The Committee of Banned Words
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Emanuel, exasperated upon learning that liberal special-interest groups were planning to run ads against conservative Democrats not supportive of health care reform, blasted the plan as “f—— retarded” over the summer. Naturally, some outrage ensued after Emanuel’s words came to light, with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin taking to her Facebook page to call on President Obama to fire him for what she saw as the equivalent of a racial slur.
Palin, whose son Trig is afflicted with Down syndrome, said she was informed of Emanuel's comment by a fellow parent of a special-needs child and pleaded with the president to “show decency” to the political process by “eliminating” the Chicago native from his inner circle.
In a post titled “Are You Capable of Decency, Rahm Emanuel?,” Palin wrote, “Just as we’d be appalled if any public figure of Rahm’s stature ever used the ‘N-word’ or other such inappropriate language, Rahm’s slur on all God’s children with cognitive and developmental disabilities — and the people who love them — is unacceptable,” adding, “it’s heartbreaking.”
via Obama chief of staff’s ‘retarded’ insult brings fallout, Palin criticism – Yahoo! News.
One of the more interesting features of modern America is this mania people have for flipping over the usages of certain words. This thing with Rahm Emanuel is a perfect example. His outburst is now going to become a national news story because Sarah Palin took offense at the word “retarded,” as opposed to the reason it should be making news — the notion of Rahm Emanuel, a White House official, telling progressive activist groups not to run ads against Democrats, and those groups actually listening. The latter story is a billion times more shameful and obnoxious, but instead of any furor there, we’re going to have to get another soap opera over somebody using a naughty word.
I think we ought to get it over with once and for all and ask all the people who are interested in banning words to get together and form their inevitable committee on word propriety. I think it would be a great thing if we could just get the list together ahead of time, along with what the committee feels the appropriate sanction is for each word. “Ho” we know is a fireable word, as is “niggardly,” but what about “snapper”? How about “curry muncher”? What is the appropriate punishment for a “What’s wrong, do you have sand in your vagina?” joke? I mean there are so many unknowns right now, nobody knows where he or she stands.
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Not sure what happened after the flap over the same word in the greatest movie ever, “Tropic Thunder”, but I hope the same thing happens so I don’t remember this episode either.
In the case of “Tropic Thunder,” the person using the term “retarded” or “retard” was a jerk. Jerks throw around terms in this manner. Since the dialogue fit the character, i saw nothing with such usage in the movie.
I think it’s not a good idea to use the term “retarded” unless you want to be grouped with other assholes. (http://www.jennaglatzer.com/pledge_to_stop_the_word_retard.htm) Then again, I’ve been in this discussion in the Taibblog before, and I’ll have to reiterate that colorful language does deserve context. I can even grant a c word from someone if the situation works. I can also get pissed at someone for pointing out a spelling error if they do it in a non-humorous, un-constructive way.
Different things piss off people in different situations.
Rahm’s got a potty mouth. In general, I don’t want to hear it. He is a jerk in many ways.
In response to another comment. See in context »“Tropic Thunder” was picking on actors who take on roles of physically and mentally disabled people as a cheap way to get Oscars.
Not that I find them so terribly offensive — I just think those movies are usually not very good ones — but cheap ploys for critical acclaim like Forrest Gump, Philadelphia, Scent of a Woman, My Left Foot and so on real examples of people using disabilities for commercial advancement. Sometimes both the actors and the people marketing these movies are really shameless and blunt about using disabilities to get over commercially. And that’s what was being picked on in Tropic Thunder, and the movie totally nailed that phenomenon.
In response to another comment. See in context »Good points.
To jackreynolds, Stiller didn’t get the feedback from those who were disabled until after the movie came out. oh well.
In response to another comment. See in context »I see what you’re saying, but you have to admit, Forest Gump and especially Scent of a Woman were great movies.
In response to another comment. See in context »so true; downey jr was unbelievable
In response to another comment. See in context »Ben Stiller was worried about how several things in that movie would be perceived. He got some prominent African Americans to give the okay to Downey’s character, but he couldn’t get any intelligible feedback from mentally differently abled people, for obvious reasons.
In response to another comment. See in context »Here’s the relevant Youtube clip, mashing Palin with Tropic Thunder:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSgkft4z_oc
In response to another comment. See in context »George Carlin had to make is own list of seven dirty words you can’t say on television.
The Pope’s Legion of Decency didn’t work out to well censoring movies from indecency and I suspect neither will your Committee on Word Propriety.
