What is the difference between calling someone retarded, autistic, or saying they have downs and calling someone a fa#$ot or a ni#%er? It is ignorant, highly offensive, and should not be tolerated by Riot.
EvilDustMan41 votesIt is bannable.
/thread
MrryZ2 votesNothing makes me happier then seeing the message telling me my report helped ban someone knowing that they were banned for using hate speech.
Restless Slumber12 votesBeing autistic myself, I just say that I am if anyone brings it up. If someone is ever being rude like this I just respond politely. I think you should report these people, but they should only be chat restricted and not banned for only a few splipups. If it's like every game they get reported then yea, ban their ass.
Slamurai Jack9 votesCalling someone retarded isn't nearly taboo enough to justify banning people for doing so. How society at large feels about the word isn't exactly settled and it isn't Riot's job to take any sort of stand on the issue.
And yes, there is a very significant difference between racial and homophobic slurs and using retarded, downs, or autistic as derogatory terms to say someone is stupid. A very, very big difference.
guns irl8 votesHow is it different?
Slamurai Jack6 votesWhen have any of those terms been actively used to oppress certain demographics of people?
guns irl19 votesEvery time you use them you are oppressing a demographic of people who were born that way and have had their disabilities marginalized by our societies use of the word retard as something of negative connotation. Let me ask you this, would you call someone a retard at work? Would you say your buddy has downs in a public place where a mother is waiting with her child who has down syndrome? Would you call an African American the N word? What is the difference?
AJStarhiker4 votes[{quoted}](name=guns irl,realm=NA,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=jskMrX1z,comment-id=000c000000000000,timestamp=2016-01-11T03:27:53.464+0000)
Every time you use them you are oppressing a demographic of people who were born that way and have had their disabilities marginalized by our societies use of the word retard as something of negative connotation. Let me ask you this, would you call someone a retard at work? Would you say your buddy has downs in a public place where a mother is waiting with her child who has down syndrome? Would you call an African American the N word? What is the difference?
You're right about there being a negative connotation and it being highly innappropriate to use outside of the specific diagnoses. However, the difference is that those are medical diagnoses. "N^^^" may have started as a bastardization of the Spanish word for black, but that specific spelling/pronounciation has pretty much always been a slur.
MisterHealYoGirl19 votesThe history of the word doesn't really matter; the point is that it's a slur NOW. I promise you that nobody using it to flame their teammates is trying to make a medical diagnosis.
NegusInParis11 votes"Hello, I'm a doctor and you are a retard"
MisterHealYoGirl11 votesPeople in mental institutions were routinely surgically sterilized without consent throughout most of the 1900s. So I think that counts.
TheStevenWu4 votes[{quoted}](name=guns irl,realm=NA,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=jskMrX1z,comment-id=000c0000,timestamp=2016-01-11T03:08:50.553+0000)
How is it different?
You know, for a person who listed so much credentials while calling people ignorant, you're pretty ignorant yourself.
The N word is a word that specifically carries negative connotation in itself. In plain English, the word itself is negative.
The other words, however, is not the case. "Autistic" and "autism" are words used to describe a certain mental disability. The word itself does not bring negative connotation nor is it meant to be used in a negative way.
This goes the same with the word "retard". Retard means to delay progress/development. For example, "The firefighters are here to retard the spread of fire". Again, the word itself is not negative nor meant to be used negatively.
Because these words are not negative by nature, it doesn't make sense to have them officially censored. It would be very stupid for Riot to do so.
To your point, these words can be used negatively and offend others. However, this does not warrant censorship. If this was the criteria of censorship, then all adjectives would be censored. Case and point: "Don't be such a girl." This is offensive, should we censor "girl"? How about: "You're such a cucumber. Stop being a little fucking cucumber. All you cucumbers needs to get a life." Now this one is a little more extreme, but it's to point out that basically any word can be used negatively.
Negativity is based on intent, not so much the words. There are a few words, such as the N word that is an exception; however, most words are only negative when used in such manner.
