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BothsidesistFraud

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"Retard" is a great insult and no normal person believes it's harmful to the intellectually disabled (self.opinionhavers)

submitted 1 week ago by BothsidesistFraud to c/opinionhavers

14 comments fedilink hide all child comments

"Retard" is the perfect length for an insult and lends itself very well for emphasis. It rolls off the tongue in anger or disgust very well. Like with most insults, nobody even thinks about what it actually means (see: "motherfucker", "dumbass", etc) any more.

Furthermore, nobody calls the intellectually disabled "retards", and "retarded" is also quite rare now as is "mental retardation". So "retard" is perfect for repurposing as a general purpose insult. People who get up in arms about this are basically saying that the mentally handicapped are retards, which they are not, a "retard" is NOW your dumb friend who you are making fun of, and not an intellectually disabled person you never met.

Get angry about something else. Removing the slur from the intellectually disabled is a good thing.

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[–] ChadMcTruth 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

op what is your opinion on the n word

[–] BothsidesistFraud 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Still widely used in its original pejorative meaning or close to it (soft R), not appropriate as a general slur.

[–] ChadMcTruth 4 points 1 week ago

iabt

i get called retarded a lot and im pretty sure when people say that to me they really think my iq is under 70 so i vote we keep the logic consistent and only people with an intellectual disability get to say it

[–] dual_sport_dork 2 points 1 week ago

For perspective, quite a few words we use to describe generally stupid people of no particular specification like moron, imbecille, simpleton, etc. also used to have a medical definition, and now they don't. Nobody is offended by these anymore.

Give it a hundred years.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

in Portuguese (at least in the region of Brazil I live in) it's basically got that meaning you described (when you're pointing out the dumb thing your friend did).

From what I've seen, in English, plenty of people consider it a slur. I don't understand why, but since I prefer to avoid conflict, I just don't use the word.

I definitely understand your point, but I just don't care that much about it considering it's not my native language: "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." So I don't have an opinion on the word and just prefer to respect the rules of whatever online space I'm in.

Also think of others' perspective: you as an (inferred) abled person may just not experience being called that word, but disabled people could have it used against them as a slur without you knowing or seeing that. Although... "queer" was once a homophobic slur but now has been taken back by the LGBTQ+ community (it's even in the acronym!) so the same could one day apply for the R word.

[–] NineMileTower 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

There are two trains of thought on this issue that it really boils down to.

I don't use the word because I don't want to be rude towards anyone. I might offend someone somewhere and wish not to have that consequence.
I'm going to use the word because the people around me are accepting of it. I understand there may be consequences.

Whatever allows you to sleep at night is the right answer for you, but there's always consequences to your actions.

[–] BothsidesistFraud 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Thank you for discourse

[–] NineMileTower 1 points 1 week ago

Thank you for being you.