Metsfanmax wrote:agentcom wrote:I'm sorry but I don't think retarded is a bigoted word. It's a word that was used dispassionately to refer to ... well ... retarded people before a bunch of kids started calling each other that name on the playground. Now some people prefer "mentally handicapped" or whatever polysyllabic variation carries the day. Saying retard is bigoted is like saying moron, or imbecile is bigoted. Just because some people have appropriated a word like this and used it as an insult does not make it bigotry.
Well, the "mentally handicapped" community generally finds the word deeply offensive when used in this way, and that's the ultimate litmus test for determining whether we should consider it bigotry or not.
I hardly think being offended should be the "ultimate litmus test." Lots of people are offended by rape jokes. That makes them in bad taste, it doesn't make them bigotry. Same with the big "c-word." Please don't suggest that being offended is what is how we decide whether something is bigotry.
Second, is the retarded "community" really offended by this or just their parents? I have a feeling it's the latter.
cowboyz wrote:
Not necessarily. Fag is pretty much the equivalent of calling someone retarded in school kid terms. Has nothing to do with one's sexual preference.
You're missing the point. The definitions don't get to be set by school children. In the case of "fag" and "nigger" the definitions were set by bigots and they cannot change. In the case of retard the word was proper terminology. The fact that some groups of people appropriated all of these terms as epithets does not mean that we should treat all of them equally. People have turned lots of words into insults. But some of those insults ALSO happen to be terms that are historically bigoted terms.
Another comparison, aside from this main point but related, I have friends that use this sort of language to a varying degree. I'm sure you do, too. Or at least you've been around them. Some of them, I don't think are racist or homophobic. But some of my friends, I
think know are letting a little bit of racism slip out because they think they're in a "safe" environment.
To contrast, I don't think that
anyone that I've
ever heard say "retard" actually has any sort of animosity toward retarded people.
Jdsizzleslice wrote:And FYI, being called a fag shouldn't hurt you unless you really are one.
I see the little wink there, so I hope that means you're joking.