The problem with deciding impropriety, just like what’s pornography/art is the old joke that whatever turns you on is filthy pornography but if the same thing turns me on then it’s art.
In this case though, both sides know that it’s a diversion from addressing the real problem of unity in the Democratic party.
[...] | Tags: Matt Tai, Sarah Palin | Leave a Comment That’s all I could think to say after reading about this. [...]
hmm…
–verb (used with object)
1. to make slow; delay the development or progress of (an action, process, etc.); hinder or impede.
“Language is a virus” – William S. Burroughs
Matt,
I would like to challenge the idea of a committee briefly. As we all know in DC, committee is code for backroom deal; a group of people to be lobbied pierced tongue in studded butt-cheek. That said, you make an excellent point in that the gotcha game of retro-fitting culture into the socially acceptable tentacles of word-smithing popular opinion need not exist. To remedy this, why not hire Frank Luntz to run focus groups full of tea-bagging idiots for a FOX reality series called: WORDS: Spelling, Burning, & Banning or
Fahrenheit 225 1/2; When its sweeps week we can call the congressional republicans from southern states who still debate global warming and evolution….
In terms of Rahm, this is what I hate about technocratic dems… take the progressives for granted and align with middle right; what comes around goes around Emanuel
Sarah Palin is the Right wing example of a “useful idiot” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useful_idiot , except in this case we replace “Communists” with “Plutocrats”.
And Matt, you must know that if such a list of verboten words is published ahead of time, then it can’t be used for it’s intended purpose… Political assassination!
If there was a list then we wouldn’t live in fear of the morality police. This could cause a rise in the need for reasoned opinion, which nobody in politics or public theatre really want as it is very boring.
The chaos keeps it exciting, at the very least, like run-ins in pro wrestling matches.
I prefer the ABC/Disney method.
Where you can’t say ass on network TV but 16 year old Miley Cyrus can perform a pole dance with her who-ha hanging out.
In the USA words matter, actions not so much.
In her retarded resignation speech, Palin also referred derisively to “Cheechakos,” who are people new to Alaska. If I were a new Alaskan crossdresser, my panties would have been in a wad over that one.
Your list of naughty words is only the first step, though. We’ll also need mandatory adult reeducation seminars, probably federally funded, teaching practical strategies for ameliorating peoples’ natural inflammatory vowel syndrome or chronically offensive logorrhea. Glenn Beck explained that part of why he doesn’t have any black friends is that he wouldn’t know how to talk to them without setting off their Nubian rage. If Beck had to take one of these seminars in order to get, say, a tax credit so he could continue secretly funding BYU research into Mormon-safe recreational drugs, then maybe he’d make some black friends. And then maybe he’d see things differently.
One group I’d like to exempt from consideration when we’re writing up the naughty list is Eskimos. I hate Eskimos. I don’t have any Eskimo friends. They’re short, fat, blubber-eating snow-worshippers who spit in old peoples’ mouths and have red noses like drunks because they rub their noses against each other in some Pagan mating ritual.
Do you know that Aleuts are the only nation that was ever nuked in peace time? They’re domestic terrorists waiting to happen. In fact, taking a page from Strauss and Kristol, I feel so strongly about the Aleutian menace that I’ve begun thinking of ways to permanently ostracize them before they can infiltrate our systems of power and take us all down with razor-sharp obsidian knives that get past metal detectors.
Matt, I just started following your blog. With this piece, your Tea Partier piece, and the Goldman piece, you keep trying to focus and direct the anger of the nation. You’re frustrated by what you see as irrelevant distractions.
Are you sure there IS any anger in this nation of feminized and obese/ineffectual intellectual Americans?
Welcome to the Taibbi Fan Club. The teabagger thingie had us starting to build guillotines for real, but God bless him, Matty’s given us kooks the night off. I needed some sleep anyway.
Our boy’s gonna be the next Bill Moyers, you know. Soon as people can say “SHITHEEL FUCKFACE” on PBS, that is.
In response to another comment. See in context »Nice try, Sarah, but forget Trig. We all know you’re the retarded one.
With regard to Rahm cursing out the progressive groups, didn’t progressive groups ignore him and run the ads anyway? I don’t think they just listened to him and concurred. I know I’ve seen ads for television against Senators like Lieberman, Snowe, Lincoln, and Reid that were purchased for airing in their states. Those are just the ones that I saw in passing, I don’t doubt there were more.
