For some reason my comment failed to publish on this post, so I'm putting it here:
This is patently offensive, and that this was allowed to go through to production this way is very telling how much farther we need to come before the general public realizes how harmful this is.
And I don't buy that "well, we're not REALLY making fun of disabled people, we're making fun of blah blah" - when you used that word, there's no way that it's NOT about disabled people, even when it's not meant that way, and to be so resistant to change use of a WORD. It's like how I saw a news person on TV say that when they used the word f****t in school, that they didn't REALLY mean gay people. It's a pathetic excuse.
I am autistic, and have had an IQ score of in the borderline range as well as in the gifted range, and have been called retard as well as a bunch of other physical and verbal abuse at school, which was justified by both students and counselors by my "weird" behavior, so I must just "expect" that treatment because I look so odd to them. Well, I can expect it and be used to it, but that doesn't mean it's right and it doesn't mean it should go overlooked.
Whatever the IQ score, whatever someone's adaptive skills or disability or whatever, it is hurtful and completely unacceptable that this passes for acceptable usage. I have know decent, kind people who have used this word, because they have absorbed it and also absorbed the justification that it's "not REALLY making fun of disabled people", but that's why this kind of thing needs to be countered - I don't want even MORE otherwise good people absorbing and using this offensive language, simply because society presents it as mainstream and OK.
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3 comments:
Absolutely! My son's IQ is 63, and every time we hear people flippantly use the R word, I want to ... well what I want to do is not at all nice. Thanks for spreading the message.
I despise that word. I make a point of letting anyone know why it is not kind to use such language. It is a real bummer that it is in so many movies that are geared towards young people.
I highly agree. Actually, I just consulted my oxford dictionary.
The people who use it to mean dumb are wrong. Even though it may mean dumb now. People who use it to mean dumb should know that it means to hold back, or slow down.
Therefore, they are retarded because their enlightenment is held back, or at least slowed down.
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