A new non-slur has entered the rapidly expanding lexicon of offensive words, and that word is “retarded.”
Two recent events have led me to take note of this. Popular singer and Yonkers hater Lady Gaga recently apologized publicly for using the word retarded to describe a comparison of one of her songs to one of Madonna’s.
Shortly after hearing this piece of non-news, I was watching the film ‘Hairspray’ on television (the original John Waters film from 1988, not the musical remake) where the word “retards” was muted from Ricki Lake’s dialogue.
The word retard should not be considered offensive or censored from television broadcasts, and being forced to apologize for calling a comparison retarded is, well, retarded.
Mental retardation is a real condition. It is clinically documented and is characterized by a very low intelligence. While it would be wrong to insult or humiliate people who suffer from this condition, calling attention to someone or something that is very stupid by calling it retarded is not an insult to the retarded. Calling a retard a retard would be wrong because it is cruel, but calling a non-retarded person a retard is an effective way to comment on a grievous error in judgment or a pattern of bold stupidity.
Don’t let the armies of the perpetually offended scare you away from an effective vocabulary. Call those retards out and fight their self-important scolding with retard strength.
3 comments:
Totally agree. You're not as retarded as you used to be.
What I say about anybody else (name calling or otherwise) says, often, more about me, than it says about them.
The words i use-reflect my general attitudes--and use of hurtful words--just let the world know, i am a hurtful person. (so i really try not to be!)
Retard is a verb as well as a slang noun - to retard is to dull, slow or lessen something. Thusly banning the common usages of the words "retard" and "retarded" is to retard our language, making us all forced to speak retarded American English.
Great! Lets give the rest of the free world more of a reason to think Americans are dumb... or retarded as the case may be.
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