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Ongoing campaign to ban the R-word

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True story - I didn't know faggot was a homophobic word until I was 15.

It wasn't really used in that way when I was a kid, it was just a general insult. I'm sure with XBOX Live kids these days in the UK are mingling with US kids who use it every 5 seconds.
 
If you ban a word, some other word will simply take it's place. They'd be better off combating negative attitudes toward people with disabilities instead of an arbitrary arrangement of vocals and consonants.
 
Slavik81 said:
I don't really see where you're drawing this line. Stupid describes a lack of intelligence. It's no different than mentally retarded except that it's less clearly defined.

Edit: I suppose the lack of clarity might affect things. Because it's defined so poorly, it's used more broadly than retarded.
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its entirely different because retarded is a medical term based on a mental disability. Stupid is just stupid. You can be physically and mentally entirely normal, just a dumb ass.
 
I'm offended they're offended.

daviyoung said:
That's because faggots are sausages in the UK.
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A faggot is traditionally made from pig's heart, liver and fatty belly meat or bacon minced together, with herbs added for flavouring and sometimes bread crumbs. The mixture is shaped in the hand into balls, wrapped round with caul fat (the omentum membrane from the pig's abdomen), and baked.
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Sounds pretty good albeit unhealthy. Ha, you brits and having breakfast all day.
 
mrklaw said:
its entirely different because retarded is a medical term based on a mental disability. Stupid is just stupid. You can be physically and mentally entirely normal, just a dumb ass.
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Of course, dumb comes from a medical term for unable to speak...
 
As someone who works in the special needs community, I'm surprised more of you here don't see it as an offensive term when used casually as an insult.

Would you feel comfortable calling a friend retarded near a parent who has a child who is intellectually disabled?
 
SeanR1221 said:
As someone who works in the special needs community, I'm surprised more of you here don't see it as an offensive term when used casually as an insult.

Would you feel comfortable calling a friend retarded near a parent who has a child who is intellectually disabled?
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No, but I also wouldn't call someone who had a visually impaired family member 'blind' if I could help it. Doesn't mean I would feel bad about using it in other contexts. If someone had a family member who was schizophrenic, would you lightly use 'crazy' as an insult?
 
Dead Man said:
No, but I also wouldn't call someone who had a visually impaired family member 'blind' if I could help it. Doesn't mean I would feel bad about using it in other contexts. If someone had a family member who was schizophrenic, would you lightly use 'crazy' as an insult?
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A word like "retarded" obviously caries more weight than "blind" or "crazy."

I'd have no problem saying "The black friday shopping lines were crazy this year." I would have a problem saying, "Black friday was retarded this year."
 
2 of the more annoying and offensive things I hear (even while others say it jokingly) are fag/s or retard. I want to slap the person who says that. I haven't heard it since I was in HS but I know it's still around.

I use stupid more than anything these days. In the past when I was a teenager I might have used retarded to describe something I didn't agree with but grew tired of that word. Now if there is some dumb behavior, it's just stupid.
 
SeanR1221 said:
A word like "retarded" obviously caries more weight than "blind" or "crazy."

I'd have no problem saying "The black friday shopping lines were crazy this year." I would have a problem saying, "Black friday was retarded this year."
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It carries more weight to you. Maybe you just lack empathy with mentally ill people. Ask a blind person how they feel when people keep using blind as an insult.

People need to accept the conditions which are negative will be used as insults, whether that is mentally (retarded, crazy, moron, cretin), physically (lame, blind, dumb), or otherwise. Trying to ban those words you just end up on the euphemism treadmill as described earlier. People already use every single phrase to refer to intellectual difficulties as an insult. Make a new phrase, it will be an insult too.

Edit: Damn it Dave, you made me look like a cretin!
 
LiquidMetal14 said:
2 of the more annoying and offensive things I hear (even while others say it jokingly) are fag/s or retard. I want to slap the person who says that. I haven't heard it since I was in HS but I know it's still around.

I use stupid more than anything these days. In the past when I was a teenager I might have used retarded to describe something I didn't agree with but grew tired of that word. Now if there is some dumb behavior, it's just stupid.
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Faggot is one that caused some difficulty to me, but I think it should be avoided. The reasoning is slightly different though. Being gay is not an objective negative for a person, it only becomes one when people don;t like they idea of gay people. For that reason I find faggot and variations thereon ignorant at best, and offensive at worst.

I know the line may seem fine, but to me it is an important distinction.

That said, I don't go around calling people retarded, but it is not at the same level of taboo as faggot and nigger are, words that only have negative meanings, from social judgement.
 
daviyoung said:
I use the word goon to describe people on a level of intelligence below my own. It's completely inoffensive.
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A goon is someone that is employed as someone's personal enforcer, such as either a personal bodyguard or a ruffian who is kept on staff to intimidate or batter people

You're insinuating that hired muscle is inherently less intelligent, reinforcing a common stereotype about certain professions such as bouncers, doormen, and bodyguards, implying them to be of less mental fortitude.
 