Anyway, Rahm’s the sort of tactical genius who’s a big reason why the health care process is where it is now. His brand of awesome political chess has produced a bill where the publicly popular elements were gutted while the public was looking on in exchange for bribes and sellouts to the most odious Senators, and produced a favor-laden surrender to the insurance industry that both the left and the right despise. It’s so despised that it’s politically radioactive to any Democrat who votes for it, and politically radioactive even if it fails by virtue of the fact that this piece of crap is what the Democrats wasted a year producing.
Rahm’s analysis of intelligence would be best applied to himself.
Not to pick a fight, but is Emanuel really a “genius” or just a shameless little shit who’ll cut a backroom deal to any and all comers, that is when he isn’t throwing a childish little tantrum over the few progressives with a backbone?
I mean, he hasn’t exactly done a great job of covering up all this nonsense. He’s just savvy enough to know that all those in the oh so Serious media will accept it as the way politics operate. This way they can focus their energy on what really matters: Forget the dealings to bar drug reimportation, someone who’s been out of office for almost a year told Facebook she doesn’t like the word “retarded.”
In response to another comment. See in context »My point there was that Rahm is quite definitely -not- a genius.
In response to another comment. See in context »It should be noted that Emanuel, who is rumored to have once mailed a dead fish to a former coworker he disliked, has not offered any apology to the liberals his slur was aimed at, and it’s highly doubtful that he ever will.
– Brett Michael Dykes
last graph of the linked yahoo article.
Gov. Sarah Palin is right, as usual. Rahm Emanual seems to have no sense of decorum, dignity, or decency. President Obama should fire him immediately.
I wonder: do even extreme right wingers actually believe she’s really upset about Rahm’s word usage and not just throwing a political dagger that capitalizes on the nauseatingly political correctness of this country?
Between 2 and 4 minutes on this clip, Ralphie May lays it out for Palin. Maybe if she was just a little more ‘cognitively challenged’ she would get the sand out of her vagina.
Yeah, I don’t think Sister Sarah even believes what she is saying here. It’s all just political theater. Any time a Dem opens the smallest crack of the doorway to seeming to be a hypocrite, a conservative is there ready and waiting for the tar and feathers. It is all a game.
In response to another comment. See in context »I nominate Senate majority leader Harry Reid to chair the committee.
From a Nevada registered Democrat: I second the nomination!
But wait, there’s more! The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled the word “hoe” is legal, in its July, 2009 affirmance of a lower court ruling adverse to the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety. The ruling reads:
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEVADA
THE STATE OF NEVADA, DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES,
Appellant,
vs.
WILLIAM JUNGE,
Respondent.
ORDER OF AFFIRMANCE
No. 49350
This is an appeal from a district court order granting judicial review and reversing an administrative hearing officer’s decision
upholding the Department of Motor Vehicle’s denial of respondent’s application to renew his personalized license plate. Eighth Judicial
District Court, Clark County; Jessie Elizabeth Walsh, Judge.
In 1999, respondent Junge applied for and received a personalized license plate HOE. Although Junge would have preferred TAHOE for his plate message, he settled on HOE because his first choice was unavailable. For his plate background, Junge initially selected the
Lake Tahoe panoramic setting to adorn his 1999 Chevy Tahoe.
For many years, Junge had no problem renewing his personalized plate. In fact, he did so in person at the DMV. In 2003, when he decided to switch his license plate background to the blue
backing, he submitted a new application for the HOE plate. The DMV approved the application without issue. Over the next two years, he renewed the plate in person and without problem.
In 2006, Junge appeared in person to renew the plate, as was his custom. This time, however, the DMV technician left a note for her
supervisor requesting a plate review. Upon consulting Urban Dictionary, the supervisor determined that HOE was slang for “whore.” Without referring to any other source, the supervisor submitted the plate to DMV’s
special plate committee. In her submission, she advised the committee that based on her review of Urban Dictionary, the HOE plate was
inappropriate. After a unanimous vote, DMV recalled Junge’s personalized plate. Junge then requested an administrative hearing.
However, the administrative hearing officer upheld the recall, concluding that NRS
482.3667, NRS 482.3669 and NAC 482.320 allow DMV to prohibit any combination of letters and numbers that may be offensive.
When Junge petitioned for judicial review of the administrative hearing officer’s decision, the district court granted the petition and reversed. DMV then appealed, arguing that the district court improperly substituted its own judgment for that of the administrative
hearing officer. For the reasons set forth below, we disagree with the DMV’s contentions.
