[Vision2020] Donovan Arnold - Man of Action? Re: Wilson'sReligious Empire

[Tom Hansen]

Chas -

I tend to doubt that "Popeye"'s purpose, when he/she/it used the derogatory
term "retard", was of the warm and fuzzy sort.

Perhaps we should consign a degree of credibility to his/her/its posting
comparable to the maturity, responsibility, and accountability to which the
fictitious Popeye is willing to assume.

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"People who ridicule others while hiding behind anonymous monikers in
chat-room forums are neither brave nor clever."

- Latah County Sheriff Wayne Rausch (August 21, 2007) 

-----Original Message-----

From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Chasuk
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 2:29 PM
To: Popeye Landscape
Cc: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Donovan Arnold - Man of Action? Re:
Wilson'sReligious Empire

On Jan 18, 2008 12:32 PM, Popeye Landscape <dctrofdamind at gmail.com> wrote:

> I am not one of those PC liberals who takes *retard* to mean anything more
> than an emotionally laden reference to being "very stupid". If you are
dumb
> enough to take that as an insult to the handicap then so be it.  I find it
> *disgusting* that you would would limit my *practical* freedom of speech
> using the term *retard*. Donovan was being an idiot and that is all I was
> remarking on.

Interesting tidbit from Wikipedia:

Connotations easily change over time. "Idiot," "imbecile," and "moron"
were once neutral terms for a person of toddler, preschool, and
primary school mental ages.[2] As with Gresham's law, negative
connotations tend to crowd out neutral ones, so the phrase mentally
retarded was pressed into service to replace them.[3] Now that too is
considered rude, used commonly as an insult of a person, thing, or
idea. As a result, new terms like "developmentally disabled",
"mentally challenged," "with an intellectual disability" and "special
needs" have replaced "retarded."

I don't find the word "retard" offensive, but then I don't find the
word "queer" offensive, either.  However, I don't find  a person dumb
for finding them so, but I do find your rudeness reaction to Keely's
polite objection quite puzzling.

Why the hostility?

Chas

=======================================================
 List services made available by First Step Internet, 
 serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.   
               http://www.fsr.net                       
          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
=======================================================