That's how they are different.
guns irl5 votesSo you covered racism, how about homophobic comments? Homo is a derogatory word for homosexual -- homosexual is a word to describe a sexual orientation, so by your logic homo should not be hate speech.
Xonra9 votes[{quoted}](name=Slamurai Jack,realm=NA,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=jskMrX1z,comment-id=000c,timestamp=2016-01-11T03:05:23.024+0000)
Calling someone retarded isn't nearly taboo enough to justify banning people for doing so. How society at large feels about the word isn't exactly settled and it isn't Riot's job to take any sort of stand on the issue.
And yes, there is a very significant difference between racial and homophobic slurs and using retarded, downs, or autistic as derogatory terms to say someone is stupid. A very, very big difference.
Not even going to pretend to be diplomatic about my response here; you are just being a clueless numpty trying to argue that society -doesn't- have an issue with using "retard" or "autistic" as an insult.
The fact you are even making this argument says a lot about you as a person whether you like that fact or not.
Calling someone a "retard" as an insult isn't any better than when you try to insult someone by calling them a "homo" and it makes you look equally as ignorant. Sorry if you somehow can't comprehend that.
Slamurai Jack3 votesThe fact that you think calling someone a retard and calling some a n*gger is anywhere near comparable makes me wonder how you even function in life. Where's the line? Am I allowed to say anything negative about anyone ever? Am I allowed to call people stupid? Or is that too close to retarded?
jade harley BARK10 votesretard and n*gger are both connected with oppressed groups; mentally handicapped and black people (in general) respectively. I really do not understand why you feel like you HAVE to use these terms. it's either immaturity or extreme ignorance to how things are and how you should behave. want to insult someone? "wow you jerk."
Slamurai Jack3 votesI also don't see why mentally handicapped people HAVE to feel insulted whenever someone uses the word retarded even when clearly not referring to them. Same with gay people who HAVE to feel insulted whenever someone use the word "gay" to describe something negatively. I'm normally a pretty liberal guy but I have to agree with the anti PC people on this one: You guys are actively looking for ways to be offended by things that have nothing to do with you. And that, to me, is pretty retarded.
Xonra10 votes[{quoted}](name=Slamurai Jack,realm=NA,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=jskMrX1z,comment-id=000c0001000000000000,timestamp=2016-01-11T04:48:11.764+0000)
I also don't see why mentally handicapped people HAVE to feel insulted whenever someone uses the word retarded even when clearly not referring to them. Same with gay people who HAVE to feel insulted whenever someone use the word "gay" to describe something negatively. I'm normally a pretty liberal guy but I have to agree with the anti PC people on this one: You guys are actively looking for ways to be offended by things that have nothing to do with you. And that, to me, is pretty retarded.
I feel sorry for you and your perspective. I'm not even meaning that in a directly insulting way, I'm being serious. I don't know how you function in the real world with that sort of out look.
A Hyper Sloth9 votesShit-talking has always been an integral part of playing video games. People are too PC nowadays, lighten up. :D Maybe I just have a little nostalgia for the days of split screen Mario Kart, and the subsequent death threats and unrepeatable insults you received after hitting someone with a green shell. It's just a part of it - multiplayer gaming is competitive. In every competitive sport or game, you will find people talkin' shit. It doesn't hurt anybody...
Morcleon32 votesShit-talking is perfectly possible without hate speech. [slayer-jinx-catface]
Xonra6 votesShit-talking has always been an integral part of playing video games. People are too PC nowadays, lighten up. :D Maybe I just have a little nostalgia for the days of split screen Mario Kart, and the subsequent death threats and unrepeatable insults you received after hitting someone with a green shell. It's just a part of it - multiplayer gaming is competitive. In every competitive sport or game, you will find people talkin' shit. It doesn't hurt anybody...
Every time I see this argument I roll my eyes so hard I feel I might fall backwards out of my chair. "shit-talking" or trash-talking (sorry, but only passive aggressive kids call it shit-talking) has been there to extents, like verbal tea bagging as it were. People will call you a "noob" or mock your game play, etc. After the game you are usually fine with said person, like when I used to play quake and so on.
