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PaperclipPerfector  5d ago (text post)   16155 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of December 1, 2025

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If you thought US politics could not get more (figuratively) retarded ... you'd be wrong.

Apparently Trump called Tim Walz (among other things) a (figurative) retard. Walz is pretty dumb but is not (medically) a retard. But Michael Bohacek has a daughter with Down's and apparently he's it went over poorly enough to derail the GOP redistricting effort.

[ An interesting parochial aside here is that decades of abortion politics has made Down's a bit of a CW item. And Indiana was among the first to react to Dobbs writing a ban that not only doesn't except Down's (only lethal anomalies count) but in a (laudable) fashion, it specifically un-excepts it. ]

My (subjective) take is that Bohacek's stand seems noble in a wildly-out-of-time kind of way. Like we're back in the 80s/90s and mainstream conservatism was still broadly anti-transgressive while the left was about iconoclasm. But I suppose also that 'family over politics' is not a value that either party is willing to endorse -- certainly not the scolding types gloating about talking down to their transphobic uncle at thanksgiving.

There are few beliefs with such strong bipartisan appeal that I find so contemptible as the idea that calling someone stupid as an insult constitutes cruelty to the disabled.

I'm quite sure Trump refers to things as stupid and idiotic on a weekly basis.

Some parts of the iconoclastic euphemism-treadmill-go-brrrr contingent wants to recast the word 'retarded' as a synonym for 'very stupid'. That doesn't make it so.

Retard is a perfectly acceptable insult from my youth, as is faggot. The loss of good insults due to PC creep is not an affirmative good in any way.

An insult to your buddy is very different from one broadcast to millions.

"Retard" comes from "mental retardation" which is now officially "intellectual disability". But "idiot" also used to mean "someone profoundly mentally retarded". The idea that mere use of any of these terms (as an insult to someone unafflicted, or otherwise) is somehow cruel to the "intellectually disabled" is idiocy. Or rather, it's a flex by some culture warriors since the n-word wasn't enough for them.

I understand how the euphemism treadmill works.

Using terms that are considered slurs today, regardless of whether it's a slur in decades since or hence, is a flex by the edgy -- an attempt t demonstrate that they don't recognize that social norm and can't be made to.

terms that are considered slurs today

It was never a slur except in the minds of obnoxious progressives. Normal people don't give a shit and this kind of slur-hunting is way past expiration.

You should probably look at this guy’s entire life.

Whatever Bohacek is, “progressive” ain’t it. You’ve lost the plot.

Oh sorry, obnoxious progressives and this one GOP guy with a retarded child. Nonetheless, this was never a real slur.

And this is where we get to see how much the edgy millennials get to determine conservative discourse in opposition to the kind of old school Christian types

The social norm was created by their opponents (the culture warriors in question). Breaking it (and ultimately denormalizing it) is a positive good. The existence of the norm, however, does not make the use of the word into actual cruelty to the retarded.

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