**Are you for real? First, thanks for contradicting yourself and taking away all doubt as to what an ass you are. If the word isn’t offensive, why wouldn’t you use it? If the person takes offense, it’s only because he chooses to do so, that’s all. Sort of takes all the starch out of your tirade, eh?
Oh, what’s that? It’s because of the situation. And what is the situation, specifically? What are the extentuating circumstances that render the term offensive, finally, for Revtim? Oh, nothing other than the fact that the person that the vile term refers to is present. That’s the special circumstance that makes the term offensive. Because the person it ridicules is there. How courageous and sensitive. So, on your planet “nigger” is not offensive if blacks are not present, huh? I mean, gee whiz, what are supposed to do, sit around and mumble to ourselves?
“Practically any insult or joke will have a situation where it’s inappropriate.” Genius, if you see this as analogous to the term “retard,” do you understand that you are conceding with this comment that the term is insulting and makes fun of the people it refers to? At what point does your twisted definition of “inoffensive” break into a thousand pieces? At the point where you concede you shouldn’t say it in front of the people it refers to, or at the point where you allow that it is insulting?
Have fun creating specious charges of sensitivity over anything and everything. Last I checked in this thread, I objected only to a term that is offensive by definition. Sorry your crusade lost all its steam when you got called on your bullshit. :rolleyes:
In my job (working with the mentally retarded) we often call them, well, “mentally retarded.” (It’s sort of interchangable with “developmentally disabled.” )
The words “mentally retarded” can be used appropriately, and without offense. Most certainly. I hear it every day at work.
But the word “retard”? I use it to describe a product that slows the drying time of my acrylic paints. I don’t use it to describe a person. It’s not used in that context except to be an insult, and it is a derivative of “mentally retarded”, so do the math.
I do understand that people use “retarded” and “retard” meaning no offense to the developmentally disabled, and I don’t necessarily want to make a big stink about it when I hear them say it, because I know that they are saying it out of ignorance. But do I still cringe inwardly? Yes. Do I feel amazement that someone would defend the use of these words as insults, when called upon it? Yes.
Actually, I feel much the same way. There are people I genuinely like who have used the term, and I assume generally that no offense is intended. It’s merely ignorance.
But what never fails to set me off is when, after someone mentions that this insults people they love, people respond with rolling eyes and exasperation over how unreasonable it is to expect others to refer to the mentally retarded with respect. Priceguy’s response is much more typical, I’m happy to say–i.e., something along the lines of, “Sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it.” Revtim’s vociferous defense of the use of a pejorative is, frankly, unusually petty.
Sorry to stick with the main topic, but I question the reasonableness of the $8-12 for a CD’s worth of music. The materials, handling, and distribution costs go down considerably for the music company, so it seems like the price should get pretty low using the download model. I could see $8.00 as the upper end for price, but any higher doesn’t seem like much of a better deal than the currently too-high CD prices.
Guys, if you really want to debate the word “retard” any further, please open another thread. If anyone wants to say anything else about buymusic.com, please post in this one.
My friend’s sound card can record any sounds that is playing on his computer. He can, for example, capture streaming radio stuff or even the audio from a video he is watching. The only annoying thing is that if he gets, say, an IM during the recording, that sounds gets recorded too! heh.
Ehh… my sister has Down Syndrome, but the term “retard” when used as it is here doesn’t bother me. If someone calls someone who is actually mentally disabled retarded, that bothers me, but that is a totally different situation.
Same here. At a site where pot shots at the very Creator Himself are officially encouraged, it is monumentally bizarre that terms like “retard” or “injun” would be suppressed. Besides, what term would be acceptable? How should the title have been worded — “managed by [what]”?
Suppress what? I stated in this thread, “It’s a free country. Use whatever terms you want.” Just don’t kid yourself that the term is not insulting. If you find a request not to use an insulting term unreasonable, then that says more about you than the requester, IMO.
And, please, there’s no substitute for this word? Hey, there’s a strong argument. How about incompetents, fools, airheads, blockheads, dunces, oafs, meatheads, clods, nitwits? But, oh wait, nothing adds a regal air to one’s writing quite like the word “retard.” I forgot.
OpalCat, you see nothing wrong with a term that uses your sister and people like her as a frame of reference for derision, so long as they don’t refer directly to your sister. Um, OK, sure, I can see that. Right, makes perfect sense.
Ya know what, to each his own. After all, it’s only retards we’re talking about. :rolleyes:
**Someone calls a person “like a kike” because the he thinks the guy is cheap. Or my example from earlier, someone else describes a person as shiftless by using “niggers” as a reference. Neither person being insulted is black or Jewish. IOW, WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT KIKES OR NIGGERS HERE, we are simply using the terms to help describe a particular quality. If you heard a person use these terms these ways, I bet you’d know exactly what they meant.
Do you consider these offensive terms? If not, then you’re consistent at least, but I’ll have to disagree with you again. If so, why are these qualitatively different than using the mentally retarded as a convenient reference when one wants to hold somebody in contempt? Can it be lost on you that the title for this thread uses the word as an insult?
Just in case it’s remotely possible I’m creating offense for someone else who might be misunderstanding me, let me make it crystal clear: I consider both of these terms vile, awful words, which is why I am using them for comparison. “I bet you’d know exactly what they meant” should not be interpreted as, “Bob Cos believes these are acceptable terms or that they accurately describe Jews or blacks.” I absolutely, 100% do NOT.
…because those aren’t actual qualities? “Retarded” has an actual legitimate definition, you know… It isn’t a word that was created as a slur. My mind boggles that you can’t see the difference here.
As to why I don’t use the word… dunno. Maybe it’s a regional thing. I’ve always used “idiot” “moron” etc. and so do most of the people I’ve been around, and was around when growing up. I guess unlike you I don’t consciously plan out every word that comes out of my mouth and ponder all the synonyms that I could use… I just say what comes naturally and the vocabulary I’m used to. :rolleyes:
I don’t have a Mac, darn it, because I’m really interested in the iMusic site. I burned several cd’s from Napster before the site was shut down (and before you all made me feel guilty about doing it even though I owned 95% of the music already). Geesh.
Think the concept is great and hope Apple’s stock goes thru the roof. And I’m not just saying that because I own Apple stock. And because I think Steve Jobs is hot.
Can’t wait for the Windows version of iTunes to be released. I have a whole song list just waiting to be burned.
BTW, some enterprising computer geek should open a site where you can go and tell him what songs/artist you wan burned onto a c.d… For a fee, someone with the techo-knowledge and kick-ass burner could burn c.d.'s and snail mail them to people like me who don’t have any desire for an iPod. I just want to be able to pop a disc into my car c.d. player. I’d be willing to pay $5 extra for someone to burn a c.d…
Fuck
I’m sorry to have participated in this thread with an on-topic suggestion.
I could have guessed it would be about political correctness when I read the title.
In this case, however, the PC police should invest in a dictionary. The meaning of retard is “a person of sub-normal intelligence.” If the old spectrum were still in use, this would be a sub-70 IQ, far enough below the 100 median to be significant. Imbecile, moron, and cretin have all been used for various ranges below 70. Should we also not use these terms any longer?
I have an idea, how about we accept that words mean a bit more than our first knee-jerk reaction, particularly when they are surrounded by lots of other words (lets call this ‘context’ for arguments sake) and there is no indication that the one uttering the word meant offense?