The Acceptability of Using Disabilities to Insult

[Losonti Tokash]

So again, your argument is that minorities should just learn that if a slur isn't directed at them in particular, they should just get over it. Your false distinction aside, this is literally what you are saying.

[Flagg]

Please explain what is so special about the word retard that it cannot be used to incite violence. Or that that is the primary purpose of a slur. Or that treating a group of people as inferior isn't bigotry.

Ok, you're a fucking retard.

I don't believe the word retard cannot be used to incite violence, I'm saying that at this point it's generally not used that way. It's used as a general insult. Granted there are despicable fuckholes who use it as a slur against the mentally handicapped but they are in the vast minority.

I never said bigotry is Ok or that treating people as inferior is ok, I simply said that using the word retard isn't bigotry.

Get over your holier than thou bullshit, dude.

[Flagg]

So again, your argument is that minorities should just learn that if a slur isn't directed at them in particular, they should just get over it. Your false distinction aside, this is literally what you are saying.

No retard, I'm saying that the word isn't used as a slur, it's used as an insult and that the people offended by that word should either get over it, or have the way language works explained to them.

[Losonti Tokash]

Quit using a slur directed at a long suffering minority and I'll stop giving you shit about it. Calling someone a retard directly compares them to people with a developmental disability. Redefine it all you want, but that's what you're doing when you say it.

Do you need language explained to you? It is not "words mean whatever Flagg wants them to so he won't feel bad about helping perpetuate a culture of ridicule toward a group."

[Flagg]

Quit using a slur directed at a long suffering minority and I'll stop giving you shit about it. Calling someone a retard directly compares them to people with a developmental disability. Redefine it all you want, but that's what you're doing when you say it.

Do you need language explained to you? It is not "words mean whatever Flagg wants them to so he won't feel bad about helping perpetuate a culture of ridicule toward a group."

Look up the historical meanings for the words "idiot" and "moron" then get back to me. If someone says "you're mentally handicapped" as an insult, get back to me. Until them, get the sand out of your butthole, retard.

[Losonti Tokash]

That's great, you can figure out that the usage of words changes over time due to shifting cultures and such. Too bad it doesn't change because Flagg says so. Your tortured excuses don't make it less harmful or derogatory.

[Losonti Tokash]

Also "mentally disabled" does get used as an insult so I don't even know what the fuck.

[Flagg]

That's great, you can figure out that the usage of words changes over time due to shifting cultures and such. Too bad it doesn't change because Flagg says so. Your tortured excuses don't make it less harmful or derogatory.

No, the fact that it's not used to refer to the mentally disabled the way it was 30 years ago does.

[Flagg]

Also "mentally disabled" does get used as an insult so I don't even know what the fuck.

I never said it wasn't, I said if someone uses it as an insult then they are doing what you claim everyone who uses the word retard is doing.

[Losonti Tokash]

Your use of it is a direct comparison between the target and the developmentally disabled. No way around that. You say you just mean it as "no they're stupid," ignoring that it means that because of the association. When you call someone a retard, you are not just saying they're a stupid person. You could after all, just say that. You are saying that they are like the members of a particular group and share the negative qualities associated with the stereotype. It is no different than calling someone a queer or wetback or whatever else you can think of. You sayit's different because retard isn't used to incite violence, even though it has been. You say it isn't harmful but that's clearly bullshit, it harms lots of people, not always in obvious ways. Even if you don't consciously hold the belief that they're inferior people, it reinforces it in yourself and other people when you use slurs like that and view it as acceptable.

You're so determined to use this word when there are countless, way less offensive alternatives available that you have constructed this bizarre situation where it would be fucking awful to use it around the group you're insulting, but it's okay if they're not around. And anyone offended by it? Well they're just butthurt.

[Flagg]

Again, retard isn't a slur, it's an insult. And I wouldn't use the words idiot, moron, or stupid around the mentally handicapped either. That's because I wouldn't want to accidentally hurt their feelings, not because I think those words are slurs equal to the n word.

[Losonti Tokash]

Furthermore, look how people with a developmental disability are treated in media. Almost always as a total fucking joke. The only positive portrayals I can think of are both on the show GLEE. Fucking Glee.

[Flagg]

Furthermore, look how people with a developmental disability are treated in media. Almost always as a total fucking joke. The only positive portrayals I can think of are both on the show GLEE. Fucking Glee.

The media doesn't depict any minority particularly well.

[Losonti Tokash]

Again, retard isn't a slur, it's an insult. And I wouldn't use the words idiot, moron, or stupid around the mentally handicapped either. That's because I wouldn't want to accidentally hurt their feelings, not because I think those words are slurs equal to the n word.

The only distinction is one you've invented. They both target specific groups for ridicule by likening your target to a negative stereotype. Both have a long history of violence, hate, and atrocity. The cost to you to avoid using the word is zero, but might help make someone feel less shitty.

[Flagg]

I must have invented how the word "Idiot" was a medical term for the mentally handicapped as well.

[Losonti Tokash]

Doesn't have the same connotation, doesn't get used that way at all, and you're just being your usual pedantic self. but I'll make you a deal. Stop using retard, and I won't use idiot, either.

[Flagg]

Doesn't have the same connotation, doesn't get used that way at all, and you're just being your usual pedantic self. but I'll make you a deal. Stop using retard, and I won't use idiot, either.

No, I'm not being pedantic at all. Just as retard was once used as a medical term and is now used as an insult, idiot was once used as a medical term for the mentally handicapped and is now used as an insult. It's the exact same thing.

[Losonti Tokash]

Except retard doesn't just mean "dumb person," no matter how furiously you try to redefine it to suit yourself. It immediately brings to mind people with a developmental disability. Alternate or even original definitions for queer and negro don't stop them being offensive when used in a negative fashion.

[Ford Prefect]

I don't think it's bigotry.

Big deal.

[Flagg]

Dictionary.com

retard

re·tard

noun
3.
a slowing down, diminution, or hindrance, as in a machine.
4.
Slang: Disparaging .
a.
a mentally retarded person.
b.
a person who is stupid, obtuse, or ineffective in some way: a hopeless social retard.

[Ford Prefect]

Your own definition indicates that it's bigotry so????

[Flagg]

Your own definition indicates that it's bigotry so????

Umm, no. It says, and I'm quoting here: "a person who is stupid, obtuse, or ineffective in some way"

It proves my point, retard.

[Ford Prefect]

It also says that it refers to 'a mentally retarded person'. Los has actually explained to you in extremely simple language how this concept works so repeating it is unnecessary. It's clear that you're either intellectually incapable of understanding, or simply a bigot. One or the other.

[Flagg]

It also says that it refers to 'a mentally retarded person'. Los has actually explained to you in extremely simple language how this concept works so repeating it is unnecessary. It's clear that you're either intellectually incapable of understanding, or simply a bigot. One or the other.

Right, I disagree with the idea that the word retard is bigoted, so I'm a bigot. The sole reason for why los has a problem with the word retard is because when mentally handicapped people hear it it makes them feel bad. Well big fucking deal. When fat kids hear the word fatass it makes them sad, does that make the term fatass bigoted?

See, here's the difference between the word retard and the word n***er. There is no automatically hateful intent behind the word retard. It's just an insult. It's not a loaded word. There is no history of violence behind it. It's not dehumanizing if directed at the mentally disabled. It's just mean.

[Ford Prefect]

There is no history of violence behind it.

Go look up Buck v Bell, then you get back to me about the mentally ill and violence.