It has nothing to do with empathy. This is upper-class college white girl shit, where people get offended on behalf of a class they don’t belong to and which the people who they are offended on behalf of don’t really give a shit.
You pretend to be offended so you can signal to others that you are virtuous.
This is why I prefer “willful ignoramus” when I want to insult a person like Rogan.
These people aren’t just stupid, they’re choosing to be ignorant.
The real problem is the stigma attached (throughout modern history) to people with intellectual disabilities. Every new term eventually became a slur, because the same bigots who use slurs are also bullies.
“Intellectual disabilities” has a slim chance of avoiding this because it’s too long to say and too hard to spell.
Btw, “lame” and “blind” are examples of how it’s similar for all kinds of disabilities.
In other words, the entire reason we say “developmentally disabled” (or whatever the nom du jour is), is because people like you insist on associating developmental disabilities with bad things.
who is saying that an intellectual disability is a bad thing? You’re the one arguing it’s a problematic discussion. A lot of people are intellectually challenged, is that also rude? Or is that one fine, is it ok to say uneducated, or is that questioning the socioeconomic status of a person, and therefore, also rude.
Just because something is defined in a rather terse/blunt way, doesn’t necessitate it being a negative thing, that was the problem with “retard” and “retardation” being used, it turned into an insult, and as a result, fell out of favor, because it fucked up the medical definition, which is now “intellectually disabled/disability”
Sometimes weird deformities happen, sometimes people get physically disabled, or are physically disabled, sometimes people are cognitively, or developmentally disabled, both are fair depending on the context, because neurology is fucking weird. I mean we call certain things “disfigurements” because it’s not normal. If they sound bad it’s because you’ve negatively associated these words to concepts that bother you.
Can you please use the word in a context that is not insulting?
lets say for example, you left your car outside, and it rained, and after the storm passed you realized you left the windows down. I would say that it would be a pretty “retarded situation” my response would probably be something along the lines of “well that was retarded” both literally, and on my end.
How would you describe someone or something as “retarded” without implying that there is something wrong with the person or thing?
If i’m using it to insult people, i’m referring to people who have a functional neurology, and aren’t actively using it, for whatever reason. As opposed to people who are intellectually/developmentally disabled/challenged whatever you want to use works, who cannot function on that level. There’s nothing inherently wrong with having a lowered level of neurological function. There is something inherently wrong with being so obtuse you obscure your own intelligence in stupidity, and be a retard in the process.
If i’m referring to something stupid i did and it’s not a person. Something like the previous car example. I might design or build something, and in the process i realize i’ve made a significant mistake, misplaced some key component, and done something irreversible that needs to be undone, that would be retarded.
I mean, if you literally google the definition of retard it says: “to stay back” “put off, post pone, or delay” Of course the perjorative version was historically used to insult people, specifically those of a lower intelligence. But just because it was once used that way, doesn’t necessarily mean i’m using it that way now.
whenever i say it, i’m almost exclusively not referencing people who are developmentally challenged, i’m referencing people who are fucking stupid. You could call them developmentally challenged, but then you’re just doing the retard thing that happened to make it a pejorative in the first place. And even then, that’s not necessarily true because it’s such a sterile definition.
Nobody’s “associating” anything. Nobody who’s calling someone retarded has any thoughts in their head about people with the mental disorder. If you called them a downie, then you would probably have a point; as it’s specifically worded to relate to downs syndrome.
But “retard” has come to be an amplification of the word “idiot”. It’s like the words big, bigger, biggest.
It’s the “biggest” of “idiot”.
So if I’m gonna call someone an idiot, my levels of idiot are: Idiot, Dumb-ass, and Retard. I’m just calling them the word that corresponds to being a gargantuan idiot. You can’t use “gargantuan” because they don’t even know what the words mean; so you use retard.
hey I have a question: how does everyone feel about “fucktard”? is that acceptable? it’s not a direct insult to persons with developmental disabilities, but it does have a fairly specific connotation that could be useful in certain situations, plus it throws out an F-bomb to emphasize your anger.
but if that’s too offensive for some folks I guess I can just keep using “fuckmouth”, if that’s easier on the ears.
They stopped using that word because it wasn’t descriptive. The same reason they stopped diagnosing women as “hysterical”. That’s the cool thing about the sciences; they evolve and change over time to be more descriptive, not less.
And now, we use the word hysterical to describe certain things…kinda cool how that works, right? When I call something hysterical (extremely funny) - people don’t get offended and say I’m using a slur.
Or when someone is losing their shit, you say they’re acting hysterical. It’s become a descriptor.
if someone is stupid, and making objectively stupid decisions, it would be fair to call them “developmentally challenged” especially if that person is donald trump, and the stupid decision is tariffs.
