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Does using the word retard make you a sociopath?

spangledbanner said:
OK. But can't I use retard as an insult without it having anything to do with retarded people? If you look at definitions for the word it doesn't just refer to people with mental special needs - it means to slow or impede. And is it still used as a medical term officially? Because if not I would argue that the meaning has changed to what it was before it was used to refer to people with mental disorders. What is the origin? I kind of don't want to stop using the word as an insult - to mean something like ridiculous - due to slow intellect of a person that does not have a mental disorder. I am not out to offend people that have mental disorders but I do not want the PCs to have a victory on the " R" word and give the word a negative power that is shouldn't have.
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Yeah, as pointed out also by you, it just means slow, impeded. In Spain, where I live, "retard" is shown on quite a few packages of medication, signifying merely that the substance of whatever pill is released into the body in a slow manner.

When I'm out to insult anyone, something I try to curb, I simply just get more specific and precise.
 
Lovebug said:
Shows lack of debate skills and inability to bring a point across.
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Not necessarily. The word could be used to appeal to a certain target audience in propaganda without it representing a lack of debate skills or inability to bring a point across.
 
fmw said:
No, it makes you young. Adults don't use the term or, at least, they don't use it around me.
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Or my target audience is young. Im not that young. I am immature though.
 
spangledbanner said:
Does using the word retard make a person a sociopath? Or is hysteria over words just a result of insincere PC culture? What do you think?

Can we say the "R" word as long as we are not using it to insult people that have special mental needs?
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It probably makes you over 35. I'm sure my grandparents had a rough time getting over the use of "Negro."
 
dimensionallava said:
"sociopath" is also considered an outdated term, its fairly ironic if someone called you that for calling someone else a "retard"
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"Retard" is a girlie word.

"Retarded" is old school 1960's.

We had a retarded kid in our 4th grade class. He finally ended up in state prison for dope dealing. Definitely retarded. No question.

Psycho means psychopath -- someone who derives pleasure from hurting others. 1% of any population is criminally psychopathic.

A sociopath is somewhat milder.

Sociopaths simply have no feelings for others.

Whether using the girlie word "retard" is sociopathic or not, or whether clinging to the 1960's terminology of "retarded" similarly evokes sociopathic misgivings is hard to say.

We can try to be politically correct all the time, but that in itself may be a form of socio-pathology as well.
 
Cardinal said:
It probably makes you over 35. I'm sure my grandparents had a rough time getting over the use of "Negro."
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Yes I am 36. Im still not so sure we need to get over it though. Whatever replaces it will become the new retard and just have to be replaced down the track. Im not sure that banning words is a solution. People already use 'special needs' as an insult for example. How long before we ban that?
 
Riveroaks said:
"Retard" is a girlie word.

"Retarded" is old school 1960's.

We had a retarded kid in our 4th grade class. He finally ended up in state prison for dope dealing. Definitely retarded. No question.

Psycho means psychopath -- someone who derives pleasure from hurting others. 1% of any population is criminally psychopathic.

A sociopath is somewhat milder.
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The ruling class? :) Have you read Might is Right? It seems to have been written by a psychopath. Some have their own morality I guess. Have different rules to the rest of society. A really scary thing would be a group or class of psychopaths that work together - a shared psychopath morality. I hope that never happens. The Nazi were kind of like that I guess hey.

 
spangledbanner said:
Yes I am 36. Im still not so sure we need to get over it though. Whatever replaces it will become the new retard and just have to be replaced down the track. Im not sure that banning words is a solution. People already use 'special needs' as an insult for example. How long before we ban that?
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It doesn't matter. Words come into vogue and they go out of vogue, some of them move on into the realm of vulgarity. I'm guessing that you wouldn't openly use the word "faggot," yet watch any of Eddie Murphy's standups from the eighties and you'll realize how far we've come. Do you regret not being able to use "colored," "Negro" or the N word? Zetgeists change.
 
