Quote:
Originally Posted by The2Dogs
IMHO, you are being over sensitive.
The connotation is not directed at your relative who has absolutely no responsibility for their condition. Should the use of that term be directed at your sibling it would be very offensive indeed.
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I think I disagree a bit here. I might concede that the terms hooktard/modtard etc. are just made up words and not offensive. But not so much the term retard since it is very clearly socially understood to mean developmentally disabled.
It is true that a person is not directly referencing the OP's relative but there is an implicit negative comment being made about developmentatlly disabled people. Let me give you an example: If I do something stupid and you say "you are acting like an idiot" you are just insulting me. But if you say "you are acting like a negro/asian/whatever" you are not just intending to insult me but you are insulting that other class of people by saying that they should be naturally be associated with my stupid behavior. I think people would readily concede the point off the example I gave. But for some reason they don't do so for developmentally disabled people.
I can perfectly understand the OP's POV. I perfectly relate to their feelings when they see people who act stupid or socially inappropriate being described as retards. And even more so to a developmentally disabled person who hears it.
I am not necessarily making a commentary on what the mods should or should not censor or find offensive. But if you are telling me that the casual use of the term retard is not offensive to a whole class of people I would have to disagree. What we do about it can be debated.