “Oh, stop being such a NIMBY, we both live in this neighborhood and I think we should shoulder this responsibility for good the entire city” or, at the very least, although distantly second-tier, something like “Oh, stop being such a NIMBY, we both live in equivalent neighborhoods and if my neighborhood had been selected to have to have the garbage burning plant, I would’ve gladly said yes, it’s my duty for our city”. (Bringing to mind the old “two cows” joke: “If you had two farms would you give one of them up for the motherland?” “Yes, of course!” “And if you had two cows?” “…” “Why do you hesitate?” “Because I have two cows!”)
But if I’m part of the oppressor/exploiter class, there’s no way I’m gonna call someone under my boot “a NIMBY”! That’s one thousand percent impolite and inappropes!
Now, I know I usually like to zoom out and take the holistic “whole-forest-rather-than-a-single-leaf” approach in these essays so I’d better call out that this time, I’m not doing that. This isn’t me making a final judgment call on the whole “uranium mining yes or no” situation. I’m leaning no on nuclear, it’s just a really inefficient and destructive non-solution as far as I can tell, but the fossil-burning situation is a desperately urgent emergency and if we doom the whole in quest of preserving every part, all parts will die anyway. So a lean no on the uranium thing but a decisive no on the whole NIMBY shaming of these folks. That was strong “let them eat cake” vibes as you sat in your palace fueled by what they had and your class took from them.