Riveroaks said:
"Retard" is a girlie word.

"Retarded" is old school 1960's.

We had a retarded kid in our 4th grade class. He finally ended up in state prison for dope dealing. Definitely retarded. No question.

Psycho means psychopath -- someone who derives pleasure from hurting others. 1% of any population is criminally psychopathic.

A sociopath is somewhat milder.

Sociopaths simply have no feelings for others.

Whether using the girlie word "retard" is sociopathic or not, or whether clinging to the 1960's terminology of "retarded" similarly evokes sociopathic misgivings is hard to say.

We can try to be politically correct all the time, but that in itself may be a form of socio-pathology as well.
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wrong again. "Sociopath" had come to replace older "psychopath".
 
spangledbanner said:
Does using the word retard make a person a sociopath? Or is hysteria over words just a result of insincere PC culture? What do you think?

Can we say the "R" word as long as we are not using it to insult people that have special mental needs?
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You can say anything you want, the hell with what anybody thinks.
 
Cardinal said:
It doesn't matter. Words come into vogue and they go out of vogue, some of them move on into the realm of vulgarity. I'm guessing that you wouldn't openly use the word "faggot," yet watch any of Eddie Murphy's standups from the eighties and you'll realize how far we've come. Do you regret not being able to use "colored," "Negro" or the N word? Zetgeists change.
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I say faggot all the time. It just means annoying and attention seeking Harley Davidson owner. And I use the word nigger too if it is in the right context. I just did. Spike Lee is wrong. And I do not want Blazing Saddles getting banned - and if it was that would be silly because it is not racist at all - it is the opposite of racist. And I do not want Adventures of Huckleberry Finn banned - it is the opposite of racist. Nigger is fine if it is used in the right context.
 
spangledbanner said:
I say faggot all the time. It just means annoying and attention seeking Harley Davidson owner. And I use the word nigger too if it is in the right context. I just did. Spike Lee is wrong. And I do not want Blazing Saddles getting banned - and if it was that would be silly because it is not racist at all - it is the opposite of racist. And I do not want Adventures of Huckleberry Finn banned - it is the opposite of racist. Nigger is fine if it is used in the right context.
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Using words like faggot, retard, nigger etc...speaks volumes about you and nothing about the intended target.
 
I've posted this before.

This word really is in a category all its own and I will explain why. My familiarity with the subject is due to me having a younger brother who has cerebral palsy. He has an IQ around 70, has an emotional maturity level of around a 10 year old, and is heavily active in the Special Olympics and the Arc.

He has a job he loves and he has at least 20 times as many friends as I have. And frankly, he is a better man than I am.

As well adjusted as he is, the word "retarded" still makes him cry. When he was a child he was picked on ALL the time. I was two years older than him and I was getting in fights on a weekly basis with those who would bully him. Kids can be viscious. My brother has an incredible memory. He can tell you the jersey number of every single football player in the NFL. He can also remember every insult he ever received.

Most adults who use the word retard or retarded would never dream of using it to insult someone with an actual developmental disability. But here is the difference between them and other minority groups. Many people with developmental disabilities don't have the emotional maturity to discern the intent behind the use. When many of them hear the word they are just reminded of the hell they went through growing up.

So I would personally ask people to think twice when using the word around people you don't know. If my brother was standing behind you in a line you would not be able to tell he was different until you actually spoke to him. So odds are you would t notice him when you jokingly told your friend "Dude, that movie was so retarded". And you likely wouldn't notice when the large man behind you wiped a tear from his eyes as he started reliving all the times he was laughed at and called retarded.
 
rabbitcaebannog said:
Using words like faggot, retard, nigger etc...speaks volumes about you and nothing about the intended target.
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I am not using them as insults. And I am a fan of South Park and I dont think that Stone/Parker are racist - do you?
 
BrewerBob said:
I've posted this before.

