You’re really more offended by a person taking issue with a word that, for at least the last thirty years, has been used to insult individuals by comparing them to disabled people, as if the latter were somehow less-than? You’re more offended by a person having some level of compassion toward disabled people, than by a person who speaks of them as if they’re without dignity?
Pretty low if you ask me. If keeping the meaning of the insult “retarded” has higher societal importance to you than having respect for disabled people you just might be a huge piece of shit.
Literally all this dude above is asking is for people to not invoke disabled individuals when insulting another person, and people in this thread are bending over backwards to justify doing just that. Pretty fucking gross.
You didn’t seem to take offense to them using “idiot.” Why are you comfortable insulting “idiots”? Do you think that mentally deficient people choose to be mentally deficient? That’s just how they’re born. Why would you endorse insulting someone for something they have no choice about?
Being mentally deficient is a disability. “Idiot” is no better than the other words used here. Just stop being so insulting. Seriously, wow.
I was referring to the comment higher in the thread, but “stupid” is just as bad, which refers to the “mentally slow.” They didn’t choose to be that way. It’s offensive to refer to other people by that term, because it sounds like you’re using someone’s mental disability, their mental slowness, as an insult to other people.
You’re basically saying “you’re acting like a dumb person,” and being “dumb” is a dis-ability, in the most literal and obvious sense. You can’t choose your intelligence level, that’s just how people are born. It’s incredibly offensive to use one group’s disability as an insult towards someone else.
Hey, crazy suggestion: try kindness? Wow.
Said this elsewhere, but when was the last time you heard “idiot” used as a medical term vs “retarded?” I still hear grandmas use the latter to describe disabled people, so it’s definitely more offensive to use “retarded” as an insult than it is to use “idiot” considering the current meaning of those two words. “Idiot” isn’t still sincerely used to describe a vulnerable population of people, and sometimes “retarded” still is, albeit usually by older folks. That’s the difference.
I think you’re trying to say they’re equivalent, but honestly I’m not sure if I’m understanding the tone of your comment. If you’re sincerely decrying people in here justifying insulting others, in general, I’m with you. They seem to be scrambling hard to justify their own shittyness.
