Politics is Retarded.

Somewhere in Massachusetts a committee of like-minded citizens gathered yesterday to deal with one of the most grave issues affecting the state:

The word "retarded." (Hat tip: Jules Crittenden)

“When that word’s used, it’s a sign of ignorance. That’s the bottom line. We can change people’s way of thinking. I really believe that,” said Craig Smith of Brighton, founder of the equal rights group Massachusetts Advocates Standing Strong.

Smith, who was born brain-damaged, said, “I would love to see that word banned. Names hurt. As a society, we have a lot to learn. Sometimes we have to think before we speak. We don’t do that very well. We’re all guilty of that.”

It would be satisfying but cruel to tell this brain-damaged fellow that his argument is retarded, so I'll make do with pointing out that he has not thought before he spoke. The word "retard" is derived from that Latin "tardus" for "slow" and its use as a clinical term was intended to replace terms like "idiot," "moron," "imbecile," or "cretin" (the last evolving from the notion that the mentally retarded were still Christians and hence deserving of human sympathy). Each of those were clinical terms until they became pejorative, and so has "retard." This is a process known as the Euphemism Treadmill.

Hence, whatever term we come up with to replace "retard" will eventually become a perjorative too. "Special" already has:



No one should be mocked for what they cannot control. But the rhetorical attempt to make us embrace mental deficiency is preposterous. No one wants to be disabled. Being disabled is not a good thing. Hence it will always be used to mock whatever appears to be analogous to it. This is as natural as breathing, and attempts to stop it, are frankly, retarded.

And since I know the sensitivity brigade considers themselves smarter than me, I'm going to assume that they know all this, and that whatever painful neologism they plant upon the mentally disabled will improve the lives of them not one iota. What then, am I forced to conclude? That this is so much political grandstanding, a shallow attempt to themselves on the back for their tolerance?

Nah. Must be something else.