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alias_sqbrSo, something I've been pondering for a while is the attitudes people have towards "stupid people" and how these relate to attitudes towards the mentally disabled.
Now, some people think it's ok to make fun of mentally disabled people.
Most people, I would say, think it's not. Which, you know, good. I've known a bunch of people with downs syndrome and other cognitive disabilities in my life and they were as deserving of respect and decency as anyone else.
But there's a long and established history of people making fun of others for being "stupid", and this consistently blurs the boundary and coopts medical words for the mentally disabled (ie "Moron", "idiot", "retard") Personally I think this is deliberate, in order to accentuate the insult. I was discussing this with Cam and he said "Yeah, but noone actually uses "retarded" to refer to actual disabled people any more, so it's ok to use it as an insult", but Google disagrees (as do a lot of examples of people using it as an insult) I wonder if it occurs to these people that the mentally disabled do actually use the internet...
And a question that has occurred to me from time to time: if it's not ok to make fun of people with well below average intelligence, why is it ok to make fun of people for having mildly below average intelligence? At the same time, if you can't make fun of that what can you make fun of?
Of course I have a somewhat unusual definition of "stupid" anyway, since on the one hand I'm smarter than most people (certainly most of the kids I knew growing up) but at the same time do a lot of really dumb things. (I guess that answers my second question: you can make fun of me :))
Also, googling found me this interesting youtube video, of a woman with autism talking about being considered "retarded", and why she doesn't deny it as vehemently as a lot of other people in her position.
So, as is usual for me, no point exactly just a bunch of vaguely connected thoughts. What do you guys think?
Now, some people think it's ok to make fun of mentally disabled people.
Most people, I would say, think it's not. Which, you know, good. I've known a bunch of people with downs syndrome and other cognitive disabilities in my life and they were as deserving of respect and decency as anyone else.
But there's a long and established history of people making fun of others for being "stupid", and this consistently blurs the boundary and coopts medical words for the mentally disabled (ie "Moron", "idiot", "retard") Personally I think this is deliberate, in order to accentuate the insult. I was discussing this with Cam and he said "Yeah, but noone actually uses "retarded" to refer to actual disabled people any more, so it's ok to use it as an insult", but Google disagrees (as do a lot of examples of people using it as an insult) I wonder if it occurs to these people that the mentally disabled do actually use the internet...
And a question that has occurred to me from time to time: if it's not ok to make fun of people with well below average intelligence, why is it ok to make fun of people for having mildly below average intelligence? At the same time, if you can't make fun of that what can you make fun of?
Of course I have a somewhat unusual definition of "stupid" anyway, since on the one hand I'm smarter than most people (certainly most of the kids I knew growing up) but at the same time do a lot of really dumb things. (I guess that answers my second question: you can make fun of me :))
Also, googling found me this interesting youtube video, of a woman with autism talking about being considered "retarded", and why she doesn't deny it as vehemently as a lot of other people in her position.
So, as is usual for me, no point exactly just a bunch of vaguely connected thoughts. What do you guys think?
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Date: 2008-02-27 12:54 pm (UTC)At which point you might as well ask is it ethical to punch retards? Punching in and of itself is not a bad thing, you can punch a bean bag all day even if imagining it to be the retard who lives down the street and you are not being unethical. However, as soon as you punch the retard itself (yes I went there) it becomes unethical.
Once again its a time, place and audience issue, even when it comes down to ethics. Ie. Right time, place and audience:
Wrong time, place and audience:
no subject
Date: 2008-02-28 02:09 am (UTC)I'm saying that they are unethical in the context in which they are used. The specific context I was thinking of is online discussions, especially in the culture which has grown up around gaming etc. There are two reasons I think it's unethical:
(a) There may actually be mentally disabled people present (ok, it's unlikely in any given conversation, but I'm sure there's plenty in the gaming etc culture in general)
(b) It encourages a pre-existing belittling and insulting attitude towards the mentally disabled which then manifests itself in society as mistreatment and predjudice. e.g. Anti semetic jokes are still racist and not-ok when there's no jews around :P
However, as soon as you punch the retard itself (yes I went there)
Wow, you're nearly as edgy as Mark Millar :P
Also, was that meant to be a clip from a "Die Hard" movie? Your comment makes a lot more sense to me if I assume you meant to use the clip from "The Office" with that Chris Rock joke in (which illustrates your point quite well)