Trash-talking is NOT insulting someone by calling them negative slurs like "Retard" or "autistic". That is NOT trash talking, that is just being an asshat, even if you think it's funny. No one finds that funny (but you I guess?) and that is not part of multiplayer/competitive gaming.
If we were playing quake for example back in the day, and someone started acting a fool like that and insulting people like that thinking it was just "part of the game trash-talking" they wouldn't be playing with us more than one game, assuming we couldn't boot them right then and there. If it were a friend doing that, they wouldn't be invited back to play again either.
Maybe you and your friends called each other names like that while you sat around playing mario cart, but that isn't a normal thing normal people do in gaming. Huge difference between trash-talking and acting like a jackass. It has never been acceptable as a whole, and I just feel bad for people that for some reason find that to be okay and don't know the actual difference.
A Hyper Sloth1 votesHeh, I don't find it funny at all, and I've never referred to someone on this game as being retarded or autistic. I think it's pretty cheap and devoid of wit. In my profession, we spend a great deal of time assisting those with mental disabilities - I don't find insulting them funny. However, I don't think someone should be permanently banned for it. Unless they're repeatedly racist or homophobic, a chat ban would seem to be sufficient. Political correctness is insincere and it fights childishness with childishness. From my prospective, adults shouldn't be permanently banned from doing something that they presumably love to do because they said a "no-no" word. Being that offended by the word "retard" is just a childish as calling someone a "retard." Just my .02.
Xonra3 votesHeh, I don't find it funny at all, and I've never referred to someone on this game as being retarded or autistic. I think it's pretty cheap and devoid of wit. In my profession, we spend a great deal of time assisting those with mental disabilities - I don't find insulting them funny. However, I don't think someone should be permanently banned for it. Unless they're repeatedly racist or homophobic, a chat ban would seem to be sufficient. Political correctness is insincere and it fights childishness with childishness. From my prospective, adults shouldn't be permanently banned from doing something that they presumably love to do because they said a "no-no" word. Being that offended by the word "retard" is just a childish as calling someone a "retard." Just my .02.
Sorry but you don't get to tell someone what they should and shouldn't be offended by. You have no idea what they are going through or what their relatives are going through. I happen to have an autistic cousin, and I find it sad that someone has to use that as an insult. I also find it sad that you argue that it should be okay and call someone childish for being offended by that. Shows your true colors right there 100%.
Pentarina Only8 votesGo back to tumblr.
Jack º2 votesTumblr* not tumbler :P
TrulyBland7 votesJust to clarify right up ahead: I don't believe those words should go unpunished, but since you specifically asked for the difference, I'll try to explain where I see the difference:
The simplified idea of insults is to call people something they don't want to be. The words you mention in your title all carry undeniably negative traits outside of social stigmata, whereas sexual orientation and race don't. Realistically, I prefer not having downs. Therefore without further thinking about it, the insult "makes sense" (even though, again, being highly offensive and inappropriate). However for an insult like "fa#$ot" to work, you need to first imply inherent negative traits outside of the social stigma. Basically, somebody that uses racial or homophobic slurs will not only insult the person he is trying to insult, but also via implication insults the entire race or sexual orientation by stereotyping them.
And just to wrap this up the way I started it: I don't think that these words are socially acceptable. There's an undeniable difference between all those words and simply calling someone an asshole as well. Bu ultimately, both will get you banned, and justly so.
venvi10 votesI mean. I'm autistic. 99% of people who use "autism" mean for it to be synonymous with "stupid." Which it's not. There's so many varying types of autism that you can't compare it.
Therefore, it's similar to using gay as an insult when gay isn't really a negative thing in truth unless you're an asshole.
A lot of autistic people just think differently and that's it. Not all of them, but quite a good amount. 1 in 45 children lately are born autistic.
GhostZZombZ6 votes[{quoted}](name=guns irl,realm=NA,application-id=ZGEFLEUQ,discussion-id=jskMrX1z,comment-id=,timestamp=2016-01-11T00:57:45.000+0000)
What is the difference between calling someone retarded, autistic, or saying they have downs and calling someone a fa#$ot or a ni#%er? It is ignorant, highly offensive, and should not be tolerated by Riot.
