# Why did I get an official warning for supposedly insulting Forrest Gump? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [October 5, 2017, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-get-an-official-warning-for-supposedly-insulting-forrest-gump/797995 "2017-10-05T02:25:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-get-an-official-warning-for-supposedly-insulting-forrest-gump/797995/41 "2017-10-05T07:58:03Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I don’t care either way, but protesting a warning is ridiculous. As I said, accept it and move on. > > It’s really no big deal. Well, unless you continue to be an asshole. If they were truly unimportant, they wouldn’t give them. But they are. They are a form of punishment. It is an official reprimand put on your record, which can be used to “fire” you. It makes perfect sense to try and have as few as possible, and to fight the ones you think are unfair. I still say his best argument is that it’s unfair to punish someone for a rule they didn’t yet know about. This talk of trying to claim it’s not actually that offensive is silly. [Again, I will link the advertisement from 2011.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T549VoLca_Q) Everyone has been put on notice for six years now. It’s time to accept that, to actual mentally disabled people, it IS actually as offensive as those other words, and to treat it accordingly. Yes, it’s been allowed before. Let’s stop. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-get-an-official-warning-for-supposedly-insulting-forrest-gump/797995/42 "2017-10-05T08:03:07Z")
That is one hell of a nonsense warning, right up there as one of the most bullshit warnings I’ve ever seen on here. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-get-an-official-warning-for-supposedly-insulting-forrest-gump/797995/43 "2017-10-05T08:56:45Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > But why was it acceptable here on the SDMB for something over 500 posts, even used vs posters and real people, but on the 501st use it suddenly becomes unacceptable? Why are you asking _me_? Did I claim to have the answer to that question? I was merely sharing some reflections on use of the term “retard.” Call me crazy, but my comments seemed relevant to the topic at hand. I have offered no judgment on the warning, and don’t intend to. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-get-an-official-warning-for-supposedly-insulting-forrest-gump/797995/44 "2017-10-05T09:31:46Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > So after your Pit thread what part do you not get? > > That “retard” is an extremely offensive word to describe someone with cognitive impairment, Offensive to who? Are you claiming to be as thick as two planks? Or merely borrowing offense? I’m not offended by your offense merely because I find /this particular discussion/ ridiculous: I grew up around ‘special’ people, so I knew from a young age that the Orwellian language manipulation had repeatedly failed, with each word haplessly replaced by a new ‘not offensive’ word or phrase. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-get-an-official-warning-for-supposedly-insulting-forrest-gump/797995/45 "2017-10-05T10:16:27Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > If “retard” is really that offensive, I am going to have to think about how I am going to retaliate when I get called that or worse tomorrow at work. Not really, I don’t give two shits. I work in a high pressure industrial facility. Sounds like you are surrounded by a real group of winners there. Any time I hear/read someone use that word, it lowers my opinion of them as a human being. If I were working around people like your team–I’d look for a new job. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-get-an-official-warning-for-supposedly-insulting-forrest-gump/797995/46 "2017-10-05T10:53:37Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I am probably one of the foremost Forrest Gump scholars on this board. This is the most Shagnasty thing you have ever written. Thanks for making me smile! ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-get-an-official-warning-for-supposedly-insulting-forrest-gump/797995/47 "2017-10-05T11:11:55Z")