Atrus said:
The fact remains that whatever word you use to refer to people with disabilities, it will always be seen to refer to the impairment or deviation from the working whole.

Words like special, blind, deaf, slow, and challenged have all been used as pejoratives and simply banning 'retard' even under pain of death, would serve to quickly replace another word for it.

The words aren't the problem, it's the context and intent.
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Yup, I hate the focus on linguistics when people get offended. It isn't the words that are offensive, it's the intent. So goddamn tired of all this misdirected self-righteousness. You're not helping anyone!
 
mrklaw said:
its entirely different because retarded is a medical term based on a mental disability. Stupid is just stupid. You can be physically and mentally entirely normal, just a dumb ass.
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Stupid was once a psychological term that corresponded to a specific IQ range.
 
slopeslider said:
A goon is someone that is employed as someone's personal enforcer, such as either a personal bodyguard or a ruffian who is kept on staff to intimidate or batter people

You're insinuating that hired muscle is inherently less intelligent, reinforcing a common stereotype about certain professions such as bouncers, doormen, and bodyguards, implying them to be of less mental fortitude.
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Try saying goon in front of a hired muscle.
 
I just start calling everyone plebs. Fast food plebs, sport fan plebs, etc. It is actually both more offensive and less offensive than retard.
 
After researching, this campaign is to spread awareness and to advocate people to ban it from their own personal use, calling it the "r-word" is their way of pushing the idea that insulting and demeaning people suffering from mental disabilities makes you a shithead. It seems like what Obama did was some empty gesture to please liberals.

So I don't know what the opposition is angry about. If the word "retard" gets replaced with another word, it's a failure of the campaign. Their point is to remove harassment through enlightening people, and discouraging the use of the word "retard" is their way of getting it across to people. It's like along with removing "faggot" out of our lexicon, we have discouraged the idea of homosexuals being a punchline or making fun of effeminate things by saying that they're "gay."

VVV or you have no perspective. I had that mindset too, when I was fourteen.
 
I consciously tried to stop using the word when I found out a colleague has a mentally handicapped child. Like many people, I grew up throwing it around without thinking, and I didn't want to accidentally offend them. It's important to be sensitive and think about how we use language. If other people use it as a synonym to "stupid," it doesn't bother me, but I understand why it can be offensive.

I'm fine with a campaign to make people consider their word choices and to be more sensitive. But "banning" words does not do that. Many people are not going to look into the idea behind this campaign. They will just see "ban the r-word" and say "lol that's fucking retarded."
 
Odrion said:
Intellectual also means relating to intelligence, as in it's a challenge to operate at the level of an average person. They're not hiding their disabilities. They just don't want to be associated with being useless, or a burden.
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i dont understand the cyclical reasoning you are trying to make by saying intellectual is the same as intelligence. of course it does.

"intellectually disabled" is the same thing as "being useless." What are you really trying to say by saying that? Everyone knows that being "intellectually disabled" means that you shouldn't expect much from that person because they aren't able to operate on the same level as an "average person."

i thought the point of not calling someone a "retard" was to make them more equal to the "average" person and to not single them out. Putting ANY name or phrase will serve this purpose, and once "intellectually disabled" becomes distasteful, then maybe they'll start using "cognitively disabled." Then they'll start getting called "coggys" and that then that will become an offensive word.

hell, i'll coin the term right now and head off that branch of offensiveness. Ya'll are a bunch of coggies up in here!
 
I was working on a standup routine with a group and in one sentence, recounting an insane thing someone said to me, I used both cunt and retarded. Everyone flipped and told me that I couldn't say retarded on stage. I never even thought that was the word that people would take offense to.
 
EX5v4l.jpg


Sums up my feelings. I try to refrain from using the word retarded not because of some great offense or people's feelings but simply because it makes you sound like a gabby sorority girl. Moreover, there are way better curse words or insults out there. Crafting new ways to talk shit or curse is the best. Being offended means nothing.
 
How does one "ban" a word? Everyone will still say it as normal. In fact they'll say it more because it's banned.

Will you hear someone say it and call the cops?
 
Lambtron said:
Shocker; someone with a large amount of privilege wondering why everyone is so sensitive and shit.
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Shocker, you've completely missed the point. It has absolutely nothing to do with privilege. Being offended is meaningless. I think you are confusing being oppressed and offended.
 
For those saying that it's silly to be offended: Have you raised a retarded child or otherwise been very close to one?

I don't think anyone has the right to say what words can be used, but I do think it is insensitive to people who are less fortunate to say that they are silly to be offended.
 
I can't wait to see it's replacement become an epithet in it's own right. Such is the ever-moving goalpost of language sensitivity.
 
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