We review an administrative hearing officer’s decision to determine if it is based on substantial evidence. State, Emp. Security v.
Hilton Hotels, 102 Nev. 606, 608, 729 P.2d 497, 498 (1986). Substantial evidence is that which “`a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.”‘ Id. (quoting Richardson v. Perales, 402 U.S. 389,
401 (1971). Moreover, “[w]hen a decision of an administrative body is challenged, the function of this court is identical to that of the district court.”. Gandy v. State ex rel. Div. Investigation, 96 Nev. 281, 282, 607
P.2d 581, 582 (1980). Thus, we afford no deference to the district court’s ruling in judicial review matters involving an agency’s decision. Kay v. Nunez, 122 Nev. 1100, 1105, 146 P.3d 801, 805 (2006).
At the administrative hearing, Junge offered considerable evidence to explain why his personalized plate was not offensive or
inappropriate. Junge testified that he considered his vehicle and license plate to operate together, creating a Lake Tahoe theme. He supported this position with further testimony that his first choice for the personalized plate, TAHOE, was not available. Junge also noted that the DMV had not
received any complaints about his license plate. Finally, Junge argued that the correct spelling of the slang word for whore is “ho” and not “hoe.” See Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 590, 591 (11th ed. 2007).
In contrast, by its own admission, DMV based its decision solely on the Urban Dictionary. Moreover, DMV revealed a policy of only
consulting Urban Dictionary to determine if a word is inappropriate or offensive.
Urban Dictionary is predominantly an online dictionary, although a paper version based on the online content was published in 2005. See http://www.urbandictionary.com/book.php (last visited June 10, 2009). Its definitions are user contributed and are generally anonymous.
There is no limit to the number of definitions that a user can contribute.
Since definitions are user contributed, they can be personal to the user and do not always reflect generally accepted definitions for words. See generally http://www.urbandictionary.com/tos.php (last visited June 10, 2009). In fact, Urban Dictionary acknowledges that “[i]ts content is
frequently presented in a coarse and direct manner that some may find offensive.” See http://www.urbandictionary.com/tos.php (last visited June 10, 2009). Moreover, Urban Dictionary readily admits that it “cannot
control all [c]ontent posted by third parties to the [w]ebsite, and does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such [c]ontent.” Id. Furthermore, Urban Dictionary concedes that it “does not and cannot
review all [c]ontent posted to or created by users accessing the [w]ebsite.”
Id. Thus, Urban Dictionary allows, if not encourages, users to invent new words or attribute new, not generally accepted meanings to existing words.
We acknowledge that the Iowa Supreme Court upheld the use of Johnathan Green’s Contemporary Dictionary of Slang (1985) to review personalized license plates in McMahon v. Iowa Dept. of Transp., 522 N.W.2d 51, 55-56 (Iowa 1994). Nonetheless, we conclude that this case is distinguishable because Urban Dictionary allows for anonymous, user
contributed content. Moreover, without any review of the definitions posted on Urban Dictionary, there is a substantial danger that the definitions will not be generally accepted. Therefore, the DMV’s practice
risks prohibiting words or phrases based on meanings that are not commonly known or recognized, even as slang terms.
Additionally, we note the potential influence that the DMV supervisor had over the special plate committee. Not only did the supervisor sit on the committee, she included her determination that HOE is an inappropriate and offensive word in her request for a vote on the
plate.
Based on the foregoing, we conclude that a reasonable mind would not accept the Urban Dictionary entries alone as adequate to
In response to another comment. See in context »support a conclusion that the word HOE is offensive or inappropriate. Given the evidence provided by Junge at the administrative hearing, the hearing officer’s reliance on the Urban Dictionary entries is even more
questionable. Therefore, we conclude that the administrative hearing officer’s decision was not supported by substantial evidence because, like the DMV, it relied solely on Urban Dictionary. Accordingly, we ORDER the judgment of the district court AFFIRMED.
The post above highlights that fact that “language evolves” and words continually go from being inoffensive to being offensive, and visa versa.
Concerning the word “retarded,” no matter what term is used for as a noun for “a person with a mental handicap,” that term will soon be used as an insult by some. Then, over time, the terms will become offensive. The word “retarded” followed this exact path. It didn’t start out as an inappropriate word. Instead, it evolved into one.
Thus, we cannot make a definitive list of improper words.
