[gcr]

posters upthread are talking about comprehension and value systems, not literacy.

"functionally illiterate" is the brush that one paints with when describing people of opposing political viewpoint or lower socioeconomic status, for example.

[jazzyjackson]

I must be illiterate because this doesn’t make any sense to me

Being kinda dumb and graduating school without reading a book is not a socioeconomic status

[chadgpt3]

The point: you call them "functionally illiterate" when you don't like them. Otherwise, you call them something else.

[jazzyjackson]

I guess one could use it as an insult but I’ve only heard it as a practical descriptor for someone who can read the headlines but not the article