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Retard
Nitth
Member UncommonPosts: 3,904
So, for as long as i can remember, the word "retard" has been thrown around forums and games a like as a way to offend a person or insult there intelligence.
I personally think to use it is disgusting, its offensive to people who are really mentally handicapped, its not their fault its just how they are.
But it seems like its more "accepted", rarely do i see (any ware) someone held accountable for using it, as opposed to saying something like "you fucking ****".
So i thought it might be interesting to have a serious "open" discussion on its usage in the larger gaming scene, and why people think it is/isn't appropriate to use it.
thoughts?
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Comments
The only people I"ve ever seen use the word are either under 18 years old or are auto mechanics. If the first group says it then I ignore them. If the second group says it then I find another auto repair shop. Well, I would if I deigned to use an auto repair shop.
Of course you must consider the context.
I had an Aunt who was, Mentally Retarded. That was the term used to define her mental handicap, all through the 60's and 70's. She was on SSI, etc.. Actually she was put into a convent in the 1930's, as a child all the way into her early 20's. She was one of those who were sterillized, by law. And yes as a child I did break a kids jaw for calling her a," F'ing retard" That still didn't change the fact that legally , a tleast in the 70's, she was still legally Retarded.
As far as Mechanics go, just be sure they arent talking about the timing, being advanced or retarded. That is a technical term, advanced being your spark plugs fire before the pistons hit TDC on the compression stroke, and retarded meaning the spark fires after the piston hits TDC on the compresion stroke. Also it can mean, spark being set to fire later than the factory timing setting, which itself may be retarded or advanced in relation to the compression stroke.
Context is everything.
And I was wrong for hitting that kid, and, my Aunt was the one who pointed that out to me.
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Its just a word and as the previous poster says it depends on the context/intent of its use.
I actually find it retarded to avoid using words simply because someone out of thousands, tens of thousands, millions... decides it offends them(see context/intent) Using a long example if you don't like what you read, see, hear then change the channel..don't expect everyone to cram themselves into whatever lil fishbowl you have decided is the correct fishbowl.
PC is not a good thing and should be discarded into the dustbin of history along with such failed concepts as Communism.
Having been a mechanic I'm aware of what the term means and its generally negative effect on performance
So i thought it might be interesting to have a serious "open" discussion on its usage in the larger gaming scene
Well the OP is right but I mean putting it into perspective, are there other things we might say which are actually quite offensive but we might not realise it e.g.
"I can't see it" "Are you blind?" - Offensive to the blind
"I can't hear you" "Are you deaf?" - Offensive to anyone whos deaf
Response to someone expressing their anger "He's on his period" - Offensive to women
Well the list can go on forever, the word retard is indeed horrible, but I think why it's used so often is, well simply put, I remember in my old gaming days of speaking to guys on Teamspeak, and I heard someone say "you retard". And after hearing that, there were one or two occasions when I said the word retard to one of my siblings, and it became a common word to use as a means of insult so quickly. We were all saying it way too often. Maybe it's just one of those words...
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