I agree 100%
Unicky6 votes"just use the mute button"
Or you could just be a decent human being. I guess that's too much to ask.
Vesarixx5 votesI was under the impression it already was
Samus725 votesThey are considered a bannable offenses.
SirGladiator4 votesMy general attitude is if somebody says something you don't like, you can call them out, or ignore them, but if you want them banned for saying something you don't like there's really something even more wrong with you than them. In America we cherish Freedom of Speech, we counter bad speech with good speech, we don't ban speech, that's what the Communists do, not people who love Freedom.
Morcleon15 votesIt's not bannable because we don't like it; it's bannable because it's use as an insult supports the oppression of those people.
Champion Skin3 votesit's bannable because it's use as an insult
This I understand after all it is against the summoner code and all of that
supports the oppression of those people.
This I don't understand... could you please explain...
It Hertz When IP5 votesTrivializing or ridiculing people with those conditions as being less than human. Just like African-Americans, aka "n*****s", were once considered sub-human in the US.
AJStarhiker4 votes^Shrugs^ I'm a word person. It just bugs me that people have misused medical terms to the point those words have become associated with insults and slurs. But, there's a reason they aren't included in the filters, and that's because there are legitimate uses. A lot of racial slurs don't have any other usage.
DU Baymax4 votesPersonally I don't think "hate speech" should be a bannable offense at all. I think riot should focus a lot more on banning trolls, intentional feeders, etc moreso then banning people who do a bit of trash talking. For example, I think dunkey's ban is B.S., especially if the malph didn't get banned too. Whatever ban dunkey got, malph's ban should have been 3 times as long. That kind of trolling, especially in a ranked game, is fuckin garbage.
And for the record, I don't consider trolling to be going sated devourer zilean jungle, as long as you try your best. Hey, we are allowed to have fun in this game, right?
But I think trolling, intentionally feeding, etc should be taken way more seriously then it is now, and hate speech less so. I think you should be able to be a dick (especially if it's in the name of putting an enemy player on tilt)
venvi6 votesI feel like people who use hate speech are typically trolls/intentional feeders/etc.
But also, I'm not fond of the idea that people should try to get a win by simply screaming so much that the other team plays worse. That seems kind of stupid.
Niyumi1 votes[deleted]
guns irl17 votesYeah but this is actually offensive and it is extremely ignorant. How about you stop trying to be a tough guy and stand up for something that is right?
Niyumi1 votes[deleted]
guns irl33 votesSince you think you are some kind of prophet, let me explain a little something to you. I am 32, have been in the military, have two degrees, and have worked a number of well respected jobs at some admirable companies. I think I know a thing or two about the real world. One thing that I notice the more and more I move up, is that people with your mentality don't exist there. You are nothing but a keyboard warrior with an axe to grind and a forum to do it on. Grow up.
HayRoss1 votesWhat did he say before he deleted the comment? I'm curious
Mama Soraka7 votesOh the usual. He was saying people should grow thicker skin, etc. Its not worth discussing. He deleted it because he realized he got in way over his head in what is ultimately a meaningless argument on the internet. It was a wise choice to just choose to stop engaging rather than start a tangential flame war. Seriously, I think he made a very positive choice in removing his posts. Good job, SCIELA.
Baby sitting ADC2 votesFTFY
*You are nothing more then glass waiting to be smashed 
Mama Soraka7 votesWell, I suppose its your right to act like a shitbird as much as its everyone else's right to ask you to please do it somewhere else; you're embarrassing yourself.
EvilDustMan11 votesbut, maybe, you could act like a, you know, decent human being, and not call people retarded
Just a thought.
Fixed that for ya.
Niyumi1 votes[deleted]
EvilDustMan11 votesSo maybe you can stop calling people names, and act like an adult for once.
If you can, that is. I don't really expect much from modern society.
Fix that for ya.