StaticWorld wrote:
It's rare that a simple word enrages me but "ret*d"/"ret*d" does since most of the people in my age are using both words as insults. I've been called this after I was diagnosed many times - even in elementary school. In the school I am now I've been called a ret*d multiple times. Even by the parents of my classmates. They did that when I was in grade seven because I had very good grades compared to those of their children who themselves occasionally called me ret*d.
So their parents wanted to speak the class teacher and said things like:"She only gets good grades because of compassion!"/"This is unfair! Stop giving a ret*d better grades than our healthy children!"/"Why does a ret*d kid has better grades than my child?". They even said such things to my mother who - extremely outraged and enraged - left the school. Since that day she hasn't been to any meeting of my class because she still hates what the parents and their children said. Recently I haven't been called a ret*d/ret*d but I think that's because I haven't talked about me having autism lately.
I think this perfectly illustrates why the term is so bad. The people who use this term (whether adults or teens or kids) don't particularly care about subtle distinctions or scientific reasons, their intention is to deride or feel superior (better about themselves). It's a cheap and nasty way to belittle or humor at the expense of others.
There's plenty of people in public life who use words such as "fa***t", "b***h" and "ret*d" (sorry mods) as humor and they all have the same effect in deriding other people. I am particularly angry at high profile members of ethnic groups (especially celebrities) who are sensitive to use of ethnic slurs but then use terms to belittle women, homosexuals and mental illness as if they are entitled to do so.
25 Mar 2016, 6:50 pm
