Retarded development

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Absinthe Minded

Absinthe Minded

Guest
magnatom said:
<sigh> and I have already said that I have no problem with Catrike insulting people, I just don't like the use of terms like ret@rd.

What exactly are you arguing AM? Your going around in circles now.
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I'm arguing that, whilst you don't like the term 'retard', others don't like the term 'twat'. So, it's not really on for you to give out about a word that you find offensive, without curbing your own colourful language to protect the sensitivities of others'.
 
M

magnatom

Guest
Sh4rkyBloke said:
Seems clear to me that Mags doesn't give two hoots whether anyone insults anyone else... just the word(s) that are used.
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Exactly.... well it would be ideal if no one had to insult anyone else. But a fact of life is that in a short space of time, when you need someone to know that they have done something wrong or dangerous, that an insult does the job. I've tried quoting cyclecraft and found it doesn't work ;)
 
Sh4rkyBloke

Sh4rkyBloke

Jaffa Cake monster
Location
Manchester, UK
Absinthe Minded said:
I'm arguing that, whilst you don't like the term 'retard', others don't like the term 'twat'. So, it's not really on for you to give out about a word that you find offensive, without curbing your own colourful language to protect the sensitivities of others'.
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Explain to me which disadvantaged group are generally labelled with the word "twat". I suspect a group of vaginas would not be too bothered. ;)
 
M

magnatom

Guest
Absinthe Minded said:
I'm arguing that, whilst you don't like the term 'retard', others don't like the term 'twat'. So, it's not really on for you to give out about a word that you find offensive, without curbing your own colourful language to protect the sensitivities of others'.
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Oh for *&^% sake! AM. Shut the *&^% up!

(Just making the point that sometimes an expletive can do what pages and pages of reasoning can't!)

Look, I'll try and explain this in simple terms.

You shout tw@t at someone. They get offended. Everyone else hears it, but doesn't get personally offended (they might not like the word, but there is no personal offense).

You shout ret@rd at someone. They get offended. Everyone else hears it and if someone who has a mental illness, has a relative who has an illness or they work with mental illness they might be offended also.

Do you see the difference here?
 
Tetedelacourse

Tetedelacourse

New Member
Location
Rosyth
Sh4rkyBloke said:
Explain to me which disadvantaged group are generally labelled with the word "twat". I suspect a group of vaginas would not be too bothered. ;)
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A group of twats might be though. e.g. Big Brother contestants.
 
M

magnatom

Guest
Sh4rkyBloke said:
Explain to me which disadvantaged group are generally labelled with the word "twat". I suspect a group of vaginas would not be too bothered. ;)
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I suppose you could shout tw@t if a lady were to wander into the pub with nothing on her bottom half.....;)
 
Absinthe Minded

Absinthe Minded

Guest
Sh4rkyBloke said:
Explain to me which disadvantaged group are generally labelled with the word "twat". I suspect a group of vaginas would not be too bothered. ;)
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I didn't mention a disadvantaged group. Do you have to be in a disadvantaged group in order to feel insulted?
 
jely

jely

New Member
Location
London
magnatom said:
I have often thought in an ideal world we could all make jokes about anything, about colour, religion, disability etc. However, this could only happen if there was never any intent behind it, i.e. if no-one was racist biggoted etc. Unfortunately, that is not the world we live in, and as a result, people take offense, rightly or wrongly.

Let me bring up the race card (yes I hear the big sighs). I'm sure you wouldn't use racist terms to your friends. That is generally accepted as being wrong. Why, because it is insulting to race it was originally aimed at. It doesn't matter if there is anyone of that race in earshot or not, we still know it is wrong and don't do it. Why is it any different with regards to the disabled? By classing it differently it is almost like we are saying that disabled people have less rights etc.

Now, jely, I am in no way suggesting that you are bigoted, racist, disabilist (?), etc. It's just that for some reason at the moment, it isn't as socially unacceptable to use terms that are insulting to the mentally disabled as it is to use terms that are insulting to certain races of people (some would say race doesn't exist, but thats for another day!).

Just my 2p!
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people are searching for intent behind actions and words ... that's what makes it so sad!

and for the race card - i live with an Indian/English guy and we always tease each other about our heritage.... in fact, only last night i told him that the other flatmate wanted to leave cause he was brown and malted too much in the shower... I'm half Filipino/English and he turned around and said i was only half way there girl! And that's the example for last night only ... and just to make sure everyone's clear, it was all in fun!

Why is it wrong??? It's not... it's only people's perceptions that it is... and what society has dictated what right and wrong should be... what people have to do is start laughing a bit... lighten up...

my friend once called my nieces chernobyl babies (cause of the angle i took a photo - their heads were a lot bigger than their bodies)... but i say hats off to him for thinking of something so funny so quickly and even though i love my nieces, it was true - they did look a little chernobyl(ish)!
 
Absinthe Minded

Absinthe Minded

Guest
magnatom said:
Oh for *&^% sake! AM. Shut the *&^% up!

(Just making the point that sometimes an expletive can do what pages and pages of reasoning can't!)

Look, I'll try and explain this in simple terms.

You shout tw@t at someone. They get offended. Everyone else hears it, but doesn't get personally offended (they might not like the word, but there is no personal offense).

You shout ret@rd at someone. They get offended. Everyone else hears it and if someone who has a mental illness, has a relative who has an illness or they work with mental illness they might be offended also.

Do you see the difference here?
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Did Catrike shout it to a louder audience? Don't think he said he did.
 
Sh4rkyBloke

Sh4rkyBloke

Jaffa Cake monster
Location
Manchester, UK
You'd use the word 'retard' as a way to suggest that you thought them to be of nominal intelligence / having the IQ of a pot plant etc. You've already said you wouldn't use it if you thought they *were* actually mentally deficient/challenged... that seems to suggest you know it is offensive to a particular group of people.

You'd use the word 'twat' to suggest you thought them to be a complete idiot bereft of any common-sense and it is only offensive in that it is still regarded as being slightly taboo in common language... it is not offensive to any group of people, and I suspect that there's no single person you wouldn't use it against (hence the classification of 'general insult').

Is that any clearer? ;)
 
M

magnatom

Guest
Absinthe Minded said:
Did Catrike shout it to a louder audience? Don't think he said he did.
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Shall we rewind to the bit where you were about to agree that you cold not know for certain that the 'lady' in question had a learning disability or not....
 
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