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Is the "R-slur" becoming more accepted in Trump's America?
- Thread starter Poor GRIMES
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Let's get it started in here
Must be tough without the R sound
Ninja Scooter
Member
we've banged.
chillybright
Banned
I thought it evolved into "autistic" and "cuck".
Massive Duck. C.M.
Banned
Using "retard" is some elementary school shit
And
Dylann Roof had a black friend too. There will always be people so desperate for acceptance that they let people shit on them so they can pretend to have friends.
And
Dylann Roof had a black friend too. There will always be people so desperate for acceptance that they let people shit on them so they can pretend to have friends.
2Smashed4U
Banned
For the record, I feel you and I agree in some ways. I think there's an argument to be made that for being disabled to be a negative, it's that not being able to do certain things makes a person less, which I don't think is inherently true. For example, if someone is paralyzed and in a wheel chair, they undoubtedly have less ability than able bodied people and to assert that there is something "wrong" about being disabled is kind of backhanded to certain people in that regard.
If that makes sense.
Goose_Se7en
Banned
Lol I can just imagine with the accent right? "Retahhhded". I have a close friend who lives in Everett, just outside Boston so I can imagine it pretty well.
First r is overemphasized to make up for the lack of the second.
That's it.
Merchandise
Member
What I'm interested in is if people observe a difference in severity between "retarded" and "autistic" in terms of being synonyms for stupid. To me the latter is many orders of magnitudes more severe no doubt in my mind. But I guess to the more socially evolved they may both be the same amount of deplorable. If you're in that group of people, do you still recognize that there are people like me who see a difference? Or are we just completely blind?
IDK, language is interesting.
Milksheikhs
Member
Am I the only one who thought "r-slur" in the title was referring to the way white people think racist is a slur word?
CrimsonSquall
Member
I think retarded is a dumb insult that hurts the mental health community, but I'd like to point out that retard, as in impeding something is actually pretty commonly used, particularly in the sciences.
To give one example, any electrical engineer or physicist can explain what a retarded potential is and why it is important.
Words matter, but context matters too. Not every use of the word retard or retarded is meant as an insult, and one should not take it to be that way.
Idk why this is so hard to get.
It took me until my second special education course to permanently switch to person-first descriptions of people with disabilities and I sincerely don't understand how or why people use retard or autistic as slurs.
Like yeah those are people living with a disability but you're using it to negatively describe someone (likely neurotypical, maybe not)
"Dumbass" is generally the word they're reaching for. There are so many other things to call someone who is fucking up somehow.
I knew someone that started dropping "autistic" constantly. My sister has an LD and my best friends kid brother has autism (and was bullied constantly for being different)
I think people just mostly suck
Poor GRIMES
Banned
2Smashed4U
Banned
No I get it, as I mentioned earlier ITT, autistic is an actual specific, and an actual clinical term presently being used to describe people in modern day. It's a decidedly more intentional slur on the part of the people that picked it up.
Well sure, the use as an insult far outstrips the use as a non-insult. You won't hear any disagreement from me on that point. I just wanted to point out that retarded as a word indeed has uses aside from an insult, far more than words such as fag (in America at least), gay, queer, bitch, etc.
Hitlersaurus Christ
Banned
It's definitely not a nice word but calling retarded "the R-word" when it's an actual term is pretty ridiculous. Getting offended by its use is one thing, but censoring it like it's an f-bomb is another.
Poor GRIMES
Banned
Whats wrong with fuck. lmfao
Hitlersaurus Christ
Banned
I've just always wanted to use the term "f-bomb"
Alcotholic
Banned
Self censorship is dumb. IMO, say the word or dont. If you say it with context it wont be offensive to anyone. Aside from that "Fuck" is a fun word.
