Retards, do they care?

[BoganGod]

Political correctness has gone mad. Do you think someone that is intellectually retarded cares whether they are called retarded or differently abled. I believe this is cynical and calculated move by journalists that are paid by the word, and ink manufacturers. Pay day is more writing differently abled thinker than retard. Discuss

[2dimes]

Why would it bother m... Uh, er them?

[/]

To begin with, all responses to words both positive and negative are learned behavior. A blanket statement cannot be drawn, because there are many variables to the conditioning process that shapes what one perceives as negative.
If the person in question had a low IQ, but high enough empathy, they might react to their peers negativity to the word and develop a similar reaction.
Even a mouse will react to fear conditioning, so if the person was bullied as a child while berated with calls of "Retard", it may also produce a negative reaction.

There is of course no problem with the word itself, it is simply another word warped by what is called the "euphemism treadmill". Words like "Moron" and "Lunatic" also started out as simple descriptive words with no negative intent; it is the fault of the offenders and the offended that they lost their place in polite conversation. One must understand however that despite there being no logical need to continue this cycle, most people cannot break their own pathological flaws so easily.

For example, If I were to shout out an insult disparaging a loved one of yours: "Your mother is a Chuwero!" It would most likely be hard for you not to take it personally, but why? Unless your mother was in the room with us, the insult did not actually reach anyone; by your own measure in the opening post it logically didn't hurt anyone since they have no reason to care, yet some people feel anger on other's behalf, thus creating the topic problem.

[mrswdk]

'Idiot' used to be a non-offensive word for a person who is mentally ill. Then it got misused and became a mean way of saying that someone is stupid. Retard is no different - it's far more commonly used as a way to insult someone than as a way of referring to a mentally-deformed person. I would agree that it's become a mildly unpleasant word, and if someone I know wishes that I not say it around them then I will respect that.

[betiko]

I feel offended when I'm called like that, I prefer to be called special. that word sounds great!

[warmonger1981]

Hate crimes

[Artimis]

Knowledge is Pain, Ignorance is Bliss, right?

I don't know if any of you read New Scientist, I remember the special issue on stupidity and how there seems to be an over focus of study on the high end of human intellect. Yet no one wants to study the vast richness of stupidity in all its variety, for fear of ridicule by their peers, primarily.

An interesting topic, I'd like to go into more detail but my lunch break is nearly over and I have to put my nose back to the grind stone.

[Metsfanmax]

Political correctness has gone mad. Do you think someone that is intellectually retarded cares whether they are called retarded or differently abled. I believe this is cynical and calculated move by journalists that are paid by the word, and ink manufacturers. Pay day is more writing differently abled thinker than retard. Discuss

Actually, people who are intellectually disabled do care.

Come on Ms. Coulter, you aren’t dumb and you aren’t shallow. So why are you continually using a word like the R-word as an insult?

I’m a 30 year old man with Down syndrome who has struggled with the public’s perception that an intellectual disability means that I am dumb and shallow. I am not either of those things, but I do process information more slowly than the rest of you. In fact it has taken me all day to figure out how to respond to your use of the R-word last night.

I thought first of asking whether you meant to describe the President as someone who was bullied as a child by people like you, but rose above it to find a way to succeed in life as many of my fellow Special Olympians have.

Then I wondered if you meant to describe him as someone who has to struggle to be thoughtful about everything he says, as everyone else races from one snarkey sound bite to the next.

Finally, I wondered if you meant to degrade him as someone who is likely to receive bad health care, live in low grade housing with very little income and still manages to see life as a wonderful gift.

Because, Ms. Coulter, that is who we are – and much, much more.

After I saw your tweet, I realized you just wanted to belittle the President by linking him to people like me. You assumed that people would understand and accept that being linked to someone like me is an insult and you assumed you could get away with it and still appear on TV.

I have to wonder if you considered other hateful words but recoiled from the backlash.

Well, Ms. Coulter, you, and society, need to learn that being compared to people like me should be considered a badge of honor.

No one overcomes more than we do and still loves life so much.

Come join us someday at Special Olympics. See if you can walk away with your heart unchanged.

A friend you haven’t made yet,
John Franklin Stephens
Global Messenger
Special Olympics Virginia

See also:

http://www.denverpost.com/commented/ci_10351963

http://www.r-word.org/

[clangfield]

Just as a by the by... the 1911 UK census form had a column at the end in which one could identify whether the named individual was "an imbecile, half-wit or feeble-minded".
It also had a column at the start to identify whether the position in the household was "head, wife, child, servant or lodger".
How times have changed... in those days one was either the head of the household or the wife...

