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can somebody explain to me why you can't say retarded?

One Brow said:
Because a word that was referring to people who were making great efforts to use the abilities they were given was co-opted by thoughtless people and used to say people had ability but were not making suffcient effort. It's an insult to the disabled to use a word for them that means they struggle because they're lazy.
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I'm not sure where you're coming from with this. I've never thought of the word retarded as implying laziness. Seems to me it's pretty much always meant lacking intellectual ability - - or at least behaving in such a manner as to give the impression that mental capacity was diminished in some aspect.


My dad is a QMRP or qualified mental retardation professional. No joke.
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And Archie, I've got to say, that sounds like a sweet gig if you can get it! I have a friend whose son is working on his certification as a Rust Retardation Specialist, I wonder if the fields are related.
;-)
 
TheItinerantSon said:
i mean isn't it objectively tragic to be developmentally disabled? so why can't you deride a statement by comparing it to that condition?


If its insensitive, than what epithets are we allowed to use? Is Senile ok?
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I can see you suffer from terminal authoritarian submission syndrome. I know there's a traditional three-letter tag for that disability, but since it covers almost everyone in today's society the professionals prefer to use alternate names.

What it boils down to in practical terms is some people just don't know their place in society. The names we get to use to descibe others has always depended on a pecking-order type of caste system. You obviously are not in the highest class of privileged elites. Like me, you have the choice of either going along with the prescibed dictums or being labeled an "anarchist" or something worse.
 
Several months ago after some politicians wife who was involved in charity for people with mental disabilities died they talked to someone on NPR (I think it was on All Things Considered or Talk of the Nation, but I'm not sure) who worked with or had children with mental disabilities and she thought it was unacceptable to make ANY joke that made fun of people for being, acting or looking stupid because it showed that as a society we look down on people who are not as intelligent as most. She felt like there should be a movement to eliminate all jokes that centered around intelligence, or lack thereof. Turns out that would eliminate a good portion of the jokes in the world.

Anyway, I think intelligence is humanities greatest virtue. To have a mental disability is tragic in my opinion. People with mental disabilities are not sub-human, but they do lack what is a great strength for most of us. It typically results in life-long dependance. Because some people have reduced mental abilities that are genetic, related to injury or whatever does not mean that we shouldn't be able to point out when an otherwise mentally capable person is acting like they are not mentally capable. People acting and being stupid IS funny and shouldn't be seen as a slander against people who have no control over their reduced mental capacity.
 
Gameface said:
Because some people have reduced mental abilities that are genetic, related to injury or whatever does not mean that we shouldn't be able to point out when an otherwise mentally capable person is acting like they are not mentally capable. People acting and being stupid IS funny and shouldn't be seen as a slander against people who have no control over their reduced mental capacity.
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I agree. I think that can be done without resorting to words that have emotional baggage.
 
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