LoserMakesGood
Member
This has also made a comeback. I've heard "fag" more times in the last 6-8 months than in the 10 years prior. Like you, calling someone a fag, or gay, or retarded was a common insult term back in the day as well as games like "smear the queer". But then we all (well some of us) hit middle school and realized that shit wasn't cool and was bullshit. It faded out of common usage pretty quickly and it was easy if you were mindful of what the words meant and the way you were using them. That's why whenever an old person uses racial slurs and someone tries to excuse it its fucking bullshit and I want to punch them in the face. "oh that's just how they were brought up, it was different." If 10 year old boys can decide on their own to stop using homophobic slurs over the course of a few months than your old ass should have been able to cut that shit out in the last 60 years.
bah this is long and rambly but i'm not goin to fix it. Bottom line, in this day and age everyone knows what these terms mean and the connotations behind them and anyone using them is doing so purposely negative way and is in fact an asshole.
charlequin
Banned
I mean, who really cares about your opinion here, though? It already exists and is in widespread use amongst the communities in question, and it kind of suggests you don't fully "get it" if you don't recognize how that demonstrates the value and utility of the concept.
"Disabled" is actually far and away the preferred term amongst people in the disability community (both physical and mental/neurological) these days. "Differently abled" is some silly 80s shit mostly proposed by people who were not in fact disabled, and I don't think almost anyone would actually suggest it today.
FWIW, while there isn't universal consensus on this, most neurodivergent activists are opposed to people-first language, as it suggests (for example) that a "person with autism" is entirely separable from the condition, vs "autistic person" that more correctly suggests that autism is a fundamental part of the person's personality and experience.
depths20XX
Member
It's a word I'm trying to use less. It sometimes slips out when I refer to a situation as "this is fucking retarded". Can't say I've used it towards people really. I also don't really think it's a "Trump's America" thing really when you have pretty liberal people like Destiny using it on the regular. Honestly, I've always heard the term used quite often. It hasn't really died off like calling things "gay".
Even "liberal" people don't necessarily think about or care much about the disabled community. Most people never even think about them if they don't know anyone on the spectrum, it literally just never occurs to them that that word can be easily interpreted as a pejorative.
And people who make their living streaming video games are especially in a bubble where they'd never meet people in that world, if they never have to leave their room.
I've received a temp ban for using the term the OP is talking about and I've seen one other person get a temp ban as well.
This place is a progressive haven in context of this topic.
spootime
Member
Its something I've worked really hard on not using it anymore. I've got it mostly eliminated from my vocabulary but it slips out with my close friends that I grew up with. Overall I think I hear it less and less these days but I'm at a very liberal school.
I do think I hear more and more casual racism playing video games these days though.
This is the most socially liberal forum that I'm aware of.
I do think I hear more and more casual racism playing video games these days though.
This is the most socially liberal forum that I'm aware of.
depths20XX
Member
Yeah, I agree. I never thought much about it until I dated a girl who worked with children with disabilities. I corrected myself after saying it one time and asked her if the term bothered her and she told me it did. That's when I started avoiding the term.
Dixon's Jet
Banned
Probably, yes. He is a bully. He excites bullies everywhere. He empowers people to be more boorish and obscene. All the morons in this country see this as their big chance to behave more idiotically.
MadJackChurchill
Banned
It's always been thrown around, even by those that consider themselves 'progressives'. I'm just as guilty, it's one of the last subconscious defaults and it ought to be completely unacceptable.
Aaron Strife
Banned
I haven't noticed an actual upswing in its usage, but I still hear people use the word all the time. Liberals, conservatives, doesn't matter.
I've tried to stop using it myself. My dad has always been sensitive to it as his sister was disabled and died young. He'll often say she was retarded when talking about her (since that was the medical term at the time), it's using it as an insult that bothers him.
It pisses me off whenever people get on their soapbox about "oh well this word used to mean something else," bullshit. You live in the here and now, and it's a word that hurts people. Stop being a dick. You don't need that word.
"Idiot" and "moron" became inoffensive words in a time when mocking the disabled was itself inoffensive. Had awareness and understanding been half of what it is today (which still isn't great by the way!), you probably would have seen similar outrage at those words.
Just try to put yourself in someone else's shoes for a moment. The way people talk around disabled people like they're not even in the room and casually throw around words like "retard" is incredibly degrading. I consider myself neurotypical but I also grew up very quiet and shy, and this is absolutely how people in my family talked about me and it was incredibly uncomfortable.
I've tried to stop using it myself. My dad has always been sensitive to it as his sister was disabled and died young. He'll often say she was retarded when talking about her (since that was the medical term at the time), it's using it as an insult that bothers him.
