can of worms: ripping open an old wound?
So the latest twizz on twitter (and elsewhere on the web) is the link to a petition from the Special Olympics to stop using the 'r' word: retarded. Everyone from John Mayer to Joe Blow is spreading this link like a bad computer virus and I guess I'm kind of torn on how I feel about bringing it to the forefront again. I mean, haven't we already done this?
2 \ˈrē-ˌtärd\ often offensive : a retarded person ; also : a person held to resemble a retarded person in behavior
I think I'm going to choose to boycott this negative reinforcement and jump on the "time to re-write the dictionary" bandwagon when and if it comes along. I was going to post the link, but what if it's just a portal to that nasty computer virus everyone's afraid of, and they're going to laugh at us all afterwards and call us retarded?
According to the Merriam Webster online dictionary, the word is derived from the Latin verb 'to slow' and the word 'retard' currently is defined as thus:
verb
1 : to slow up especially by preventing or hindering advance or accomplishment : impede
2 : to delay academic progress by failure to promote
1 : to slow up especially by preventing or hindering advance or accomplishment : impede
2 : to delay academic progress by failure to promote
The dictionary gets re-written all the time - new words are added, old words die out of common usage, and other words gain new meaning. (Who knew what a blog was 15 years ago?) So, at some point people started (correctly, in the strict sense of the word) using the term 'retarded' then 'a retard' to describe persons with a mental handicap, and the dictionary was re-written to include it as a noun in the late 1700s but today defines the word (pay careful attention to the fact that they've included a note that it's often offensive) as:
noun
1 \ri-ˈtärd\ : a holding back or slowing down : retardation2 \ˈrē-ˌtärd\ often offensive : a retarded person ; also : a person held to resemble a retarded person in behavior
Interesting, hey? I'm going to try and dig out a dictionary from the 50s and see what it defines 'retard' as - bets it doesn't have the 'offensive' disclaimer? Anyways. By the 80s when someone called you retarded, they were referring to you resembling a handicapped person, a person with failing mental faculties due to biological circumstances, and it was insulting to both the person being called a retard and the people then commonly known as actual retards. But through the late-80s and 90s, the political correctness police designed a whole new vocabulary to define "retards" - developmentally disabled, special needs, delayed, different-abled, etc. and by the time we partied 'cuz it WAS 1999, people hitting their chest and saying, "Gretzky," had pretty much lost its meaning, right along with the word 'retard' being associated with people like my sister, who is a microcephele and at the age of 30 has the hormone state of a 13-year old, the mental capacity of a 6- or 8-year old, and the speech skills of a 2-year old.
Growing up with a handicapped sister I, of course, took huge offense to people using the word 'retard' in a derogatory way. Now, however, I don't, because the political correctness people managed to successfully rename the disability and disassociate the word from innocent people, and I don't believe most people believe that when they use the word it is in direct reference to a mentally handicapped person. At one time I saw a person with developmental disabilities and said, oh, look, a retarded person. Now I say, oh, look, someone with a mental delay. And I freely admit that when I see someone driving while talking on the cell-phone, drinking a coffee, and trying to light their smoke, I think, oh, look, a retard - and certainly not because I think my baby sister would ever be classified in the same category.
So I'm curious why the Special Olympics, of all organizations, would launch a campaign re-associating mental handicaps with the word unless they are planning on 'owning' it like black-negro-coloured-brown-African-American people have taken over and redefined 'nigger' for themselves (?) Seriously. What the hell are they thinking? After all those years I spent working and volunteering for various organizations (including recreational/rehabilitation summer camps, fundraising companies, and perhaps ironically as a coach for the Special Olympics) and campaigning against associating mentally handicapped people being called 'retarded' I don't really get why this issue needs to resurface at all. Let it die already like poplollies and bellibones. In fact, I was a little disappointed that Merriam Webster hasn't updated the etymology to include the word as having lost its meaning in reference to handicapped folks, and redefined it to read something like:
noun
1: a person who makes really bad decisions because they choose to ignore every ounce of common sense in their head; "That person driving, drinking coffee, texting, and lighting a smoke is a retard."
verb
2: something irritating to a person because it has failed to meet their expectations; "My food is cold and the service is terrible - this restaurant is retarded."
Comments
Totally unrelated but I was watching "retarded policeman" on youtube. There has been huge backlash about these webisodes and it exploiting the star. But I kind of thought well wait a minute what if this is something he actually wants to do, does he no deserve the right to choose. Are we getting to politically correct? It really has me thinking.
calling stores, insurancy companies, car doors retarded is what makes me flinch.
tara whitney
And you have to agree that it is one thing to describe someone as being mentally retarded, and something entirely different calling them a retard. I guess for me it's like that whole thing where you can love someone despite their attributes, as opposed the the person being the embodiment of that characteristic. "Your behaviour is bad," as opposed to, "You are bad." Maybe it's splitting hairs but I really thing the word retard should be redefined, or at the very least, reverted to its original definition which is an active verb which means to slow something or someone down, not a biological process. I did some dictionary research which I'm very excited to share. It would appear that the word retardation wasn't applied to people until sometime between 1907 and 1952. And I was right - retard was a verb until recent history, and Meriam Webster has indeed changed its dictionary to include it, and add the disclaimer, since as recently as 1966.
I'm not going to start raising awareness against the word retard - it's as backwards as thinking women should give back the vote.
It's a verb,even in recent history.
If I call a female dog a bitch, am I swearing? OR does context matter?
I vote context.
For me, the jury is still out on whether or not there are cultural differences with the broader context of the term itself. As literal definitions and both local and national slang or colloquial use of a word becomes muddled and subsequently redefined, this becomes a HUGE part of context. I recently found out that a guy "pulling" in England doesn't mean the same thing as a guy "pulling" in Canada. There it means going to find a girl, here it implies masturbation - so context becomes very important, as does the location which the context is applied. So if an Englishman came to Canada and told everyone he was going to the bar to "pull" I imagine there would be as many eyebrows raised as there would be if someone came here and started talking about my retarded sister.
Ergo, I vote using 'retard' in context with my sister or any other person with mental disability, cognitive delay, or developmental handicap is a damn shame. In fact, it kind of makes my stomach turn.
Ain't semantics great?