In response to another comment. See in context »Only Sarah Palin is allowed to use that word, like when she asked one of her staff where her “retarded baby” was.
So Rahm says “retarded” back in the summer, and since he is such a public figure, why the hell didn’t we hear all of this back then.
I am sure it has nothing to do with Sarah losing her attention, and wanting to get her name in the news right before her teabagger convention.
There MUST be another reason, but I just can’t see it right now….
The objection to ‘retarded’ has always struck me as kind of pointless. I went to school with several people with different types of handicaps and none of them ever took offense at what is probably the single most common slang word in school.
Because it’s usage is learned in school, asking for any kind of sensitivity is just pointless. People who complain about it probably don’t realise that ‘nigger’ is extremely common in school too, except mostly it’s now a term of endearment, and even so needs to be used carefully.
Still, school kids continually use language amongst themselves that is not even remotely acceptable in mainstream society. And the more people object to it, the more likely they are to say it. And we all carry it into adulthood, we just take a bit more care who we say it to.
Besides all that, it’s just one of those words that is used all the time in contexts that have nothing to do with actual retarded people. It can express a thousand different types of stupidity, and everyone who uses it is comfortable with being able to tell when it’s meant as a general epithet, versus when it’s used to describe specific handicaps.
I would never want to insult a mentally disabled person but I say things are retarded all the time.
And to be honest, I’ve never heard anyone complain about it genuinely – they are always complaining for the sake of it, to get some attention or just to piss people off. Palin is in this exact situation, and I do find it offensive that now she has a downs child, she exploits it whenever possible to get attention for herself. If anyone is insulting retarded people, it’s her.
Still, that story about ‘niggardly’ pretty much takes the cake – not only are people over-sensitive to slang these days, they are also illiterate and have no idea what some words even mean. In light of *that* nonsense, people complaining about ‘retarded’ seem entirely rational.
Teasing and disparaging anyone with a mental or physical handicap was limited to bullies when I was a kid and that was a long time ago. Even back then, it was rare for a bully to call any handicapped person a retard. At least on the west coast, the word sort of disappeared from everyday speech for a couple of decades, and when it was retrieved now decades ago, the definition had changed. It’s as if the people suddenly being outraged over the word went to sleep in the 1950s and have just woken up.
In response to another comment. See in context »If I thought teaming up with Palin in her fauxtrage would be effective in ridding the White House of Rahm then I’d love to join in. Alas, if this goes viral we can count on the Obamanistas to ineffectually and defensively handle it.
Great, another ‘Quote-gate’ to be used as a distraction from any actual discussion about issues. At least now the weekend political hack-ertainment shows will have, say, 45 minutes filled by this historic event! I mean, gee, we heard zero network coverage of the ‘citizens united’ case before the ruling, and that 1.5 minutes of dogged journalism on the weekend shows following was Kronkite-ish to be certain! For the life of me I can’t seem to figure out why any news network would not bring a case like that to the public’s attention?! Is it because Harry Reid used naughty (and just plain dopey) racial language? Or because Brad and Jen are back together?! Hmmm…I just can’t figure it out. Oh, wait, they are going to be the primary benefactor of zillions of oil/bank/health insurance dollars in advertising! Recognizing corruption and morally bankrupt behavior are becoming so blatant and obvious these days it’s not even any fun figuring it out. I guess my entertainment will come from laughing at right-wing co-workers marveling at the genius of glenn beck’s ultimate ‘out-of-context- festival he calls a documentary.
normally I am an absolutist on Free Speech, but I can’t contain myself waiting for Rahm Emanuel to get sucked under…I want a full court Trent Lott/Harry Reid feeding frenzy…come on tell the truth Matt you will smile a little and have to supress a laugh or two watching Emanuel getting hit by this bus…
In the immortal words of Frank Zappa, “What do you make of a society that is so primitive that it clings to the belief that certain words in its language are so powerful that they could corrupt you the moment you hear them?” No shit, can a retarded corporation really fire you for using the word ‘niggardly’?
That’s right, “retard” is a perfectly good verb but it’s past tense is offensive!
(wrong place and needs ??? marks)
In response to another comment. See in context »How did rahm’s father ever get to enter the usa since he(the father) was a member of the Irgun ,
a jewish terrorist organization?
Yes, Palin really is that retarded. Seriously, did anyone hear the spoof in which the Montreal DJ’s tricked her into thinking that she was talking to Nicholas Sarkozy? You’d think the reference to porn actors would’ve been a dead giveaway.
