I'm just going to grab my post from the last "why is the word retard considered hate speech?" whining thread. whining thread and throw a few tweaks in.
From Food For Thought, Sites at Penn State:
Like many other words in the English language, the meaning of the term retarded has morphed quite a bit over time. The r-word falls into a category with other words such as imbecile and idiot– words at one point used to describe those with an intellectual disability. In the late 1960s through the 1980s, the term “mentally retarded” began to replace the then accepted term of “mentally deficient”. From that point on, those with intellectual disabilities began to be categorized based on their degree of mental retardation. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), 4th Edition, published in 1994, uses the clinical label “mental retardation” for those with intellectual disabilities...
Standing alone, the fact that the term “mentally retarded” used in a clinical setting carries no extraneous repercussions or negative implications. However, as the term “mentally retarded” became accepted to describe those with an intellectual disability in a clinical and medical setting, the term “retarded” was also introduced into the English language as a slang word and a morph of the medical term. The prefix of “mental” was dropped, and the r-word began to be used as a synonym for words such as “slow”, “moronic”, “idiotic”, “stupid”, “messed up” and “wrong”. As usage of the word grew in popularity among common language in America, the r-word evolved to hold seriously negative connotations. One does not simply use the r-word in a casual setting to describe something with a positive spin. Rather, the term has come to be an insult.
From Disability Scoop, Rosa's Law October, 2010:
President Barack Obama signed legislation Tuesday requiring the federal government to replace the term “mental retardation” with “intellectual disability” in many areas of government.
The measure known as Rosa’s Law was approved unanimously by Congress before receiving the go-ahead from the president with little fanfare this week.
Under the law, “mental retardation” and “mentally retarded” will be stripped from federal health, education and labor policy. “Intellectual disability” and “individual with an intellectual disability” will be inserted in their place.
The word retard, with reference to mental disability, began harmlessly enough as a clinical term, but it didn't stay that way. It very quickly became an insult to imply mental deficiency in people who did not have a clinical condition. It is considered so offensive by those people who possess mental disabilities and their families, that federal legislation was enacted to remove the word. The word "retard" literally does not exist any longer in any federal policy. That should tell you that it's a seriously offensive word if the House of Representatives, the Senate and the President of the United States ALL unanimously approved the law to strike its use.
And while the term retard is no longer an accepted MEDICAL diagnosis, the definition of the word does still include that of a mentally handicapped person in all major dictionaries. Simply because it was removed as a medical diagnosis does not obliterate the meaning of the word, nor does it change the offensive meaning that it holds for the people that it is used against.
So, I have to ask you. When someone calls someone else a retard in a match... are they making a clinical diagnosis of intellectual disability? Or are they using it as a synonym for slow, moronic, idiotic or stupid? Because that's the two options. And unless they are asking a lot of other questions in that chat log to back up that clinical diagnosis, it's pretty safe to say that they are meaning it as the latter. Which is 100% intended to be offensive, and is all the evidence that Riot needs. The word is the evidence. Especially when they follow it up with things like "downie" or "fucking retard." There's no question in these cases that it's offensive. There's no excuse that can be provided for why it was okay for them to use the slur. It's never okay. These words are hateful, harmful, and should never be used so irreverently by immature brats online because they get pissed off at another player.
It's sad that players would rather complain about how the rules are unfair, rather than simply own up to the fact that they did or said something wrong, and accept the consequences. And I know that you personally didn't, I'm not referring to you specifically with that, just the barrage of players who come here posting angry threads about how they were "unfairly banned" that are filled with hate speech. Sometimes I just want to tell them to suck it up and be a man. We all say things from time to time and get called out on it. Yeah, it's embarrassing. It's called being a teenager. But it's better to own up to it and focus our energies on not repeating the mistakes, rather than whining about how we got caught in the first place.
formerly VentressRedeemed
