Thursday, April 1, 2010
I know retarded is a loaded word. There is a big campaign about not using the word retarded in a pejorative sense, or in any sense for that matter, except perhaps the fire extinguishing sense, much like, say, the use of the word gay to denote anything other than, well, gay. And run on sentences with lots of commas. People hate that. But what if we used the words retarded and gay to mean something really almost great. Like so great simply because it is so gay and retarded? Really positive! This might fit into that category for me. But I didn't just say that. It was all hypothetical philosophical linguistical. A conversation starter from one PC person to another PC person; between gay loving, retard loving, public radio listening PC people. This clip is so retarded and gay it's great. And the surfing is neat.
We got it off the Surfer's Journal site.
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2 comments:
If only every one else in the world had a loving heart like you. then the disabled who can't defend themselves against the creeps in the world would finally find a safe place.
it's not about being p.c.
It's about showing respect and dignity to a population of people who just want to live their lives without the every day label of retard. why isn't it enough that they are asking you not to use it?
Yes, using words like "retard" and "gay" in a negative light is offensive. "Retard" tends to be even more negative at it is a word created and used, it seems, wholly in the pursuit of derision.
I can think of a thin argument that would separate the usage of said words, over time, from their flesh & blood origins. A kind of sheepish aside to a shadowy "use" that these words are so far removed, and have created a life of their own, from whatever slur-origins they used to associate, imagining that one does not actually conjure the mental image of someone with a mental disability or handicap, or on the other side, a derision of a homosexual, upon usage, so removed, culturally, from the original intent. Perhaps one would call attention to the fact that no one really knows where the word "kibosh" comes from. Perhaps these words, someday will attain this sort of etymologically transmogrified history, or perhaps they will simply die out in said usage.
But, as admitted, at this is a thin argument.
This post was written wholly in jest with an obviously knowing nod to the unsavory line it treads. The surfing in the movie looks really good, the over-dubbing is patently ridiculous, the playground taunts came naturally enough. All a cultural petri dish within which the post germinated.
We are not here to offend, a thing apparently difficult when writing things off-the-cuff in the blogosphere, nor do we hope to re-write the jargon dictionaries.
The options are to re-write the post or delete the written portion altogether. Or, to let it stand for various reasons, not the least of which so people can read your rebut in context.
Opting for the most latter without much of idea as to whether that's a good idea or not but hoping it is, in all sincerity.
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