Today’s rant is about political correctness and how incorrect many of those people who think they are correct are actually not. The spark for this rant: the fact that people are protesting Tropical Thunder because they use the word “retarded” for a person mentally handicapped. I wonder just when did the definition of “retarded” change.
The American Heritage Dictionary defines “retarded” as:
re•tard
v. re•tard•ed, re•tard•ing, re•tards
v. tr.
To cause to move or proceed slowly; delay or impede.
v. intr.
To be delayed.
n.
1. A slowing down or hindering of progress; a delay.
2. Music A slackening of tempo.
Now then, a person who is mentally handicapped is, by definition, retarded. I am sorry if the word offends some people, but it is the correct term. The people referred to as retarded are usually developmentally behind; they have mentally proceeded slowly compared to others their age; their mental development has been delayed or impeded.
I have recently seen many cases where the word “retarded” has been compared to the word “nigger” and has even been referred to as the “R-word” in an attempt to make it just as bad of a word, but it isn’t. No one was ever lynched simply for being retarded. To me, an offensive “R-word” is republican, but that is for another rant on another day. Today I am attacking the left because it is the left that seems to need to justify itself by defending everyone they feel cannot defend themselves: a sort of bigotry all on its own really.
True story: I used to work at a pizza place in Tampa and one of my co-workers was a black man. This was around the time “African-American” had replaced the term “black” to describe people of color and, being the good Liberal that I was, I referred to him as an “African-American.” This pissed him off as if I had called him that N-word.
“What makes you think I am African? Because I am black? I am Haitian and my parents are Haitian and so were their parents. We have always lived on Haiti. I have no Africa in me and calling me African-American insults my Haitian heritage. Besides, I don’t call you a German-Jewish-Russian-Polish-American, do I? NO, I say you are white and you are American; one has nothing to do with the other.”
The following day I saw a bumper sticker that read “Proud to be an American: If you Hyphen You are NOT!” This suddenly reinforced my previous days conversation and I realized that by calling a person “African-American” I am splitting their loyalties and lessening their place as an American: it was racism hidden in being non-racist.
Look at it this way:
Queer means different than the norm. A homosexual is different from the norm so it is technically “queer” for someone to be gay.
Gay means happy, and doesn’t everyone want to be happy? Being called gay is not a bad thing. The Flinstones have a gay old time, but that does not Barney is fucking Fred.
Retarded mean slower. A person who is mentally handicapped is mentally retarded.
People need to stop trying to find offense where there is none. The world is an offensive enough place on its own without us trying to create new ways to be offended.
This is KHWL and the time is 24 minutes after the hour. The views reflected here do not reflect KHWL, Kanrei's family, friends, or readers.
2 comments:
Of course the retarded, in the eyes of the barnacle community, are geniuses!
Excellent post, Kan. PC has gone so far it's become moronic. Harmful, too, I think, in that it's breeding a generation of super-sensitive marshmallow weenies who'll cry and sue at the drop of a hat.
Post a Comment