There are so many terms that we use loosely in today’s society, like gay, stupid, and retarded. It is wrong. My freshman year roommate was completely against the world “retard”. Of course, I continued to say it anyway. If I said it around her, she would glare at me until I apologized. Deep down I really didn’t care. No matter how much she would tell me not to say the word “retard”, I would continue to say it anyway. It was like an unconscious habit. It just slipped out.
I know a young boy who has mental retardation and that doesn’t stop his family from using the word. His older brothers torture him. They want to make him tougher and stronger, I guess. The young boy doesn’t know what “retard” means, so he doesn’t care. Whenever I’m with this family and the older brothers are being mean (not viciously mean but messing around) to their little brother, I always tell them to stop. But then I realize that I do sort of the same thing when I call someone a “retard” or tell someone “they’re retarded”. I’m a hypocrite.
It wasn’t until this year that my roommate and her boyfriend told me the word “retard” isn’t used in their hometown. I really tried to not say it. Ever since then I’ve really started to watch what I say to people, especially using the word “retard” or telling someone “they’re retarded”. Every time I go to say it, I think of a different word I could use. I think of my boyfriend’s little brother who has autism and Asperger’s before I use that word. People really need to think about what they say before they say it. The words you say can have a huge effect on someone without you even realizing it. Now, whenever I hear someone say that word, I always glare at them and tell them that they shouldn’t use it. And they shouldn’t.
I think that now a days using the word gay, retarded, and stupid to describe things has turned into the norm and it really isn't right. The fact that gay went from meaning happy to being the name of a man having feelings for a man is interesting. But when when you say "that's gay" to describe something you are comparing whatever you are describling to a gay relationship. Why do people have to use gay to describe something, instead they should something less hurtful like describling say a class as boring instead of saying "oh that class is so gay". no cool people need to watch what they say.
ReplyDeleteHere's my standard response when I'm in an online game and someone types in chat "That's so stupid and gay."
ReplyDeleteGay? Does find itself sexually attracted to of the same gender? If you were just trying to say "stupid" two times and ran out of synonyms (dumb, lame, idiotic, pointless, unintelligent, empty, vapid,clueless?), may I suggest that you just stop at the first "stupid"? Gay does not mean stupid.
Sometimes the other person apologizes. More often, they make an Ad hominem attack, and I block them.
I agree with you and the others who commented on this so far, but how can you stop something that is so worldwide? It is like saying you can stop every guy from cheating. We all know they do it but we cant stop them. People will do what they choose until, like you, experience something which changes their mind set. I am glad you could see the other side of things. Maybe others who use words like "retard" will read this and change their mind set as well.
ReplyDeleteYou stop "worldwide" rude conduct by confronting it each and every time it happens before you. The hope is that by your personal act of witnessing to them -- getting in their face and saying their behavior is not cool -- they will have that experiential moment which changes their mind.
ReplyDeleteBecause if everyone who is offended keeps quiet, if no one ever speaks out and says, "This is wrong", then the worldwide attitude will never change.
There might not be something we can do to completely stops something bad. The only thing you can do is stop saying it yourself. One person can have such in impact.
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