Then again, the fact that she apparently didn’t get the message when McCain’s campaign advisers essentially told her to smile, look pretty and shut the fuck up, so who am I kidding?
Anyone else think that maybe Trig is smarter than mommy?
I don’t like the word, retarded, even though *I* have been known to use it, myself. Not in public, though. Emanuel wasn’t using it in public, was he? So, if not, I don’t have a problem w/it. I share your frustration that the Real issue – Emanuel’s heavy-handedness and craven capitulations to the corporatists – is the True issue to get steamed over.
That said, words have power. My brother was learning disabled, and the word “retarded” truly hurt him. So, I think some words need to be frowned upon, but to call for someone’s resignation over using this word is rather insane. Especially when there are so many Better reasons for him to resign, I should think.
Agreed. I think there are more compelling reasons for Rahm to go than using the term “retarded.” His use of coarse terminology is more famous than his ability to get shit done.
In response to another comment. See in context »What’s the difference btw using it in private vs. using it in public? *I* think everyone should start writing and speaking in public the way we speak in private. In other words, the way we really speak. One of the main problems with our politics and our society is that people are two-faced liars. Let’s just get everything out in the open instead. Get rid of all the silly taboos. I think if the word ‘retarded’ didn’t have such a taboo attached to it, your brother wouldn’t have been offended.
In response to another comment. See in context »We are fucked: Palin, an idiot at a moron convention, gets primetime for being upset by the word “retarded”. Who reads that shit? Are we a bunch of dolts or what?
Carlos Mencia does a routine with a “dee dee dee” retard which deeply offends the “disabled” person because ‘he isn’t a Mexican!”. Pretty much sums up the ridiculousness of all of this.
Rahm should make fucktard Palin’s remarks (is calling her an idiot more PC?)a bit more difficult to come by, like calling them “asshats” or something…
This is so ridiculous, and here I am reading and writing about it. Sigh.
++good on this one Matt, it’s funny ‘cuz I read an article about this on USA today and was so surprised to see Sarah correlate the “n-word” and “retarded” (never mind that one is an actual word and the other is slang) (and never mind that she invokes God as well in the same sentence).
In any case I wanted further explanation so I attempted to submit this comment:
I would like Sarah to explain the association she makes between the “n-word” and the word “retarded”. I find it extremely curious.
–”One of God’s Children”
Only to be rebuffed by The USA Today:
Your comment contains language not suitable for our site, such as “retarded”. Our goal is to keep the discussions on USATODAY.com respectful and readable by a general audience. Please edit your comments and re-submit them.
Wow. Thought Police.
You are retarded if you think you can write whatever you want on someone else’s website. When a government agent can, for example, kick you in the jimmy consequence-free for giving him the stink eye, you may complain about thought police.
In response to another comment. See in context »I am not trying to write “whatever I want”, just trying to write the word “retarded”.
In response to another comment. See in context »“It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.”
Not thought police – probably no thought at all involved. Chances are, that after publishing the article (or maybe even prior), USA Today added “retarded” to its list of…(drum roll) banned words. Since 5kunk was using “retarded” in a question about a specific article, someone excising thinking would have been fine with the usage. There’s probably just a computer program that responds to certain words and phrases, like getting an “I’m out of the office” response to an email query.
In response to another comment. See in context »Perhaps people could stop disparaging people by comparing them to groups of people that neither of the first two groups of people belong to, but are somehow considered less-than-human by the first two. This isn’t rocket science.
Personally, I’m offended that all the people critiquing his word choice are not, themselves, mentally disabled, furthering the assumption that people with mental disabilities are not able to express their own interests (which they are) and need Sarah Palin to stand up and protect them.
I’m anxiously awaiting Sarah Palin’s next ghostwritten book, titled “Going Retard: the amazing story of a narcissistic twat who shamelessly exploits her (ironically smarter) Down’s syndrome baby for political gain”.
Okay…not to be a Palin apologist, but let’s get real. If Palin had said, “We have to stop letting Wall Street jew us out of our money,” would she have gotten a free pass?
George Carlin had a list of euphemisms of things concerning the change of straight forward speech to this “soft language”. A new set of politically correct definitions forced upon us somehow… by someone. If I remember right the book was was called, “Napalm & Silly Putty”. Here is a link I found with a clip of his euphemisms rant..
http://vodpod.com/watch/2173838-george-carlin-on-language
I am sure there could be better video’s out there – but I think you’ll get the point.
