Alright, what charitable interpretation of the above racial slur did you mods reason out for this one?
Pertaining to this post in particular.
Not taking sides, but I think Rick Sanchez probably meant mongoloid as in the old name for Down’s Syndrome, not as in a person from Mongolia.
Please tell me that post got reported. There are so many ways it’s not OK.
Its also in the Pit.
So, it’s more of a birth-defect slur than a racist slur. Got it.
Is that permissible?
That would get you all kinds of modded in any other forum, but since it was in the Pit I think it’s permissible.
(note - I’m not a Pit mod)
I’ve never heard it being a racial slur, just another word for “retarded”.
Being we’re allowed to call people “retard” or “retarded” in the Pit, I don’t see why not.
Would it be cool in the pit to call someone a “kike,” or say the n-word? That’s how bad Mongoloid is as a term for a person with Down Syndrome. As an insult, it’s beyond the pale. It’s like telling a Jew “Too bad the ovens missed your mother.” It’s so bad, I can’t think of anything that really compares.
ETA: Wait, maybe it’s like when you say of a non-Jew “He Jewed me Down.” Only to the nth power. No, that didn’t come out as well as I thought it would.
Compared to some of the other things I’ve read in the Pit, not even worth much notice.
Well, you can always report it yourself.
I didn’t want to join the thread just for the sake of tracking down a post and reporting it. But I hope someone who was part of the thread for legitimate reasons reported it.
I’m ignorant of the term used as a slur. This is how I understood the term. Can I get a reference to the usage as a slur?
Restricted language in the Pit
What would be the basis for reporting it?
From your link (note the four cites)
Here It used to be used to refer to people with Down Syndrome. (And it looks like it’s still used that way in France) Nowadays, most people just use it as an insult to mean retarded in general – at least, like I said, that’s how I’ve always encountered it.
But it looks like it can go either way. So while it doesn’t strike me as being as offensive as RivkahChaya claims, it’s probably not something I’d reccomend adding to one’s vocabulary any time soon.
Calling someone with Down Syndrome “Mongoloid” is extremely offensive to both people with Down Syndrome, and people who are Asian. This has been the case since the late 1980s. I am 50 and have worked with disabled people my whole adult life, and the term has never been acceptable in my professional life. It is as out of date as the n-word for a black person, or “Deaf and dumb” for people who are Deaf and do not speak.
Calling someone that whose status is unknown to you, and you are using it as a way to call them a “retard,” purely as an insult, and not as a statement of fact (professionals don’t say “retard” anyway) is even worse. If the poster had said “slanty-eyed retard,” would that have gotten a warning?
The rules quoted are guidelines; not exhaustive; and subject to change,
Thanks. Didn’t know that.
In this case, Rick Sanchez simply revealed the depths he is willing to plumb in order to vent his anger. It stands more as an indictment of his own character than a genuinely hurtful barb. My mother worked with EMR for decades, so I do consider equivalents of “retard” to be quite offensive, but if a poster feels comfortable showing their colors in that manner, in the Pit, where it is allowed, they really only hurt themself.
Thank you, I didn’t know this. Not that I have many opportunities to use it. Is it because “dumb” can also mean stupid? What’s the correct term? Non-verbal?