It pisses me off whenever people get on their soapbox about "oh well this word used to mean something else," bullshit. You live in the here and now, and it's a word that hurts people. Stop being a dick. You don't need that word.
...aaaaand case in point.
"Idiot" and "moron" became inoffensive words in a time when mocking the disabled was itself inoffensive. Had awareness and understanding been half of what it is today (which still isn't great by the way!), you probably would have seen similar outrage at those words.
Just try to put yourself in someone else's shoes for a moment. The way people talk around disabled people like they're not even in the room and casually throw around words like "retard" is incredibly degrading. I consider myself neurotypical but I also grew up very quiet and shy, and this is absolutely how people in my family talked about me and it was incredibly uncomfortable.
According to google trends, the word "retard" dropped significantly in March of 2016 and hasn't really recovered. It's used most often in North African countries and France. Related topics apparently include Tropic Thunder and Ann Coulter.
This post is funny because "idiot" and "moron" used to mean the same thing retard did.
Not sure why we draw the line at retard. Seems like using it a lot would rob it of any power it has, just like idiot and moron.
This post is funny because "idiot" and "moron" used to mean the same thing retard did.
Not sure why we draw the line at retard. Seems like using it a lot would rob it of any power it has, just like idiot and moron.
This is deliberately obtuse. You'd have to go back to the 30's and 40's for when idiot and moron more specifically referred to mentally handicapped people, but back then they barely even understood what actual mental disability even was. Just that some people were "slow". Autism wasn't even an official disorder until 1987. Down's Syndrome didn't become an accepted term until the 70's.
2Smashed4U
Banned
Gordon Shumway
Banned
Bet. I hear you bro, I mean with my group of friends we say crazy shit as well, but I figured if you guys say all that, the "r" word seems small potatoes in comparison.
Sup Ninja, relax bro. I know I get you worked up but be nice now kid.
NoblesseOblige
Banned
It took me awhile to get that out of my lexicon. But even at my last job - which was working primarily in schools for special needs students - I would hear it every so often.
charlequin
Banned
Because "retard" came into use as a slur for the intellectually disabled in pretty recent memory and was still in wide use when English-speaking society generally decided it was wrong to insult and belittle people for mental disability, while "idiot" had already long since softened to a less specific and less harsh meaning.
I'd rather see the word robbed of its power so people stop being derogatory assholes, personally.
EDIT: I don't use "retard" in my own vocabulary, but I do think that it's important that we make compelling arguments for our positions, so for the sake of playing the devil's advocate and seeing if I can't get you to make a stronger argument, I'm gonna take the position that it's good use.
I find your argument about the word's temporal presence lacking because no matter when "idiot" was used, it was still a slur. If disabled people were hurt by that, and I presume they were, it was still discourteous and offensive. It's always a good thing with an offensive word loses its offensive power; then people can't be hurt by it. Just because we have another word for the same thing and have decided it is offensive doesn't make it somehow worse than previously used words. As language evolves, certain words lose their potency; it's unfeasible to argue for the arrested development of the English language. Sure, it's a dick move to be derogatory, but most of the people using "retard" or "that's retarded" already use it just like they did with idiot and moron. Going "hey, that used to mean something derogatory, so you shouldn't use it now" is just trying to slow down a word that was already evolving into harmlessness.
Horse Detective
Why the long case?
I thought using "autistic" was the in fashion meme insult these days.
2Smashed4U
Banned
That is the same argument that edgy white boy YouTubers make for wanting to be allowed to drop the n-word
charlequin
Banned
I mean if someone magically invents the way to do that I'm sure there's people who'd be interested to hear about it. Reclaiming slurs is incredibly difficult, arguably "queer" is the closest anyone's gotten to doing it thoroughly and it takes years of dedicated effort by a united political movement and a network of allies who help in recontextualizing the meaning. Whether or not there was a point where that was a plausible direction for "retard," it's not on the table today.
Yes, but nobody alive today experienced being demeaned and disparaged by the word "idiot" in the same way and severity that many, many, many people did with the word "retard."
Your passive aggression doesn't bother me.
I'd argue it was actually headed that way until a bunch of people decided it wasn't okay to use.
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