Minerealm Community Forums

The word "retard" is an offensive slur used to dehumanize people with certain conditions (autism, Downs, dyslexia, etc.) that is commonly considered inappropriate and has few or no valid, inoffensive uses. For this reason, I would like to request that it be added to the inappropriate language list, both in-game and for the forums.

Thank you for your time.

~dlgn

Seen this word too many times in my time on this server, really should have been on the list back when but some people don't always use it as an insult and I believe it should be left as it is.

Unbound wrote:Seen this word too many times in my time on this server, really should have been on the list back when but some people don't always use it as an insult and I believe it should be left as it is.

When do people not use it as an insult? They tell people they don't like that they're "r*******". By doing so, they insult people who have developmental conditions, by using the state of having those conditions as an insult. Those who call people with autism, etc. "r******" dehumanize them, because they stop being viewed as people and are seen merely as an example of their condition.

"This water is retarding my build."
"This noob hut is retarding the progress on my wall I'm building!"
"These people on the forums who get upset for other people are retarding my vocabulary!"

I vote no.

The problem with this is that we can't censor everything. If we're going to censor retard we might as well include the words stupid, idiot, insane, crazy and so on... you have good intentions but we can't control everything.

*Put on flame retardant armor.* Sorry dlgn....

Sometimes, these words aren't actually used as derogatory terms. A mature conversation about medical mental conditions may come up and people may need to explain something and use these terms (not in a derogatory term but as an expository term).
If they are using it for derogatory terms, we can just ban request them.

TechnoProdigy wrote:"This water is retarding my build."
"This noob hut is retarding the progress on my wall I'm building!"
"These people on the forums who get upset for other people are retarding my vocabulary!"

I vote no.

I've never seen it used in that manner on MineRealm, ever. One might also argue that the word that we replace with "darn" or "dang" could validly be used to discuss being condemned to hell, but realistically, does anyone use it that way? No.

SkullRose wrote:The problem with this is that we can't censor everything. If we're going to censor retard we might as well include the words stupid, idiot, insane, crazy and so on... you have good intentions but we can't control everything.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope

faldette wrote:*Put on flame retardant armor.* Sorry dlgn....

The word "retardant" is one of the few valid derivatives of the word. All of the others, as far as I've seen, are exclusively used to demean people.

cubeguy314 wrote:Sometimes, these words aren't actually used as derogatory terms. A mature conversation about medical mental conditions may come up and people may need to explain something and use these terms (not in a derogatory term but as an expository term).
If they are using it for derogatory terms, we can just ban request them.

Actually, the medical community has almost entirely stopped using the term. To quote a certain article on the subject, "Congress has, in fact, banned the words 'retarded' and 'retardation' from mention in federal health, education and labor laws; the preferred term is 'intellectual disability'...when people fling it around, they spread the idea that people who are cognitively impaired are stupid, ridiculous, pathetic and loser-like."

Except that retard means to impede, so something like "Mentally Retarded" is a legitimate phrase whether you like it or not.

TechnoProdigy wrote:Except that retard means to impede, so something like "Mentally Retarded" is a legitimate phrase whether you like it or not.

I don't see how it follows that it should be used. There are plenty of "legitimate phrases" that most of us would never think of using because they're offensive. For instance, n***** is based off a word that is the Spanish word for "black", but this doesn't mean that it's okay to say, does it? Context is important. The word "retard" has been used for decades to hurt the intellectually disabled community, and is just as bad as any other offensive word that is technically "correct".