Come on, people, if you want to insult somebody, let's get a little more original.
I hate HATE HATE when people use the words retard or retarded as a manner of insult. If there's a number one way to make me dislike you right off the bat, let me hear you call somebody a retard. I'll dislike you for life, on principle.
People with true handicaps, whether it be mental or phyical, have no control over the way they are. It's not their choice. It's something that they, and their families, will have to live with forever. But it doesn't define who they are. They're still amazing people. And by calling them retard, you're just pointing out their differences. As if they weren't already aware of them. Puh-lease.
Last summer I was in one of the many "customer service" areas on base, waiting to be helped. There was a young female airman behind the counter, talking to one of her coworkers, and she said fairly loudly, "He's SUCH a f-ing retard."
It wasn't my place to say anything directly to her, so after I was finished I asked to speak to her supervisor. I told him what she had said, and told him that I actually had less of a problem with my kids hearing the f-bomb (OK, I admit it, I have a potty mouth that I'm working on) than with my kids hearing somebody being called a retard. I pointed out to him that if there had been a parent in there with a truly disabled child, that parent could have been crushed. Worse yet, what if a disabled person had heard that? How would they feel?
Honestly, I find the word just as offensive as the "n-word." It's not ok to use somebody difference to mock them. It's not ok to make a mistake and call yourself a retard, because YOU were stupid. If you make a mistake or are stupid, call it a whoops and move on with life. Don't be disparaging about it.
I feel so strongly about the word that just from typing it out so many times here, I feel as awful as I would if I had been cussing like a sailor in my grandma's presence. *ick*
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2 comments:
I go both ways on issues like that. I got into the habit of calling things 'gay' that I didn't like. I had a couple people challenge me on this and I thought about it. Then I thought: gay is a word that originally meant 'happy' and then meant 'homosexual' and now it's fine if it means 'not good'. I feel the same way about the word 'retarded' because it originally meant 'slow' (music direction) then it came to be slang for a person with developmental disabilities and now it means something that is bad. I'm ok with language evolving, but in all of this it's also important to not be offensive to people. I will only say certian things when I know they won't be offended (we don't say those things around grandma, we just don't).
there's my $0.02 for ya'
The gay thing bugs me too. One, because I have a lot of gay friends. Two, because my middle name is Gaye. LOL
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