This word really is in a category all its own and I will explain why. My familiarity with the subject is due to me having a younger brother who has cerebral palsy. He has an IQ around 70, has an emotional maturity level of around a 10 year old, and is heavily active in the Special Olympics and the Arc.

He has a job he loves and he has at least 20 times as many friends as I have. And frankly, he is a better man than I am.

As well adjusted as he is, the word "retarded" still makes him cry. When he was a child he was picked on ALL the time. I was two years older than him and I was getting in fights on a weekly basis with those who would bully him. Kids can be viscious. My brother has an incredible memory. He can tell you the jersey number of every single football player in the NFL. He can also remember every insult he ever received.

Most adults who use the word retard or retarded would never dream of using it to insult someone with an actual developmental disability. But here is the difference between them and other minority groups. Many people with developmental disabilities don't have the emotional maturity to discern the intent behind the use. When many of them hear the word they are just reminded of the hell they went through growing up.

So I would personally ask people to think twice when using the word around people you don't know. If my brother was standing behind you in a line you would not be able to tell he was different until you actually spoke to him. So odds are you would t notice him when you jokingly told your friend "Dude, that movie was so retarded". And you likely wouldn't notice when the large man behind you wiped a tear from his eyes as he started reliving all the times he was laughed at and called retarded.
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that was explained in a lovely way
 
spangledbanner said:
Does using the word retard make a person a sociopath? Or is hysteria over words just a result of insincere PC culture? What do you think?

Can we say the "R" word as long as we are not using it to insult people that have special mental needs?
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Using words isn't how you obtain a pathology.
 
spangledbanner said:
I am not using them as insults. And I am a fan of South Park and I dont think that Stone/Parker are racist - do you?
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Of course they are ! We are all racist, involuntarily or otherwise. There are people who are low in prejudice and we simply aren't privy to how racially prejudicial they are.
 
It may make you a jerk, but it also can be a sign of profound ignorance and reliance on regional slang. I've noticed some northeasterners really hold on tight with a few of these slang terms, even when they wish to sound like liberal humanitarians with other populations.

People bring up that it, along with other words, were diagnostic categories. There's been two broad-based interpretations on this. The first is that it shows that we are progressing as a society by removing the "r-word," after we have removed the term "idiot" and "mongoloid" from regular medical usage. The second is that because they were diagnostic categories, there's no real stigma involved. I would agree more with the former than the latter, but would also point out the lack of thought behind repeating this statement. It is undeniable (to the informed, that is) that diagnostic categories were not neutral terminologies, no matter how much professionals of the era(s) argued. There has always been a presumed evil or social disgrace placed on the person so labeled. The medical community as well as the burgeoning educational establishment took on those words to more or less divide persons desirable and undesirable for society (and the classroom). For instance, up through the late 1990s, I have regularly come across references to "educable mentally retarded" and "trainable mentally retarded" students and their life prospects. While these individuals have qualitatively different lives from the population without disabilities due to their disability, this utilization of presumed skill-based diagnostic categories nevertheless dramatically influenced how professionals viewed these persons and their life prospects and what they were willing to do to ensure that the professional's views would be adhered to. It turned out that they had significantly undercut what these persons could do in adult life, because over the past few decades we have continually found programs that break a number of presumed biological barriers to economic and intellectual success. Twenty years ago, it was taken for granted that persons with, what we now call intellectual disabilities, could not in any way shape or form benefit from post-secondary education (especially at heralded community colleges or universities). Now we have had a substantial amount of research that shows, in fact, they can not only attend tailored programs, but will substantially increase their likelihood for employment and competitive wages by attending such programs at the post-secondary level.

That being said, one would be in error to suggest that by removing the r-word you thus remove the stigma. This places too much emphasis on the word rather than the thought processes which accompany the words. As in the past, when the medical community soured on the usage of "idiocy," "mongoloid," and "feeble-minded," they moved onto other terms-ones that still carried internal stigma and were eventually picked up on by the general population as a signifier for the other.
 
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