This phrase is considered offensive in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. You might want to replace “tempest” with “severe weather condition.”
Are you saying that calling someone stupid isn’t insulting, it’s just blunt and tactless? Try it in GQ and see what happens. I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say that stupid = bad as well.
i don’t think even that retard Rahm is contending that the usage of the term was not insulting… to the recipient of the insult.
we’re not talking about insulting versus not, we’re talking about whether usage of the term disses the 'tards while simultaneously insulting the retard who made the retarded proposal in the first place.
What are you–deaf?
It would appear to be that stupidity being bad, and that being called stupid is insulting, is the entire point. Directing a slur for “black” at someone as an insult means you’re saying being black is bad. Directing a slur for “gay” at someone as an insult means you’re saying being gay is bad. Directing a slur for “stupid” at someone as an insult means you’re saying being stupid is bad.
“Why you you gotta be so demeaning to me and my retarded kid? Being stupid isn’t a bad thing, I mean look at how far I’ve gotten in life!” replied Palin
I’d say that it’s very bad for lawmakers to be stupid, just as it would be very bad for an umpire to be blind.
If someone calls you stupid as you’re eating your breakfast cereal or brushing your teeth, you’ll probably just think that they’re nuts. If someone calls you stupid when you’re trying to make an argument in Great Debates or trying to make intelligent policy decisions, the insult is much more relevant to what you’re doing. It is bad to be stupid when you’re trying to do something that requires some minimal intellectual capability.
I hear it all the time. I have people correct me when I use the term handicapped: “Oh, they’re not handicapped, they’re just differently abled!”.
Next time I have someone say that to me, I’m probably going to reply with something along the lines of “Ya know - political correctness like that is just fucking retarded”.
Thanks for the snappy comeback, Rahm.
IN HOUSTON???
You’ll have to pardon me for stereotyping, but that’s about the last place I would have expected it. Anyway have you ever heard this from a disabled person, or just from some idiot who heard it on TV and thinks 'that’s what they want to be called, god bless ‘em, cause they couldn’t live with the pain of being reminded they can’t walk’?
has “handi-capable” fallen out of chic or something?
Further thoughts:
There’s nothing wrong with being gay or Black or Jewish, which is why faggot, nigger, and kike are unacceptable. However, there *is *something wrong with being retarded, in the sense that if anybody had a choice, they would not *choose *to be retarded. Mental retardation is a defect, in a way that sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, or religion aren’t defects.
Right. Are you attempting to disagree with me here, or is this just additional commentary? Edit: Serious question. Seemed kind of snippy upon reading it, and is not intended that way.
whatever. your last statement is all liberal lies, you freedom hating communist.
love,
-KKK
p.s. your second sentence is also all lies. we would all gladly strive for retardation if it was actually possible for us to improve ourselves
There are many conditions which lead to low IQ and other forms of mental disability. Restricted oxygen during birth, untreated metabolic issues (PKU), lead poisoning, there are many many others. Down syndrome, caused by trisomy of the 21st chromosome, is one of these conditions, but the affect on mental acuity is not the only symptom. It also often conveys heart problems, sometimes profound.
The amount of impairment does vary dramatically from individual to individual and now that it is not SOP to institutionalize children with Down syndrome from the start, we have found that their potential is not as severely limited as we thought. Looking back, I wonder how many people were written off at birth who could have lived a fairly normal life. The type of institutional environment to which so many were subjected can cause severe impairment when no other predisposing element is present.
I’ll respond to this as soon as I get back from dancing naked to speed metal covers of Indigo Girls songs while smearing myself in the blood of death-panel aborted Christian babies.
I was watching “The Factor” on FOX last night (for J.Stewart) and they had Dennis Miller on there and man he went OFF on the whole retard thing. He was pissed about it. Struck me as funny that someone who worked on SNL (and a stand up comedian) for years, would have such a problem with the use of that word.
But then I remembered he’s a dick, Fox News is a joke, and Sarah Palin should just die already.
Reminds me of one of my favorite movies:
You have got to be kidding. That line was used as a joke to mock the PC craze in the 80’s but got stale very quickly. I haven’t heard it said in 15 years and never did I hear it used in anything but a mocking way.
I think you bought into an old joke and due to lack of exposure to liberals in daily life, you thought this is something that people really say in earnest.
Er, why not?
It’s a word full of contempt (retard, that is) and though I can’t say I’ve never used it, I don’t like it.
BTW, I have never heard a disability rights organisation in the UK use the term ‘differently abled’, nor a person who works with the disabled, or is disabled – etc.
I’ve worked with people with disabilities for over 10 years, and I’ve never heard “differently abled.”