Hearing Sarah Palin speak for children with “Special Needs” is something that makes my stomach wretch. When Sarah hopped on this soap box of “Special Needs Families” Her son was not even 6 months old. Any Down Syndrome baby is like any other baby. They eat, sleep, need changing and total attention. There is no difference in the needs of her child that differs from any other one of the same age. Her personal experience with her ‘Special Needs’ son has not even begun yet, and yet she speaks as if it has been a personal burden all her life. If she did not have a Down Syndrome child herself she probably would not have much, if any, interest in families with special needs children(unless of course it would be for political gain). I don’t fault her for that in particular…most people do not champion something unless it has touched them personally in some way. What I fault her for is playing a martyr for something she has no idea what it will be like – yet. She can not claim to know what it is like to be a special needs family – with a one year old.
I have lived with a brother that has Autism – NOT a high functioning kind or what other classifications they are now adding to that category. He is what the original meaning meant in the 1970’s(like ‘Rain Man’). I have been living with this for little over 30 years now. I have lived with him at home for around 20 years. My close friend also had a Down Syndrome brother that was three years older than we were and I grew up with their family as well so I know of what I speak.
As far as being politically sensitive with words – in this case ‘Retarded’ in the article …I have found in personal experience it never bothered the ‘Special Needs’ community of people ( The one in which we were involved with that had over 160 members when I still lived at home) to hear some one use a word like retarded, or other words that were of similar ilk. We realized the word retarded had more than one meaning! It seemed to bother OTHER people who *knew* someone with a handicap to hear such a word used than it actually did the people with the handicap or handicapped person in their family. We had other things to worry about and specific verbiage that had double meanings were not high on the list!! I think that shows where Sarah Palin is at this stage with her son’s disorder. She is still on the out side and easily offended by something that has nothing to do with her son’s disorder and demands other people be as outraged as she is! Well, we’re not, we have never been so petty and small minded, that a word would deflate us so personally that we couldn’t function unless we publicly called attention to it. And no Sarah, you are not speaking for all the communities of people who have ‘Special Needs’ or handicapped people. If you are bothered by and give attention to a word ( one that had no reference to a person or specific medical condition) MORE than an actual debilitating condition, then I think YOU are retarded.
The worse thing about Romulus Rahm’s remark was that it was trite…and trite cussing is so boring. Plain Palin’s comeback was a necessity by a politico in our overly sensitive times. I suppose if we were to name our fighter aircraft today they would have to be called things like “Benign Hope Eternal”. Not like this 16th Cent. German cannon I looked over once that had “Ich fresse die Kindern…” (I eat childern) engraved on it.
If only Rahm could have been more creative with something like…”a man with a paper asshole…” It leaves so much more to the imagination…does wiping his ass erase him?
Are his words on paper worth shit? If he sits on a wet chair does he melt? Whatever…
Rahm needs help…
Sarah Palin has an extremely sandy vagina. It’s like the Sahara in there.
You know what’s really ‘heartbreaking?’ That in the one ‘policy’ speech Sarah gave on the campaign trail (October 2008) she mocked and ridiculed basic science research that was designed to provide potential therapies for the very disabling disorders she now claims to be so concerned about. It was a dismal performance on her part. I would gladly put up with a policy maker who used inappropriate terms on occasion, but understood the importance of research funding than be at the mercy of a–selectively–politically correct idiot who can’t even be bothered to educate herself enough on policy to support her own best interests and those of her disabled son.
As someone who actually works with the disabled community and truly cares about policy related to special needs, it really tans my hide that she is so blatantly hypocritical. In fact, her grasp of the issues is so superficial, I don’t think she’s even aware of her hypocrisy. And that’s just f…king retarded.
not to mention – has anyone noted? – the political correctness factor conservatives are famous for mocking.
Didn’t Palin’s ex-son-in-law, Levi, say that when Palin came home from work, she asked, “Where’s my retarded baby?” I had no problem with that. It’s a “term of endearment.”
Nobody calls BS like Matt calls BS. Not to take anything away from Matt, but the fact is that cutting to the heart of the matter – Emanuel’s utter contempt for participatory democracy – seems rather evident. Why, then, doesn’t it get the air time it deserves?
“Palin, whose [alleged] son Trig”…. Where’s the birth certificate? Here’s a “birther” opportunity.
CONTEXT.
Enough said. I always thought if we only used the slurs after someone sneezed we could solve a couple of dilemmas. One being the age old silliness of gods blessing Sienfields idea, and two it may show how silly all of this is. Think about it.
