When is a -tard not a -tard?

[zweisamkeit]

@BigT

I personally would be a fan of removing all -tard neologisms, though I admit I have a vested interest…

@Elendil_s_Heir

The suffix “-tard” is just rude and offensive generally, regardless of what word it’s appended to IMHO.

Agreed. It’s an insult that says you are (or are like) a group of people with a shared characteristic (intellectual disability) that they didn’t choose and cannot change and that it’s a bad thing or something to be mocked.

This is a post/essay using a “quiz” to ask, do you get why this word hurts so much? This past March 4th was the 7th annual day of awareness, Spread The Word To End The Word, created by the Special Olympics.

And remember a couple of years ago, when Ann Coulter called President Obama a retard in a tweet, and (unsurprisingly) defended it? Well, John Franklin Stephens, a Special Olympian and SO Global Ambassador, wrote an open letter to Coulter and it really is worth a read. An exerpt:

I thought first of asking whether you meant to describe the President as someone who was bullied as a child by people like you, but rose above it to find a way to succeed in life as many of my fellow Special Olympians have.

Then I wondered if you meant to describe him as someone who has to struggle to be thoughtful about everything he says, as everyone else races from one snarkey sound bite to the next.

Finally, I wondered if you meant to degrade him as someone who is likely to receive bad health care, live in low grade housing with very little income and still manages to see life as a wonderful gift.

Because, Ms. Coulter, that is who we are – and much, much more.

After I saw your tweet, I realized you just wanted to belittle the President by linking him to people like me.

Appending the suffix -tard to something else as an insult is just as shitty because they refer to the same thing. It’s not an insult limited to the recipient; it relies on widespread knowledge that it refers to those with intellectual disabilities. It not only denigrates them, but helps reinforce and support the sentiment that they are deserving of mockery and abuse; that it’s clearly insulting and humiliating to be thought of as belonging to that group.