I'm sure you've all read about the kerfuffle (AKA kerfluffle) over Rahm Emanuel's remark calling some in his own party "fucking retards." I find it more than a little amusing that the kerfuffle didn't come from him dropping yet another F-bomb, but from what some people are now calling the "R-word."
Of course, Sarah Palin saw an opportunity there, so she called him out on her Facebook page (Best line I've heard so far, from Andy Samberg as Rahm: "You call me out on Facebook?! What are you, fourteen?"), asking not just for an apology, but for Rahm to either resign or President Obama to fire him. Personally, I think that would be a bit of an overreaction, but in the strange world of Sarah Palin, that was a perfectly reasonable response.
Although...when Rush Limbaugh did it the following day, using the word not once, but several times, she not only didn't call for his big fat head on a platter, she didn't even mention him by name. She just said that it wasn't acceptable for anyone to use the word. In an interview with Chris Wallace, she maintained that Rush was merely using satire to get his point across, and wasn't calling any person or group retards. What do you think?
Our political correct society is acting like some giant insult's taken place by calling a bunch of people who are retards, retards. I think their big news is he's out there calling Obama's number one supporters f'ing retards. So now there's going to be a meeting. There's going to be a retard summit at the White House.
Kind of sounds to me like he explicitly called a group of people retards, even called a meeting of said group a "retard summit."
This tells me a few things.
- Palin is an asskisser who is afraid to piss off Rush because he could hurt her political future
- Palin is a hypocrite, playing the insulted mother and defender of her child only when the "attacker" is someone she doesn't like or doesn't align herself with politically
- Palin is an idiot who doesn't understand the concept of satire and mistakenly thinks that was what Limbaugh was doing
Asskisser, hypocrite, and idiot? No breaking news there.
Someone raised the argument that it's still not cool, that it's like saying "That's so gay!" as an insult (which I do not do). I don't think it is, because a segment of the population identifies themselves as gay; the word "retarded" is no longer used as a term to identify certain disabled individuals.
I know that not everyone feels the same way, and there are still people who feel that it is an insult to disabled people. I believe that it's an insult only to able individuals who are acting like idiots, and there are plenty of those around. I'm not going to stop using it, but I will be careful around who I use it, keeping in mind that some would find it offensive. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time that someone found something I said offensive!
As for the new terminology, "intellectually and developmentally disabled," I'd say that Sarah Palin is most definitely intellectually disabled, so I'll join Stephen Colbert and others in saying that Sarah Palin is fucking retarded. I enjoyed Lewis Black's take on it, though, just because his frenzied outrage makes me laugh.
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You know, it's not a word that drips easily off my tongue... much like the c word... but who would have ever thought Sarah Palin would be politically correct?
ReplyDeleteNot I.
I just can't tell you how much it slays me that Rush was complaining about Palin being politically correct and retarded.
ReplyDeleteI almost referred to Palin as "the Queen of the Fucking Retards", but to refer to her as Queen would infer she was born unto entitlement, which we all know she was not! Plus, that eould be and insult to Queens everywhere! Let's just say she has appointed herself "Den Mother of the Fucking Retards" because we all know that Den Mother is a job for which no sane woman would volunteer!
ReplyDeleteAnd FYI, according to Miss Ginger, the authority on such things, it is perfectly acceptable to refer to something as "so Gay" as long as the something is fabulous, flamboyant, or over the top!
I am not sure you can call her retarded, because that would imply that she is able minded :o)
ReplyDeleteHoney, I don't think anybody needs to worry about Sarah being a threat to anyone. I'm Republican, but if she decides to run for office, I might kill myself.
ReplyDeletePalin is a politically-intellectually-spiritually-morally-ethically-challenged asshated wingnut of the nth degree.
ReplyDeleteThank you Beth! I've been feeling a bit guilty because I allso don't have a problem with using the word retard to refer to able minded folks who are behaving as if they have impaired intellectual ability. I would never use the term to describe someone who is mentally challenged or disabled, or to use the new lingo, "intellectually and developmentally disabled." I thought that perhaps I was alone in not finding Rahm's excited utterance shocking. I was particularly disgsted with Palin's hypocritical bout of political correctness when it came to Rahm's comment,made behind closed doors and not intended for the public, and her laissez-faire acceptance of Limbaugh's public use of the allegedly ofensive term in a forum intended for public consumption. I think Palin and Limbaugh are fucking retards.
ReplyDeleteIt's just a word, for gosh sakes. Remember, there are other definitions, too. I hope we're not going to start "word banning" in this country, although I'm sure Palin would want that to happen so that people would quit calling HER a retard, a description she has truly earned.
ReplyDeletere·tard 1 (r-tärd)
v. re·tard·ed, re·tard·ing, re·tards
v.tr.
To cause to move or proceed slowly; delay or impede.
v.intr.
To be delayed.
n.
1. A slowing down or hindering of progress; a delay.
2. Music A slackening of tempo.
I agree with you 100%.
ReplyDeleteI like what Ken said. Palin is merely an overextended opportunist. Nothing she says can be taken at face value.
ReplyDeleteI never used the word "retarded" before, but now it's found its way to the top of my list of insults. Palin is a retard. Period.
ReplyDeleteMy almost-thirty son, who doesn't shy away from calling someone a effing retard if they deserve it, informed me the other day what the under-thirty crowd means by the term "teabagging." This terminology-swapping game just gets funner and funner. I do love it that Sarah's not smart enough to pace her public exposure the way savvy movie stars do; the more she talks, the sooner she wears off.
ReplyDeleteI agree with "Toon". Palin is a retard. PERIOD.
ReplyDeleteI wish she would just go away..............
Hugs, Rose
It's definitely in the meaning of the word where offense can lie. The word itself, when used correctly, is not bad. But I would add that we have other words that are so much better to use in describing SP and her teabagging minions.
ReplyDeleteLet me see....
Hypocrite.
Idiot.
Ridiculous.
Unprepossessing.
Recalcitrant.
Blowhard.
Liar.
Self-promoter.
The point is, we don't have to use words connotatively when clearly we have enough words to describe things/situations/people denotatively. I try to reserve the figurative, more colorful speech to my circle of friends who know what I mean. I think it's better to err on the side of not offending strangers than on the offending side.
Although I love Lewis Black and his take on it! :)
Beth, the worst of the crimes, in my book, is not knowing what satire is.
ReplyDelete