Pop Star racism!

[Ketaru]

Re: Pop Star racism!

When I call someone "retarded", I'm calling them slow, making the claim that their brain isn't working as fast as it should be. Because, and this is the kicker, that's what the word means. So if you do something stupid and I call you retarded...that's actually a very accurate term to use. The kicker is that I know of many mentally handicapped, developmentally retarded (aka they develop slower then the average person) people who are very smart while people with "fully functional" brains can be down right moronic

Ah yes, "retarded" does in fact mean that their mind does not function as fast. But we can play the euphemism treadmill game to the ends of time. If this world was a perfect place, everybody would be given the respect they are due. But this is not a perfect world so to vainly combat substandard use of words, the politically correct people...use a substandard use of words!

Gay was a term long before it was used as a label for certain people.

Surprise of all surprises, words change over time. When somebody calls a math test retarded, I don't think they actually mean that the math test is a mentally disabled person. We made up words like "ridiculous" or "difficult" or "undesirable" strictly for these purposes. Maybe people should...use them?

Political Correctness just adds to the problem.

And political incorrectness makes it all better? You may think you take the high ground, saying you merely call it whatever it is. Others aren't so virtuous. They are, in fact, using words like "retarded" as insults.

[Ufgt]

Re: Pop Star racism!

I always like to point to this article when the discussions about the usage of the word "gay" pops up:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co....icle671972.ece

Yes, it's from 2006. Yes, it's from the BBC. But, I think it's a fair assessment of the word. Like all words, the INTENT must be analyzed and the word gay has once again evolved to take on a completely different meaning.

[DakAttack]

Re: Pop Star racism!

How did such a gay topic make everybody so retarded?

[Ketaru]

Re: Pop Star racism!

If we want to talk about changes in words to evade negative meanings, "idiot" used to be the technical term for a person with mental retardation. But you wouldn't go around calling a convention of mentally retarded folk a "convention of idiots." That would be less than shrewd. And my suspicion is that nobody would buy it if you said you were simply saying it from an objective standpoint.