As the person who first objected to **Shagnasty’s** use of the word, I think it’s important to bring some context into this. **Shagnasty’s** original use of the word was in this context: > [@In Forrest Gump, what disease did Jenny have?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-forrest-gump-what-disease-did-jenny-have/45432/89): > > It really doesn’t matter what the book says because the screenwriters completely rewrote the entire story to be a montage of late 20th century history as seen through a retards eyes. and then doubled down with: > [@In Forrest Gump, what disease did Jenny have?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-forrest-gump-what-disease-did-jenny-have/45432/106): > > I love the movie Forrest Gump but it has no relevance to anything in real life. He is just a retard that just happens to fall into every available opportunity by chance. The reason he was disabled is never given but I assume it was some kind of delivery complication rather than genetic. The whole point of the story isn’t about him. It is just a vehicle to showcase American history. **Shagnasty** didn’t just use the word, he managed to use it in the most offensive way possible, by reducing a human being down to a single trait and using a word that signals the authors disgust at that trait. What’s more, for all of **Shagnasty’s** professed love of the film, he sure doesn’t seem to understand it at all. The entire point of the film was that Forrest would continually be misjudged by the people around him when they first met him because of prejudice against his intellectual disability. But that as people got to know him better, they realized that his intellectual disability was only a part of his character and his kindness, loyalty, moral strength and physical abilities were far more important and what made him into a whole human being. By what I see from **Shagnasty’s** retelling, it seems like he was _never_ able to look past the intellectual disability and, because of that prejudice, ascribed all that happened to Forrest to mere chance rather than active agency on Forrest’s part. The reason why that word is offensive isn’t because some secret cabal got together one day and started marking arbitrary words off a list, it’s because they cause real harm to real people. Imagine if you were someone suffering from an intellectual disability reading that post. You’re reminded once again of just how many people are unwilling to look past your intellectual disability and see you as a mere collection of stereotypes they’ve cobbled together from awful media depictions. And they’re reminded that, even for all Forrest managed to accomplish, there are still some people who continue to label him solely by his intellectual disability so what chance do they possible have of transcending that label? In my original post, I’d simply assumed that **Shagnasty** simply misspoke and would apologize about how his use of the word gave off the wrong impression. His later post has be suspecting that he’s genuinely bigoted against intellectually disabled people and felt the need to threadshit that to the world in a topic that wasn’t even about Forrest in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-get-an-official-warning-for-supposedly-insulting-forrest-gump/797995/48 "2017-10-05T12:28:50Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I am not being deliberate obtuse. The term “retard” is in common use in my area (New England) and isn’t considered especially offensive. We use it all the time for everyone. I got called it today at work and I just laughed. No it is not in common use in New England, and yes, it is considered offensive here. Maybe in your little world it’s OK, but please don’t broad brush the rest of us decent human beings here. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-get-an-official-warning-for-supposedly-insulting-forrest-gump/797995/49 "2017-10-05T12:34:00Z")
People don’t like the word “retard” and think Forrest Gump has been unfairly slighted. Fine. No problem. No need to keep repeating that people are offended. But how the hell is using the word “retard” deemed to be hate speech and deserving of a warning? This board is choc full of libtards, trumptards, bigtards and gods knows how many kinds of tards yet out of nowhere describing Forrest Gump as a retard is worthy of a warning? Be offended all you want but that warning was not consistent, it was plucked out of thin air at the whim of a moderator. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-get-an-official-warning-for-supposedly-insulting-forrest-gump/797995/50 "2017-10-05T12:35:23Z")
There’s no way Shaggy is actually not comprehending this. He’s just arguing that this particular demographic doesn’t deserve respect. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-get-an-official-warning-for-supposedly-insulting-forrest-gump/797995/51 "2017-10-05T12:37:38Z")
> [@tnetennba](#): > > There’s no way Shaggy is actually not comprehending this. He’s just arguing that this particular demographic doesn’t deserve respect. I never said anything like that. Again, we are talking about one fictional character. Read the book if you really want to be offended. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-get-an-official-warning-for-supposedly-insulting-forrest-gump/797995/52 "2017-10-05T12:56:05Z")
I agree that, if it’s hate speech, it’s hate speech in every forum, but it’s not modded that way. Similarly, libtard, etc., would also be hate speech and are also not modded that way. My view is that the Warning should be downgraded to a Note, and if there’s a formal change that “retard” is hate speech, there should be a note in the rules. And, warnings matter. If **Shagnasty** has a bad day or has too much to drink, and goes off the deep end in a rant in the wrong forum, that could easily lead to another warning, or even a ban. The SDMB is a cool place, for some values of cool, and I would hate to be banned from here. I would also have argued against this warning. ---
