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Notes -
What are the steelman arguments for/against using the word "retarded" to describe idiocy?
The main argument I've heard is that actually mentally retarded people are well aware of their condition being used as a punching bag to put down other humans, and this naturally produces feelings of Feels Bad Man. Why would you knowingly inflict such collateral damage on innocents when there are perfectly valid alternative insults to be used?
And yet I can't help but feel that this is what the left would call "tone policing." I wanna express myself how I feel like expressing myself, damn it, and that shit right there is some fucking retarded shit.
It's a completely pointless euphemism treadmill. The thing that is being asked for at base, to normalize idiocy, is simply not workable in anything like our society. There is some version of the idea that it's not wrong or the fault of a moron that they have their condition, and we shouldn't be cruel to morons. Morons should be allowed to live good lives. But in almost every sphere of life, especially where we discuss ideas, we need to be able to talk about whether an idea is stupid or not. Stupid ideas are the product of stupid people and whatever word you use to describe people who reliably produce stupid ideas is going to be an insult. No amount of language policing is going to change the fact that it's bad to be stupid, language cannot do that and it's a waste of everyone's time to try.
I can agree it's a euphemism treadmill and that euphemism treadmills are in a sense pointless. But there remains a problem of the commons to solve -- we can't just decide to get rid of euphemism treadmills. You would need a campaign to encourage people to keep using outmoded slurs, and a majority of people would need to care more about ending euphemism treadmills than they do about maybe offending others. Not easy to coordinate.
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