No, because those words are long forgotten as official terms. Nobody really knows that.
I, and more importantly, the people who were actually labeled “mentally retarded,” are VERY aware that the insult comes directly from the label.
When I tell you to imagine an idiot in your head, you likely don’t see a person with Down syndrome or whatever, you just see someone dumb, like your uncle, or George Bush.
When I tell you to imagine a retard in your head, you very likely see a drooling guy with a weird Down syndrome face. There’s a connection.
That connection is fading, I know. The medical community has abandoned the term and soon it will be nothing more than an insult just like idiot. But I don’t think we’re there yet. Like I said, the people who were actually labeled the term still remember, and it hurts them.
So are “idiot”, “imbecile” and “moron”. They’re just older official terms that acquired pejorative connotations in popular use.
“Dumb” too of course, although it naturally referred to a different condition and only became a synonym for “stupid” because, prior to the advent of sign languages, deaf/mute people couldn’t communicate with the rest of society at all which in turn resulted in profound developmental issues.
Retard is also not equatable with Jew or gyp - those really are slurs, since they imply that Jews and Roma are innately or culturally miserly or dishonest respectively. Which of course isn’t so. Mentally retarded people however *really *aren’t as bright as the average, as a rule and sort of by definition. Thus, the simile is not particularly insulting to the peope being simile’d to. It’s just a comparison.
Whatever your preferred nomenclature is, rest assured it too will become a “slur” in time should it become widespread in use.
Really? So it’s not insulting if it’s true? You’re actually saying that?
What’s insulting about “retard” is that it implies that being mentally retarded makes you undesirable as a person. Using a real human being to represent an insult is always hurtful to that person.
Again, my test - would you call someone a “retard” in front of someone who was actually mentally retarded, or their family members? Do you not see how that would piss them off?
That doesn’t make it right, does it?
I’m quite aware that there are lots of assholes in the world. Doesn’t mean they aren’t assholes just because there are alot of them.
BTW, some people who don’t know this stuff assume that “mental retardation” is a really old label, perhaps as old as “idiot.” It is not that old. The American Psychiatric Association, for instance, only removed it as an official label in May of this year. If anyone here wasn’t aware of the strong connection between the insult and the medical term - and the people who it was used to label until very recently - those who were labeled with it are keenly aware of it. And now you are too. So I’m just asking people to avoid using it, that’s all. Be more creative.
I don’t know why I bother, because people who want to use a slur and argue for it will always just do it anyway, but there is a campaign by the developmentally disabled, their friends, relatives and advocates, to eliminate the use of the r-word as an insult. Ignoring their express requests is deeply disrespectful. Hopefully as more people become aware, use of the slur will fade, and just maybe people will find a way to be rude and insulting that doesn’t belittle an entire group of people who are already facing substantial challenges.
As has been pointed out, you can feel free to call someone an idiot (once a scientific term for a mentally disabled person) without insulting all mentally disabled people.
I’ve learned that some people freak out about anything like this - which is understandable sometimes, given all the prickly political correctness out there. That’s why I approach this with patience.
But it occurs to me that this is hijacking the thread. Sorry. Let’s get back on track and start a new thread if anyone wants to talk about it more.
Personally I try to avoid the word retard for exactly the reason you have stated, but I also think if someone was insulted by it they are being a bit over sensitive. Can I use the words blind or deaf, or is that also insensitive?
The problem is, and will always be, that being stupid is an insult, so any word that becomes associated with stupidity will be an insult, and any word that is associated with people other people think of as stupid will be an insult. If “retarded” is out of bounds, people will just move on to something else, probably whatever the new term is.
I don’t know of any way around this. You suggest using idiot, and I get that idiot is no longer necessarily a hurtful term, but the way it got to that point was almost certainly through use, not disuse.
There are better threads for this, so I won’t continue in this one. I try, though imperfectly, not to use the terms “retarded” or “retard,” because I understand they cause pain. But shuffling people off to another term that, in their minds at least, means exactly the same thing is, I think, a losing strategy.
I don’t think it will go away. It may not be used in polite conversation or substantive outlets where you wouldn’t expect to hear vulgarities anyway, but IMHO ‘retarded’ neither rises to the offensiveness of ‘mongoloid’ or is an insult directed at the retarded. Saying it’s tantamount to calling someone a Jew for being stingy or whatnot is a false equivalence.
I use “blind” (and “deaf” on the infrequent occasions when it comes up). Or sometimes “blink” (but only in private conversation with my wife).
Funnily enough, my wife, who generally uses “blind” around the house, tends to use “visually impaired” when in public. Not really sure why, but I think it might have to do with not wanting strangers to freak out about her casually using “insensitive” terms when describing her own situation.
That takes me back… It was the late sixties or early seventies… Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In was a hit. They were telling “gay” jokes, and were using the name “Bruce” to indicate a male homosexual. “So, Bruce walks into a bar and asks for a Seymour Temple…”
Someone wrote them a letter, which they read aloud on the air. The letter was from a man asking if they might re-think this.
“My son,” the letter-writer said, “is named Bruce.”
I don’t think it’s insensitive to use blind or deaf, since you’re not really using it as an insult, more an observation. “Are you deaf?” usually involves someone who is having trouble hearing you or not listening – it falls short of calling someone an insulting name, I think.
Again, try the test - would you feel bad calling someone who isn’t deaf “deaf” in front of someone who is? (Not that he would hear you anyway).