San Francisco students push to end use of the r-word

[abucs]

I spend most of the year in the Philippines and I have an English friend who owns a restaurant there. He was in the Special Services. Special this time as in military.

He told me of a time when he visited an island (in the Caribbean I think) and he was being driven around by a black bus driver. The driver would curse and honk his horn and yell out things like ‘Get off the road you stupid n*****’ to some of the pedestrians congregating across the road.

After a few occurrences the English guy was intrigued and diplomatically asked the bus driver why he was yelling that out when he was black.

The bus driver indignantly told him ‘I’m no n***** because I’ve got a job’.

From what my friend could gather that word only applied to someone in that particular place if they were a lay about black guy who wasn’t working or interested in working.

Words of course mean different things to different people.

Quite a few Americans in the Philippines will speak similarly without missing a beat. I don’t think they mean it in a dehumanizing way. Maybe to them it is just like saying Chinamen, or then again maybe they are being disrespectful.

It sounds strange to my ears because it is not a word that is relevant to Australia or the Philippines. I guess this is because we didn’t have a large number of Africans from Niger or Nigeria come into the country for the word to have any original meaning.

 

[pnewton]

I do not think the problem ever lies in the language, but in the failure to respect the dignity of others. If I am speaking in clinical terms of mental retardation, I could do that with peers, or I could do that with those who actually have a developmental disability. Believe me, that sort of disability is not as crippling as a compassion disability. Across the street from me there is a young man like this. If I were talking clinically to her mother, I would not need to avoid the words. He is not his condition. He is simply (name omitted). Not only I, but most of the people in the neighborhood have incorporated him into society. This is the practical way most communities deal with this, not by adjusting language, which is only a fleeting patch on the problem of lack of charity.

I do not speak of retardation to him, or ever reference it, the same way I would never speak of being fat to an obese person, or in any way reference it. I am not family and courtesy requires that I not delve deeply into personal issues. I do talk to him about his life affected by his disability, such as jobs, social programs and such, but only to support him.

 

[shockerfan]

This is also a “pro-life” issue.

It’s not “pro-life” to insult people by suggesting they’re developmentally disabled.

I think I agree with the gist of your point, but I disagree with your language.

“Pro-Life” should not get watered down by adding to it things that don’t involve life or death. I think insulting people is immoral, but does not fall into the realm of life or death.

I would think topics like abortion, embryonic stem cell research, euthanasia, the death penalty, access to healthcare are life issues. Insulting people is just rude and immoral.

 

[jeannetherese]

I do not think the problem ever lies in the language, but in the failure to respect the dignity of others. If I am speaking in clinical terms of mental retardation, I could do that with peers, or I could do that with those who actually have a developmental disability. Believe me, that sort of disability is not as crippling as a compassion disability. Across the street from me there is a young man like this. If I were talking clinically to her mother, I would not need to avoid the words. He is not his condition. He is simply (name omitted). Not only I, but most of the people in the neighborhood have incorporated him into society. This is the practical way most communities deal with this, not by adjusting language, which is only a fleeting patch on the problem of lack of charity.

I do not speak of retardation to him, or ever reference it, the same way I would never speak of being fat to an obese person, or in any way reference it. I am not family and courtesy requires that I not delve deeply into personal issues. I do talk to him about his life affected by his disability, such as jobs, social programs and such, but only to support him.

I handle the situation in a similar fashion. To retard is to slow. If one uses mentally challenged, or developmentally challenged or disabled, eventually on will need to clarify the form of challenge or disability. I use the term respectfully and have never encountered negative feedback. There is a difference between discussing retardation as a condition and calling someone a retard as an insult. That, I would not do.