**Author:** ![anomalous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-get-an-official-warning-for-supposedly-insulting-forrest-gump/797995/53 "2017-10-05T13:00:28Z")
I had just seen this on the top page and checked the posts as well, I do not see anything he said that could be characterized as offensive. If anything he was speaking in abstract. It’s not as if he was deliberately going out of his way to use the term or use it against another user. I’ve not been here long enough to have any merit on this, but I thought i’d chime in as well. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-get-an-official-warning-for-supposedly-insulting-forrest-gump/797995/54 "2017-10-05T13:21:58Z")
It’s a bullshit warning and should be reversed. The term “retard” was not directed at another poster, but instead was directed at a fictional movie character. How lame a warning is that? We could make a movie out of this: “When Jackbooted Mods Run Wild”. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-get-an-official-warning-for-supposedly-insulting-forrest-gump/797995/55 "2017-10-05T13:36:42Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > It’s a bullshit warning and should be reversed. The term “retard” was not directed at another poster, but instead was directed at a fictional movie character. How lame a warning is that? > > We could make a movie out of this: “When Jackbooted Mods Run Wild”. The issue isn’t at whom the “hate speech” is directed, it’s whether or not the term qualifies as hate speech. It’s not OK to say “The new Star Trek movie was OK, but I’m not getting why they had to make Sulu a fag”. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-get-an-official-warning-for-supposedly-insulting-forrest-gump/797995/56 "2017-10-05T13:47:37Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > The issue isn’t at whom the “hate speech” is directed, it’s whether or not the term qualifies as hate speech. It’s not OK to say “The new Star Trek movie was OK, but I’m not getting why they had to make Sulu a fag”. Yes, or saying that _Star Trek Discovery_ is about a Starfleet nigger officer. It is a slur on _that_ level of offensiveness. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-get-an-official-warning-for-supposedly-insulting-forrest-gump/797995/57 "2017-10-05T14:00:02Z")
This was a bad ruling. What the OP was doing was a perfect example of breaking the “Don’t be a jerk” rule. A new, retroactive rule saying that “retard” was and always has been hate speech on the board is silly. You can’t expect someone to obey a rule that didn’t exist before their comment. The “hate speech” warning should be rescinded and a new “don’t be a jerk” warning should be applied to the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-get-an-official-warning-for-supposedly-insulting-forrest-gump/797995/58 "2017-10-05T14:03:07Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > The issue isn’t at whom the “hate speech” is directed, it’s whether or not the term qualifies as hate speech. It’s not OK to say “The new Star Trek movie was OK, but I’m not getting why they had to make Sulu a fag”. The issue has nothing to do with whether “retard” is hate-speech or not; the issue is “Did the SDMB consider “retard” hate-speech before the OP’s comment?”. The answer is clearly “No, they didn’t.” ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-get-an-official-warning-for-supposedly-insulting-forrest-gump/797995/59 "2017-10-05T14:04:28Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > What percentage of those occurred in The BBQ Pit? Of those remaining, how many were discussions about the use of the word? Those are some interesting questions. Why don’t you go look up the answer and get right back to us? ---
**Author:** ![Maurie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Maurie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maurie)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-get-an-official-warning-for-supposedly-insulting-forrest-gump/797995/60 "2017-10-05T14:08:25Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > The “hate speech” warning should be rescinded and a new “don’t be a jerk” warning should be applied to the OP. Totally this. He was told time and again in that thread that his language was bothering people, and he was deliberately obtuse about it. It wasn’t hate speech, but it was unnecessary and jerkish. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-get-an-official-warning-for-supposedly-insulting-forrest-gump/797995.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-get-an-official-warning-for-supposedly-insulting-forrest-gump/797995.md?page=4)