Would it also be fair to call him a retard? Yes.
should you? Probably not, would it be justified, yes.
It’s only really fucked up if you’re using it belittle and demean someone, though there are also situations where this is deserved. Morals and ethics aren’t really a solid ground to stand on, more so a floating mass of garbage in the ocean, that just sort of, showed up one day.
i don’t even necessarily disagree with that argument. I just don’t think it’s really all that relevant. I’m not even sure most people would disagree with it.
Obviously you should be nice to people, you probably shouldn’t be an asshole, and you should help them as much as possible, but like, how many of us actually do that?
It’s sort of like telling someone who smokes, that it’s bad for them, they know, you don’t need to remind them.
Maybe try to come up with a more creative way to insult people than by using a slur?
This is the same logic behind saying the f-slur is okay if you’re not using it to describe gay people, you’re just using it to insult a straight person… by comparing them to gay people. See the problem?
I don’t understand how so many people fail to see what you’re saying and have downvoted your comment so much. I think it’s a lot of millennials (I’m one) who have funny memories growing up calling things retarded and gay and they’re just… unwilling to give it up now. It’s not that hard to use other words.
I agree. It’s all emotional and irrational. Even if you’re making a good point, you get downvoted because it’s an emotional response. Similarly, someone saying something stupid but in line with the general sentiment gets upvoted. Sucks to see it here.
R****d fell out of favor probably close to 15 years ago at this point. Developmentally disabled/intellectual disability has replaced it.
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I don’t know about you, but calling someone less intelligent IS an insult. Doesn’t matter what you name it.
That’s the point of insults you know.
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It has nothing to do with empathy. This is upper-class college white girl shit, where people get offended on behalf of a class they don’t belong to and which the people who they are offended on behalf of don’t really give a shit.
You pretend to be offended so you can signal to others that you are virtuous.
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Can we still call people morons?
Yes.
That one stopped being used as a medical designation prior to people getting their panties in a twist about using medical designations as insults.
This is why I prefer “willful ignoramus” when I want to insult a person like Rogan. These people aren’t just stupid, they’re choosing to be ignorant.
The real problem is the stigma attached (throughout modern history) to people with intellectual disabilities. Every new term eventually became a slur, because the same bigots who use slurs are also bullies.
“Intellectual disabilities” has a slim chance of avoiding this because it’s too long to say and too hard to spell.
Btw, “lame” and “blind” are examples of how it’s similar for all kinds of disabilities.
who is saying that an intellectual disability is a bad thing? You’re the one arguing it’s a problematic discussion. A lot of people are intellectually challenged, is that also rude? Or is that one fine, is it ok to say uneducated, or is that questioning the socioeconomic status of a person, and therefore, also rude.
Just because something is defined in a rather terse/blunt way, doesn’t necessitate it being a negative thing, that was the problem with “retard” and “retardation” being used, it turned into an insult, and as a result, fell out of favor, because it fucked up the medical definition, which is now “intellectually disabled/disability”
Sometimes weird deformities happen, sometimes people get physically disabled, or are physically disabled, sometimes people are cognitively, or developmentally disabled, both are fair depending on the context, because neurology is fucking weird. I mean we call certain things “disfigurements” because it’s not normal. If they sound bad it’s because you’ve negatively associated these words to concepts that bother you.
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yeah but who uses it like that? I don’t. I just use it because i think it’s a funny word and i think it has situational comedy potential.
I’m not going to seek out people with mental disorders and call them retarded, that’d be evil.
You’re basically arguing because one person is a terrible person, that we should change to accommodate against them.
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lets say for example, you left your car outside, and it rained, and after the storm passed you realized you left the windows down. I would say that it would be a pretty “retarded situation” my response would probably be something along the lines of “well that was retarded” both literally, and on my end.
If i’m using it to insult people, i’m referring to people who have a functional neurology, and aren’t actively using it, for whatever reason. As opposed to people who are intellectually/developmentally disabled/challenged whatever you want to use works, who cannot function on that level. There’s nothing inherently wrong with having a lowered level of neurological function. There is something inherently wrong with being so obtuse you obscure your own intelligence in stupidity, and be a retard in the process.
If i’m referring to something stupid i did and it’s not a person. Something like the previous car example. I might design or build something, and in the process i realize i’ve made a significant mistake, misplaced some key component, and done something irreversible that needs to be undone, that would be retarded.
I mean, if you literally google the definition of retard it says: “to stay back” “put off, post pone, or delay” Of course the perjorative version was historically used to insult people, specifically those of a lower intelligence. But just because it was once used that way, doesn’t necessarily mean i’m using it that way now.
whenever i say it, i’m almost exclusively not referencing people who are developmentally challenged, i’m referencing people who are fucking stupid. You could call them developmentally challenged, but then you’re just doing the retard thing that happened to make it a pejorative in the first place. And even then, that’s not necessarily true because it’s such a sterile definition.
