this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2024
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I guess I'm getting too old. Is everyone these days offended by crumbs? And don't come in with your vocabulary evolves, works both ways. Were I live everyone uses a multitude of slurs and nobody is hurt in the process, but if they do. Then they open their mouth and we have a civilized discussion about it. We're nearing a point of a privacy invaded society by the people and not the governments at this rate, everyone is opinionated about everything and hurt in the feelings if someone doesn't adhere to their vision on reality.
this post is literally the definition of me opening my mouth and having a civilized discussion about it. pls respect that. :)
The issue is, though you may make a distinction between "I'm using this slur as an insult and not against its targeted oppressed minority", bigots make no such distinction. Hearing others use the slur and normalize it emboldens these bigots to use it against vulnerable minorities, backing up to "I didn't mean it that way" when they get called out. The word's legacy also tangles with a fair bit of racism, as children of minority races were often labeled "mentally retarded" for poor English skills or just so they could be shuffled out of class after school segregation was ended. It's just a word, yes, but one with a lot of ugly history in the US at the very least.
Plus, the dislike of the word really isn't new, it just has more support these days. We have lots of other words to choose from, what's the harm in avoiding this one?
I think that's why I also don't have this understanding for it, I'm not a native English speaker and our language has a ton of curse words. Cursing with disease is frowned upon more than other words
Is it okay if I direct it towards myself even if I'm not the targeted oppressed minority. Like "damn I'm a retard", since that's basically the only way I use the word anyhow.
The x key on my keyboard just flew off into the sun, I pressed it so hard.
How would you feel if something you couldn't change about yourself was used by your peers as an insult? You really don't see how using the word "retarded" as a stand-in for "stupid" is still an insult to people with mental disabilities? If someone was acting stupid and you said they were acting "like a Chinese person" that's still insulting to Chinese people even if the person you're targeting isn't Chinese.
Also I'm calling shenanigans on "the 1980s definition". I am the same age as you and I was taught it was cruel to use the word that way back then.