Thread by @spdustin

We were reminded today that Trump casually uses the word "retarded" as a pejorative. As the father of a child with a developmental disability, I have something to say about that. I've shared it before, but now I'm saying it again in thread form. Share, ignore, unfollow…whatever.

People who use "retarded", "gay", "autistic", "ghetto", etc. in a derogatory form aren't introspective enough to care about how their choice of words makes others perceive them, and trivialize an entire group of people by subordinating them in their effort to demean someone else.

And that's the problem…it's intentionally condescending (and meant to be, don't you dare tell me it's not) to call someone or something "retarded", "gay", "ghetto", "autistic", etc. when one is actually expressing an opinion that the person or thing is not worthy of merit.

History is rife with actual, physical abuses that grew out of trivializing a group of people by distilling that group to pejorative slang.

"Fuck those short sighted motherfuckers," may shock because of the direct use of the glorious and multidimensional root word "fuck"…

…but it certainly isn't trivializing a group of people with a minor vision impairment, because "short sighted" is not the term used to refer to someone who is near sighted. It's borderline lazy, sure. It may offend someone's sensibilities, yeah.

But choosing a word (like "retarded", or "homo", or some animal name like "monkey" or "dog") that one knows DAMN WELL trivializes a group of disadvantaged human beings…well, that's profoundly different from dropping the occasional F-bomb, or calling someone an asshole.

It's not about "free speech", it's about recognizing that one's choice of words can carry a great deal of profoundly negative meaning that diminishes the intended effect of those words. In some cases, by literally dehumanizing a group of people.

It's not "colorful language", it's lazy and careless prose.
And to any current reader of this thread who thinks such bigoted language is okay in civilized company: well, either this thread changes your mind, dear reader, or it doesn't.

Using what you think to be clever analogies, closed-minded logical fallacies, or meritless affirmative defenses ("but, freedom of speech!") is encouraged, if it makes you feel better about yourself to put me in my place for feeling the way I do about this kind of language.

Your right to free speech is no different from mine. But I won't waste my time trying to argue with someone who is not capable of acknowledging that maybe…*maybe*…they're wrong about this one, so please feel free to satisfy that desire to get in the last word if you disagree.

Feel free to argue semantics, too. I won't engage you, because if you have to argue the semantics surrounding your choice of pejorative epithets, I already know what kind of asshole you are. And I'm not being reductive of anuses by saying so.

Basically: if you have to ask if your choice of evocative colloquialism might be seen as diminishing the humanity of a marginalized class of your fellow humans…maybe find a new word.

/end

Postscript: if I am found to have used such diminutives, by all means, call me out. We all screw up. I can admit when I screw up, take responsibility for it, and I will always try to do better.

Just be sure the charge is sincere. Don't troll. I'll just mute/block you if you do.