[...] http://trueslant.com/matttaibbi/2010/02/02/the-committee-of-banned-words/ [...]
Besides not wanting to take any advice from Sarah Palin on use of the English language (or anything else for that matter), I am not surprised that American media outlets would rather report on Sarah Palin’s facebook criticism (pretty lame btw!) of Rahm Emanuel for use of the word “retard” than the substance of Rahm trying to herd the Democratic cattle. Here’s to hoping that the words “Republican” and “Democrat” also enter the offensive category.
[Sorry but there’s something about Sarah Palin that just makes me want to do the opposite of anything she thinks is a good idea – anyone else feel that way? ]
I for one will never give up my right to characterize things as “gay” or “retarded,” despite the feeling of ownership expressed so clearly by people like Palin and others. How soon we foget the wisdom of George Carlin.
I forget the kid’s name from Reno 911 (the bi-polar, rollerskating male prostitute; he was also the stalker in Blades of Glory) but he does this bit in his stand up routine about how outrageous it is to think that we should be denied the adjective “gay,” when describing something like a fanny pack or the Home and Garden Network.
And I think all reasonable people can agree there’s a big difference between, “My child is mentally retarded.” and “Sarah Palin is total fucking retard.”
That’s Terry, played by the immortal Nick Swardson. Favorite Reno911 character ever.
In response to another comment. See in context »sorry about the typos. please to delete post. so gay.
I wonder if the Carlinesque devolution of the language where now retarded folks are called “developmentally disabled” (the “develop” part seemingly pretty redundant) freed us all to use “retard” in a broader context. As in, “I’m not talking about this [Downs Syndrome] developmentally disabled kid here; I’m talking about that retard Larry Summers.”
But whatever. The self appointed language police are just another type of control freak snobs.
This is fascinating. All through these discussions, people have been using the terms “idiot” (useful or not) and “moron”, blithely unaware that these pejoratives started off where “retarded” replaced them: as medical terms.
“Moron” meant “mentally disabled but quite functional for most of daily life”. They could learn most basic job skills; morons could be janitors, service people, labourers, some skilled trades work.
“Imbecile” was a more profound level, now called moderate to severe mental retardation. Imbeciles were generally unable to hold any job. They needed a caregiver to some extent.
Then “idiot” meant a mental age of 2 or less, and required close supervision to not hurt themselves.
Many textbooks gave specific IQ numbers to each grade.
And, of course, the words all became pejoratives. Their relative meanings were lost and all of them became insult meaning “stupid”.
So, the term “mentally retarded” was born to get around all that. It even used a fancy way of saying “slow” to avoid becoming an insult.
Naturally, the term “retard”, followed by “tard” was a schoolyard insult within the decade.
In the 80’s, there was a major move to dump “retarded” for “special children”. Use of “special” as an insult promptly followed.
There aren’t just word-banners; there are word inventors, running a Red Queen’s race that can never end: as long as the word describes the phenomenon of needing help to tie your shoes, it’s going to be used as an insult.
I think with “special”, they realized there was no point in continuing and have just stuck with “mentally retarded” in medical literature and left “special” to caregivers, schools, parents, and service organizations.
If they’d moved on, and stopped using “retarded” clinically, Rahm could have used it the way everybody here is using “idiot” and “moron” without insult to the disabled.
Alas, my logic compels me to wind up on Palin’s side: as long as it’s the accepted non-pejorative way to refer to the disability, using it as a pejorative is an insult. The word “heartbreaking” is over the top, though. That’s the same as saying every kid in the schoolyard is breaking your heart every day.
hey man:
another great comment. more propaganda–changing the topic from the bigger issue of the dems falling into line to bs language disputes and faux outrage.
i wanted to thank you for your work, and declare myself as a huge fan of your work. i have read your contributions to rolling stone for years. i didn’t even learn until recently you were a sports guy (with your baseball trade post the other day) or that you had played pro hoops in russia/europe.
i also wanted to be sure you saw this. someone else is encroaching on your tom friedman ridicule territory. this is really beautiful:
http://mpettis.com/2010/02/never-short-a-country-with-2-trillion-in-reserves/
I’m offended by politicians using their kids as partisan pawns. So I guess we’re even.
I wonder how hard she would object if it had been a member of her own party using that term.
No – actually, I don’t wonder, because I’ve got her number, and I assume so does the rest of the country.