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You are literally using intellectual disabilities as an insult. That is what you are doing.
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You are shootin’ the shit… by using intellectual disabilities as an insult. You can’t pretend that that’s not what you’re doing.
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You brought it into this thread to let the whole world know what your behavior is like. It’s not nosy to reply to your posts on a public forum.
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dude c’mon
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Nobody’s “associating” anything. Nobody who’s calling someone retarded has any thoughts in their head about people with the mental disorder. If you called them a downie, then you would probably have a point; as it’s specifically worded to relate to downs syndrome.
But “retard” has come to be an amplification of the word “idiot”. It’s like the words big, bigger, biggest.
It’s the “biggest” of “idiot”.
So if I’m gonna call someone an idiot, my levels of idiot are: Idiot, Dumb-ass, and Retard. I’m just calling them the word that corresponds to being a gargantuan idiot. You can’t use “gargantuan” because they don’t even know what the words mean; so you use retard.
hey I have a question: how does everyone feel about “fucktard”? is that acceptable? it’s not a direct insult to persons with developmental disabilities, but it does have a fairly specific connotation that could be useful in certain situations, plus it throws out an F-bomb to emphasize your anger.
but if that’s too offensive for some folks I guess I can just keep using “fuckmouth”, if that’s easier on the ears.
fuck mouth might be too insensitive for those of us who have or don’t have sex, so basically all of humanity actually.
I’m rolling dude! haha
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“Retarded” isn’t a medical definition under IDC-11, so they aren’t retarded, as the medical definitions have changed.
Also Retarded has another standard definition – Being held back or stunted of which applies here.
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They stopped using that word because it wasn’t descriptive. The same reason they stopped diagnosing women as “hysterical”. That’s the cool thing about the sciences; they evolve and change over time to be more descriptive, not less.
And now, we use the word hysterical to describe certain things…kinda cool how that works, right? When I call something hysterical (extremely funny) - people don’t get offended and say I’m using a slur.
Or when someone is losing their shit, you say they’re acting hysterical. It’s become a descriptor.
Hey hey hey, let’s not use incontinence as an insult my dude.
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Lmao, that’s a stretch.
if someone is stupid, and making objectively stupid decisions, it would be fair to call them “developmentally challenged” especially if that person is donald trump, and the stupid decision is tariffs.
Would it also be fair to call him a retard? Yes.
should you? Probably not, would it be justified, yes.
It’s only really fucked up if you’re using it belittle and demean someone, though there are also situations where this is deserved. Morals and ethics aren’t really a solid ground to stand on, more so a floating mass of garbage in the ocean, that just sort of, showed up one day.
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yeah, probably shouldn’t doesn’t mean you can’t though.
Just because you probably shouldn’t yell at people, or swear at them, doesn’t mean you can’t or won’t.
Not everything in this world is a binary, sometimes it’s situationally appropriate, sometimes it’s not, sometimes it’s in between.
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i don’t even necessarily disagree with that argument. I just don’t think it’s really all that relevant. I’m not even sure most people would disagree with it.
Obviously you should be nice to people, you probably shouldn’t be an asshole, and you should help them as much as possible, but like, how many of us actually do that?
It’s sort of like telling someone who smokes, that it’s bad for them, they know, you don’t need to remind them.
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Maybe try to come up with a more creative way to insult people than by using a slur?
This is the same logic behind saying the f-slur is okay if you’re not using it to describe gay people, you’re just using it to insult a straight person… by comparing them to gay people. See the problem?
No, because I’m not calling anybody a faggot.
Just so you know. (I’m guessing you weren’t removing it yourself for a joke.)
So you understand why it’s bad to use a slur that way?
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Reclaiming a slur to describe oneself is a very, very different matter from using it to insult others.
i dont always use it to insult others, and nothing would stop me from using the f slur with my friend group either, gay or not.
You could make the argument that it is offensive to use the word, but that’s kind of the point. (not to any specific group of people though)
I don’t understand how so many people fail to see what you’re saying and have downvoted your comment so much. I think it’s a lot of millennials (I’m one) who have funny memories growing up calling things retarded and gay and they’re just… unwilling to give it up now. It’s not that hard to use other words.
It’s honestly very disappointing to see this here on Lemmy. I’d expect this from Reddit, but I thought people here were better than this.
I agree. It’s all emotional and irrational. Even if you’re making a good point, you get downvoted because it’s an emotional response. Similarly, someone saying something stupid but in line with the general sentiment gets upvoted. Sucks to see it here.
Yes. This place and this post in particular is in dire need of mod action.