How this fucking australopithecus became a thought leader, I will never understand.
this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2025
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He's a morons idea of a clever person. That's how
Ironically, retard was originally a kinder word cooked up to describe people with lower intelligence, along with moron, idiot, cretin, and imbecile. Over time these became pejoratives. Just kind of interesting to see how language develops and terms intended to avoid offense over time turn into ones that offend people.
Yes, when you come up with a word to describe people that others consider less/worse than themselves, they will invariably end up using the word to describe them as an insult to others. This will happen no matter how mundane or non offensive you try to make the word.
This is the very nature of slurs, and more largely language in general, in the first place. It's not the signifier, it's the signified.
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I'm not american and don't care about politics but I was watching a show the other day and when Rogan appeared as a guest I had to shut off after 5 minutes. This person is so annoying I couldn't stand. Don't know how you guys do it. I didn't even liked him in newsradio and I loved the show.
That's crazy. Anyway, have you tried DMT?
Once he had Alex Jones on his show peddling "clean coal" I stopped listening to him.
I mean, i never really stopped calling people like Rogan and Trump retarded... But calling it a great cultural victory, is just... Retarded.
Rogan really being a gay retard here
Retarded is what you call your friends when they're being retarded
Michael Scott
Sorry guys, this one's locked now. Y'all need to grow the fuck up.
You see, the problem with that word is that people who want to keep it around really make me wanna use it.
Joe Rogan has really sold out to his mentally absent base. What a victory for them.
Can all newspapers, when writing about Rogan, now use the term "Noted r-word, Joe Rogan..."
Can we just make Rogan the new R-word and stop saying it?
Shut up, you Rogan
Oh, i love this
They can describe themselves again. I suppose that could be considered cultural restoration?
Of course retards like Rogan and Trump like that word.
Joe Rogan identifies as a South Park character: offensive and two-dimensional
Honestly, if the culture war has been going on this long and the "greatest victory" they can show for it is feeling comfortable using the r slur again, thats just deeply sad for them lol.
I think wayyyyy more people than you realize say it. Even people you think are raging leftists. Most of us got quiet because we in general agree with left leaning things. Feel free to skim my profile...
But man... fucking EVERYONE says retarded. I'm very left leaning. Once I got away from a few select people... it was genuinely kind of a culture shock for me how many people say it lol.
I'm not advocating for people to just sling it like crazy.. and I know in a way that's kind of what's gonna happen to SOME EXTENT... but as someone who tried to push other folks toward not saying this in the past....
I 100% think it's a lost cause. I don't think it's going away. I don't personally think it's ableist and never did.
To make a comparison, from my perspective, it's kind of like turning the word "insane" into a slur.... we did some reaaaal bad things to people under the veil they were "insane." We put people in jail and mental hospital for most of their lives. We fried their brains with medication and lobotomized them both chemically and physically. It's not as common, but it is 100% an insult to tell someone they are insane or acting insane (I mean if they're bashing their skull into a tree or somethin that IS insane but that would also be an extreme example to call someone retarded over)
But we don't get upset about calling people insane today... everything has context and I think the context of retard has moved on from why people are offended.
A more apt comparison is being equally mad you called someone slow... I mean... retard is literally a word for slow in French... it kinda really only become ableist when someone wants it to be interpreted that way. At what point is simply calling someone stupid not also then ableist? Are we gonna crucify people if they use any other insult beyond "ignorant" that doesn't indicate the insultee's willingness in their stupidity? Or is "you lack/display a lack of intelligence" (the definition of stupidity) somehow more classy than slow and retarded in your eyes?
My 2c is that unless you expect to erase the word (you're not going to) you're better off helping to change the meaning in common view (most of us just think it means ya RLY RLY fkin dumb but use a word beyond stupid or idiot) and steal it back from them. Grinding to death and dividing OURSELVES internally over shit this nonsensical is killing us.
It's an easy code switch that uses their language against them and makes you more credible in their eyes 🤷🏻 as an ally I'm just saying not every battle can be won the way you originally wanted it to be
TLDR: bunch of different justifications for why I call MAGATs retards when they make stupid points in arguments
I also find it funny that calling someone a retard is considered less acceptable than calling someone an idiot. Especially when examined under an ableist lens.
Down syndrome, as a genetic condition, is out of their control
Being ignorant is a choice.
100% think it’s a lost cause. I don’t think it’s going away. I don’t personally think it’s ableist and never did.
I don't think it's ever going fully away. But it is still important to call it out when we see it.
I don't know if it's the circles I'm around or what, but this is not my experience at all. As someone with a nonverbal autistic loved one who was bullied with this slur, I disagree with the idea that it doesn't cause harm to continue to use it. If someone uses it I ask that they don't use it around me and that's been respected. Language evolves over time, and we need to evolve away from using what was relatively recently a medical diagnosis as an insult.
Personally, I think the problem was that they were being bullied, not what specific names they were being called.
I think it's absolutely fair to ask someone not to use a word that you don't care for around you. The problem arises when you attempt to make that everyone's problem, not just yours.
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Just in case anyone had begun to consider that Joe Rogan is anything but an absolute infected boil on the ass of civilization.
The mother fucker double dips. Pay for his show and still get ads. Fuck that.
That's your primary grievance with Joe Rogan?
It's okay if he uses that word, he has the pass. The ivermectin really set his IQ below Forest Gump levels.
Honestly it was the politically correct word in the 80s, although it was simultaneously used as a slur. A lot of those people are still alive and just hate having to constantly change to new language.
Every time we come up with a technical term to describe people with medical impairments to their intelligence, people begin using it as an insult.
I guess here's hoping "intellectually disabled" doesn't catch on (hopefully too wordy).
I knew a guy who used "delayed" as an insult after HR told him to stop calling people retards. It offended people just as much but wasn't against the rules.
People will find a way.
There's a name for it- euphemism treadmill
Lol, I'll never understand these people. The word "retard" was never gone. At no point was it illegal or impossible to say it, similar to any other word. The worst consequence for saying something that's bound to piss people off is just that, pissed off people. You never faced jail time and I can't think of anyone "canceled" for it.
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It must be nice to have so much money and freedom from consequences that that's the kind of thing that bothers you.
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It never left. Using it still makes you look like an asshole.
All these "free speech absolutists" still don't realize that free speech does not mean immunity from consequences of that speech from your fellow citizens. It's almost like they just haven't paid attention for their entire lives.
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