[Lootifer]

Beautiful mets.

There's your answer bogan. Inb4 you find some way to [internally] discount it and be at peace with your own world view.

You point at person with downs and say retard, i point at you and say disrespectful asshole. Are you ok with that?

[BigBallinStalin]

If I describe someone as being anxious, have I insulted everyone who suffers from anxiety problems?
If I describe someone as being boring, have I insulted everyone who fails at being entertaining?


Or is it really the case that the description only applies to that someone?

Should the speaker be held accountable of any kind of wrong-doing if some people--external to the conversation-- erroneously* interpret themselves as being a target?

*note: 'erroneously' will be key to any argument in favor or against

[Metsfanmax]

If I describe someone as being anxious, have I insulted everyone who suffers from anxiety problems?
If I describe someone as being boring, have I insulted everyone who fails at being entertaining?


Or is it really the case that the description only applies to that someone?

Should the speaker be held accountable of any kind of wrong-doing if some people--external to the conversation-- erroneously* interpret themselves as being a target?

*note: 'erroneously' will be key to any argument in favor or against

1) It is not erroneous. The reason "retard" is derogatory when used in this way is because it's used to imply that people who are mentally disabled are inferior individuals. Otherwise it would not be an effective insult.

2) Whether or not it is erroneous is not relevant. Consider this statement:

"You are a Jew, and therefore you should die."

I think there are good reasons why Jews other than the one being spoken to should consider themselves a target.

[BigBallinStalin]

"The reason "retard" is derogatory when used in this way is because it's used to imply that people who are mentally disabled are inferior individuals."

For example, when we overhear a conversation between two people, one of them may say, "stop being retarded."


(1) We can arrive at mets' conclusion only if we assume that the speaker maintains that all retards are inferior humans.

(2) Or, we may infer that the speaker means, "this person is being stupid," or "this person's ability to think is less efficient than most."

Note how nothing is implied about the inferiority of all retards in the second interpretation.
Also, note how people who adhere to (1) presume to know what the speaker thinks about all retards--given such little dialogue. (1)'s adherents either have inexplicable knowledge of other people's minds, or are 'putting words into people's mouths' (thus may be mistaken in their interpretation--i.e. they can't be correct all the time).

People who adhere to (1) should be consistent by answering, "yes," to the following:

If I describe someone as being anxious, have I insulted everyone who suffers from anxiety problems?

The reason "anxious" is derogatory when used in this way is because it's used to imply that people who have anxiety disorders are inferior individuals.

If I describe someone as being boring, have I insulted everyone who fails at being entertaining?

The reason "boring" is derogatory when used in this way is because it's used to imply that people who are less able in being humorous are inferior individuals.

The problems of interpretation are simply assumed away whenever one claims to know what someone means--in its totality--when only given one dialogue. That heroic assumption entails hubris (in 'the overestimation of one's capabilities' meaning).

[saxitoxin]

There have been mentally challenged people in this very forum who have said it's okay to use the word "retard." To wit:

>uses the term 'retarded' to describe people (tons of mentally retarded people who would take offense at that)

Bullshit. Learn 2 Engrisha!
We do not even use the term 'mentally retarded,' we use the term 'developmentally disabled.'
Moron, Stupid, Idiot, Imbecile, etc were once all terms used to describe varying degrees of developmental disabilities. Do 'tons of mentally retarded people' have a problem with those words? Nope. What you actually said was accidentally insulting when you called them 'Mentally Retarded.' It's the same as calling a little person a 'midget.' I'm sure that they're ok with the word "midget," just don't call them one. Anyway, get your sh*t together man, you're supposed to be one of the good guys!

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=185115&hilit=retard+saxitoxin#p4044306

[Army of GOD]

There have been mentally challenged people in this very forum who have said it's okay to use the word "retard." To wit:

>uses the term 'retarded' to describe people (tons of mentally retarded people who would take offense at that)

Bullshit. Learn 2 Engrisha!
We do not even use the term 'mentally retarded,' we use the term 'developmentally disabled.'
Moron, Stupid, Idiot, Imbecile, etc were once all terms used to describe varying degrees of developmental disabilities. Do 'tons of mentally retarded people' have a problem with those words? Nope. What you actually said was accidentally insulting when you called them 'Mentally Retarded.' It's the same as calling a little person a 'midget.' I'm sure that they're ok with the word "midget," just don't call them one. Anyway, get your sh*t together man, you're supposed to be one of the good guys!

