The Acceptability of Using Disabilities to Insult

[Simon_Jester]

See, those are specific. They don't raise the same objection.

As it happens, yeah, I don't have a strong opinion about whether "retarded" is okay or not. I'm ambiguous about it. I don't use it very often, but do so occasionally as a synonym for "stupid."

It is perhaps more prejudicial to the mentally disabled. On the other hand, it also does less harm to a conversation than calling someone a douchebag does. People are more likely to keep thinking clearly after you call them retarded than they are to keep thinking clearly after you call them a douchebag. For some reason I find that ironic, but it seems to be true.

Also, I think "retarded" is evolving towards "general word for stupidity" quickly. Once schoolchildren start using a word as an insult, its days are numbered as technical vocabulary. I suspect that by the time I grow old, "retarded" will have become equivalent to "moron," instead of becoming equivalent to racial slurs.

So no, I don't have a firm opinion about that. Why should I? It's not something I normally give a lot of thought to, since I don't use the word often.

[AniThyng]

Maybe a better question would be if using "retard" is as offensive as "cocksucker" or other derogatory terms for gays? Is it as offensive as if I would say "suck my dick" to someone?

I'm not sure it's really helpful to come to these sorts of conclusions. 'Who has it worse' is a pretty morbid question to ask, and when you consider the implied inverse I don't think it would be a very comfortable one.

Well, what I am asking is why retard is more of an outrageous insult than the others cited here. Unless, of course, you are advocating for banning all curse words that degrade people and have a bad background.

Isn't there something about how insults like cocksucker and "suck my dick" when directed towards guys are also sexist, in that the implication that the target is adopting the...ehh..."female" role. Ok, so it's also homophobic. And also assumes that sucking cock is somehow negative...

[Kon_El]

So, are you admitting it's a bigoted term and you'd just like to keep using it because you want to upset people?

My point is that it's as bigoted a term as idiot is, meaning it's not.

You are literally the only person I have ever met who thinks they are equivalent.

Both words started out their existence with the same original meaning, were adopted by the general public as slang terms for the same second definition, and they were then both replaced by new terminology as a result. How are they are not equivalent? Time?

[Aaron MkII]

Yes, retard has not been used as a slur for as long as idiot, fool, or stupid. Its original meaning is still relatively fresh, as memory of that definition fades it'll become just another word.

[RRoan]

Speaking as someone with a disability which is currently in vogue as an insult (along with various derivatives of the word in question), I get pretty cross at people who use disabilities to insult people because, guess what, it fucking sucks when people use something that you are already struggling to live with to degrade and dehumanize you. Or even when people use them to insult others, which does a fantastic job of driving in how derisively they see people with the disability in question.

Goddamned neurotypicals. Assholes, every last one of them.

[The Cooler King]

My wife and I care for two developmentally-disabled adults. The oldest one is 43, and is mentally around 4-5 years old, while the younger one is 40 and is mentally about 12-13. About a year ago, the youngest one, after watching a movie in which someone was called a 'retard', immediately burst into tears. She told me that, when she was in school, people called her a retard to her face almost daily, mocking and humiliating her. Some of her former classmates have confirmed her story. It's obvious to me that the word is hurtful to her, but I'm not sure she would feel that way without the reinforcement of the mocking treatment by her classmates.

[edaw1982]

It seems, that society needs/wants some sort of acceptable targets.
You can't mock certain Races but you can mock other races (Muslims are the in-vogue to make fun of these days), and other certain branches of humanity.

Unfortunately 'Retard' is a long list of bastardized terms to refer to people, 'Gheycommiepinkorepublicdemofagtard!' and other such invectives.

Never are people quite so inventive with the language, except when figuring out new ways to insult each other, it seems.

I don't get the history behind 'Mouth-Breather' to refer to stupid people? What about folks with deviated septums?