I don‘t use social media outside the occasional YouTube comment and on the few manga I follow here.
For decades now saying the R word has been completely out of pocket in any respectable social group. I’m talking meatspace, touching grass society.
You got detention for calling the kids with Downs syndrome that in the 1990s. I doubt people have become less sensitive about how people with intellectual disabilities are treated.
I used it for a while when I was an edgy comedy-noise musician in the 2000s, but I’m not proud of the“what can we get away with” humour.
”I use it all the time and know people who do. Therefore it’s fine”
”Autistic” “disabled” “Downs”… there are terms that are accurate that aren’t clearly slurs.
So you’re not neurotypical. Neither am I. I’m autistic. I’m not intellectually disabled, though. The R word doesn’t apply to me.
I’m not white, but I can‘t run around saying the N word, because I’m not black, either.
I’m a gay woman, but since I’m not a gay man I can’t run around dropping the other F word.
You can’t “take back” what doesn’t apply to you. You can’t just decide something that has become a slur isn’t a slur and use it because… you feel like it. Thats the reason you gave.
”I like saying it, so it’s fine. Stop being offended by things” is Fox News thinking.
This isn’t “tumblr“. This is basic decency and courtesy.
I’m spacing this out in bite-sized segments so you can fit it into your ever so young brain.
Grow up.
1.)
For decades now saying the R word has been completely out of pocket in any respectable social group. I’m talking meatspace, touching grass society.
I don't know what meatspace is but I'm guessing you mean MySpace which hasn't been popular since I was like 15 back in the early 00s
2.)
You got detention for calling the kids with Downs syndrome that in the 1990s. I doubt people have become less sensitive about how people with intellectual disabilities are treated.
You didn't. I grew up in the late 1980s and through the 1990s. No one ever got so much as scolded for calling someone dumb, idiot, stupid, retarded, etc outside primairy school. And even then it was never for calling someone with downs syndrome it. Teachers didn't care as they would call us retarded all the time. We all knew someone growing up who had downs syndrome, and they would use it too since we all knew that it wasn't referring to "mental retardation" which would not have gotten you detention but instead get you a week's suspension for calling someone it. And it's partially because this town is the centre for an agency for the sevrely mentally impaired so we all knew people who were/are mentally incapable of even taking care of themselves and require us to do everything from wiping their butts, feeding them, washing them in the bath, helping them take their meds, etc. We aren't even allowed to defend ourselves if one of them gets violent to point my father has had 17 surgeries including one where he had his shoulder ripped open from a patient biting him with his teeth, but he still works there and has no hard feelings since he knows that its part of the job. And its one of the major job positions here and pays the highest wages as well. Unless you're willing to do all that for the ones who should be supposedly offended you have zero room to talk, and are just trying to feel morally superior by using others as a shield who you have zero intention to actually help
3.)
I used it for a while when I was an edgy comedy-noise musician in the 2000s, but I’m not proud of the“what can we get away with” humour.
I don't think anyone uses retarded for "edgy humour" given no one cares enough to consider it edgy. It's only been in the past year or two where it's begun to have people attempting to turn it into a slur while completely ignoring people using autistic as a slur to actually be edgy. This is why I can't stand people like you who try to preach their moral superiority while completely ignoring the plights of people even in their own community and make excuses for it like "well autism refers to a real condition". So did "retardation" so what's the excuse there, eh? Either both are fine or both are slurs. All you're doing right now is cherry picking what you dislike while ignoring the rest
4.) "I know people who dislike this specific term and refuse to use it just like me. That means no one should be allowed to use it".
Works both ways. If you're going to make an argument, don't use logical fallacies like the
contextomy,
straw man, and
etymological fallacies as it only makes you look desperate to be right rather than giving a proper argument for why your case should be considered.
5.)
”Autistic” “disabled” “Downs”… there are terms that are accurate that aren’t clearly slurs.
Neither is retard. Downs and Autistic are actually slurs as though as much as you seem to avoid admitting it. Especially downs given it actively makes fun of mentally impaired people exclusively as its meaning, hence why its more prefered to refer to it as trisomy 21 instead to avoid the degrading implication of you're looking
down on them, hence the origin.
6.)
So you’re not neurotypical. Neither am I. I’m autistic. I’m not intellectually disabled, though. The R word doesn’t apply to me.
I’m not white, but I can‘t run around saying the N word, because I’m not black, either.
for this one I'm going to just point out the definition of the verb "retard" is:
: to delay or impede the development or progress of : to slow up especially by preventing or hindering advance or accomplishment; to make something go slower
"A rise in interest rates would severely retard economic growth."
RETARD suggests reduction of speed without actual stopping.
treatment that retards tumor growth
a holding back or slowing down : RETARDATION
informal + offensive : a foolish or stupid person
from cambridge dictionary, oxford dictionary, and yes merriam-webster. All the major english dictionaries not only show that the word has three accepted meanings, but none of them mean the other. It even says in the dictionary that my use of it to refer to myself or someone as as a foolish or stupid person is a correct usage seperate from an oudated form of address for mentally impaired people. So you're right. You don't have the right to police how others use a word that does not apply to you, and you have no connection to when the word in question has multiple meanings seperate from the one you're being offended on behalf of others for
7.)
I’m a gay woman, but since I’m not a gay man I can’t run around dropping the other F word.
Actually we both can say faggot since if you do some research you'd know it's origin was actually to refer to women all the way back since the 1500s (16th century) where it only began being used in 1914 for homosexual men with the common consensus being it was readoptted from being an insult for older women to refer to homosexual men following the trend of calling homosexual men feminine terms as a means of insulting their masculinity (i.e. calling them fairies. Fairy is a slur for a homosexual man, yet you will be hard pressed to find a single person who would be insulted by that term)
8.)
You can’t just decide something that has become a slur isn’t a slur and use it because… you feel like it. Thats the reason you gave.
I didn't. You can make straw mans if you want, but it doesn't make it correct. What I did say was that it is a synonym for a foolish, stupid, idiotic, or dumb action or person which is something the dictionary also agrees with me on. I only argued that trying to pretend the entire word is merely an outdated slur no one even uses to refer to mentally impaired people (they typically use "down" or "autistic" with the latter being far more common now-a-days) anymore, is a foolish and self destructive crusade against a conjurered enemy that doesn't exist simply because you want something to fight against while ignoring how it will just sabotage your own community and demonizing anyone who dares disagree with your opinion
9.)
”I like saying it, so it’s fine. Stop being offended by things” is Fox News thinking.
Strawman.
10.)
This isn’t “tumblr“. This is basic decency and courtesy.
It's also basic courtesy to not use logical fallacies when arguing, and using a dictionary to check you are using words correctly. Neither of which you are doing. I am using a word as it is intended while referring to myself and to actions being done. It is both impolite and immodest to try and control someone else's speach while asking for them to respect your speach, all on something that doesn't apply to you and as such have no control over according to your own words
11.)
I’m spacing this out in bite-sized segments so you can fit it into your ever so young brain.
Grow up.
I guarentee I'm older than you for starters, and secondly you are in more need of learning to be mature than I am when you're ironically trying to call someone immature while talking immaturely. I do want to make clear though I split my reply up not to mimic you, but simply because it's easier to read which you ironically did the courtesy of doing for me while trying to spite me. So thank you for doing that. I appreciate it, even if it was done unintentionally.