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=185115&hilit=retard+saxitoxin#p4044306

Oh god, it's that thread. That thread was hilarious.

[Army of GOD]

You point at person with downs and say retard, i point at you and say disrespectful asshole. Are you ok with that?

You're contradicting yourself. You say it's not alright to call someone a retard, yet it's ok for you to call someone an asshole? Isn't calling someone an asshole implying that you think they're inferior ("otherwise it would not be an effective insult")? If a person with Down's doesn't have a choice to have it or not, doesn't an "asshole" not have a choice as well?

Either all of it is ok or none of it is. And frankly, the world would be boring as f*ck if none of it was.





(also, it's funny seeing people who make short jokes towards me [keep in mind I have no problem with the jokes, I'm just pointing out hypocrisy] lead the crusade against "retard")

[mrswdk]

'Retard' is obviously different. The target is supposed to feel insulted by being labelled a retard. The insulter's implication is that it is bad to be compared to a retard, because who would want to be like a retard?

It's very clearly different to calling someone anxious because if my friend is anxious and I call them 'anxious' then I am merely stating a fact. If my friend has no mental disability but I call them a retard then I am trying to insult them by likening them to a 'retard':

1) They are not actually a retard.
2) It is my intention to be insulting.

I myself use the word 'retard' in place of 'idiot' sometimes, but if someone I know asks me not to then I'll stop saying it around them. I don't really see what benefit there is to me in defending my right to use insults that some people find offensive.

[Serbia]

Isn't any name-calling offensive on some level? Even if you resort to the childish "doo-doo head", you're still calling someone a shithead, which is offensive. You can't name-call without offending. This whole debate is stupid.

Bollocks.

[Army of GOD]

Isn't any name-calling offensive on some level? Even if you resort to the childish "doo-doo head", you're still calling someone a shithead, which is offensive. You can't name-call without offending. This whole debate is stupid.

Bollocks.

lrn2readmypost

[Serbia]

Isn't any name-calling offensive on some level? Even if you resort to the childish "doo-doo head", you're still calling someone a shithead, which is offensive. You can't name-call without offending. This whole debate is stupid.

Bollocks.

lrn2readmypost

I loved your post bro. It's just that you're short, and no one listens to short people, so I had to add some legitimacy to this therrad by posting as an averaged-sized person. Or as we call them here in Detroit, "normal".

Bollocks.

[Army of GOD]

Isn't any name-calling offensive on some level? Even if you resort to the childish "doo-doo head", you're still calling someone a shithead, which is offensive. You can't name-call without offending. This whole debate is stupid.

Bollocks.

lrn2readmypost

I loved your post bro. It's just that you're short, and no one listens to short people, so I had to add some legitimacy to this therrad by posting as an averaged-sized person. Or as we call them here in Detroit, "normal".

Bollocks.

=(

[BigBallinStalin]

Beautiful mets.

There's your answer bogan. Inb4 you find some way to [internally] discount it and be at peace with your own world view.

You point at person with downs and say retard, i point at you and say disrespectful asshole. Are you ok with that?

The reason "asshole" is derogatory when used in this way is because it's used to imply that people, who have problems being polite to enough people, are inferior individuals.

Lootifer, please join the Circle of Hubris and regale them with tales of hypocrisy.

[BigBallinStalin]

'Retard' is obviously different. The target is supposed to feel insulted by being labelled a retard. The insulter's implication is that it is bad to be compared to a retard, because who would want to be like a retard?

It's very clearly different to calling someone anxious because if my friend is anxious and I call them 'anxious' then I am merely stating a fact. If my friend has no mental disability but I call them a retard then I am trying to insult them by likening them to a 'retard':

1) They are not actually a retard.
2) It is my intention to be insulting.

I myself use the word 'retard' in place of 'idiot' sometimes, but if someone I know asks me not to then I'll stop saying it around them. I don't really see what benefit there is to me in defending my right to use insults that some people find offensive.

Although you aren't offended by the use of 'anxious', others might be, who then impose their interpretation into the meaning of someone else's conversation, which actually has nothing to do with them (to be clear). This is in accord with the topic; therefore, the analogy holds.

[mrswdk]

Is anxious ever used as an insult?

[Serbia]

Is anxious ever used as an insult?

Yes you stupid anxious nelly.

Bollocks.