Unpopular Opinions.

pickarooney · 26-02-2013 01:02PM

Is 'cripple' a bad word now? What's the proper term these days?
And what's the difference between 'handicap' and 'disability' (apart from nobody ever having a 12 disability in golf)?

smash · 26-02-2013 01:14PM

Rasheed wrote: »

Yes it does. N*gg*r, golliwog, knacker, chink were all acceptable at one stage. Not they're not and people will tell you fairly lively that they're not.

But cripple, handicap, spastic, retard are unacceptable now but not as many people will shout about the unjustness of those words.

You're comparing racial slurs with legitimate medical terminology. And even when used as slang, they are not really offensive words.

LizT · 26-02-2013 01:20PM

Rasheed wrote: »

Yes it does. N*gg*r, golliwog, knacker, chink were all acceptable at one stage. Not they're not and people will tell you fairly lively that they're not.

But cripple, handicap, spastic, retard are unacceptable now but not as many people will shout about the unjustness of those words.

Retard and retarded are still used in America.

krudler · 26-02-2013 01:21PM

Rasheed wrote: »

Ah come out of the fog, Nobody was ever diagnosed 'crazy'. You could say the same about 'mad', as in "I was mad about that dress". You're clutching at straws there.

But retard, spastic and handicap all refer to someone with an intellectual or physical disability. And it's hurtful.

And that's bollox about race and genders. What makes them so special? What's makes them immune to a 'pisstake'? Why are they taboo Liam? Who decided that?

tis about context, bet you use the word idiot or moron without thinking twice, well they mean the exact same thing as retard, and were used in the same vein.

if I did something stupid and knew it, I'd call myself retarded, I wouldnt ever call someone with Downs a retard, because I'm not a cnut. Words only cause offence when people give them power, using them completely out of context and without hurtful intent isn't a reason to be offended on behalf of others.

Rasheed · 26-02-2013 01:21PM

pickarooney wrote: »

Is 'cripple' a bad word now? What's the proper term these days?
And what's the difference between 'handicap' and 'disability' (apart from nobody ever having a 12 disability in golf)?

Well the way I see it is it depends how it's used. If you said someone had a handicap when referring to a disability, it's fairly acceptable. But to call someone a 'handicap' when rowing with them, inferring that they are physically or mentally 'not right', that then infers that the person with a disability will be less of a person or 'not right'.

There isn't much of a difference between handicap and disability, just handicap now has connotations of being an insult where as disability doesn't. Ditto with cripple. It's a minefield the same with a lot of terms nowadays when describing someone different than yourself. It also differentiates between countries and, of course, personal choice. Some person with a disability might refer to themselves as a 'cripple', where as another would get upset at being referred to as such.

It's a subject close to my heart, at work and at home, and I've studied a bit around it. I could list loads out, some I don't agree with myself but some that made me think twice about how you would phrase things.

There's a Wikipedia page about it, if anyone's interested.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_disability-related_terms_with_negative_connotations#X

Rasheed · 26-02-2013 01:29PM

krudler wrote: »

tis about context, bet you use the word idiot or moron without thinking twice, well they mean the exact same thing as retard, and were used in the same vein.

if I did something stupid and knew it, I'd call myself retarded, I wouldnt ever call someone with Downs a retard, because I'm not a cnut. Words only cause offence when people give them power, using them completely out of context and without hurtful intent isn't a reason to be offended on behalf of others.

So if I said I "worked like a black today", it wouldn't cause insult? If I worked hard, and used a phrase that was used years ago to describe working hard, would that be wrong? I wouldn't be meaning to cause hurt or offence.

How did the phrase, and many more horrible phrases get called out and made people more aware that they caused offence? Because someone spoke up.

smash · 26-02-2013 01:33PM

Rasheed wrote: »

So if I said I "worked like a black today", it wouldn't cause insult? If I worked hard, and used a phrase that was used years ago to describe working hard, would that be wrong? I wouldn't be meaning to cause hurt or offence.

Eh, it was used to describe forced labor. Not just working hard.

Rasheed · 26-02-2013 01:43PM

smash wrote: »

Eh, it was used to describe forced labor. Not just working hard.

Actually didn't know that, thought it just meant working hard. Was just using it as an example of not meaning to cause offence but would do so anyway, if I used it.

Rasheed · 26-02-2013 01:45PM

smash wrote: »

You're comparing racial slurs with legitimate medical terminology. And even when used as slang, they are not really offensive words.

To be fair Smash, how would you know that they're not really offensive, unless you were a person with a physical/ intellectual disability and were called these names?

smash · 26-02-2013 01:46PM

Rasheed wrote: »

Actually didn't know that, thought it just meant working hard. Was just using it as an example of not meaning to cause offence but would do so anyway, if I used it.

But the reason that 'Worked like a black' is offensive, is because it refers to slavery. It's always going to be offensive.

PopePalpatine · 26-02-2013 04:28PM

"Anti-Catholic" is used by Catholic conservatives when they feel desperate during a debate.

Example:
"I think the Catholic Church should have less influence on the running of this cou-"
"ZOMG YOU ARE AN ANTI-CATHOLIC!!!!!!!"

krudler · 26-02-2013 04:35PM

PopePalpatine wrote: »

"Anti-Catholic" is used by Catholic conservatives when they feel desperate during a debate.

Example:
"I think the Catholic Church should have less influence on the running of this cou-"
"ZOMG YOU ARE AN ANTI-CATHOLIC!!!!!!!"

Ha, I love that one, it makes you anti-Catholic to call the church out on their nonsensical bullsh1t.

"gays are an evil in the world!"
"ehhh..that's a bit bigoted"
"anti catholic!"

old hippy · 26-02-2013 06:18PM

PopePalpatine wrote: »

"Anti-Catholic" is used by Catholic conservatives when they feel desperate during a debate.

Example:
"I think the Catholic Church should have less influence on the running of this cou-"
"ZOMG YOU ARE AN ANTI-CATHOLIC!!!!!!!"

I'm reminded of when people criticise the Israeli Govt and/or the IDF and the accusations of being anti-Israeli or even, bizarrely, anti-semitic are legion.

Criticise Mugabe and Zanu PF and you'll never hear accusations of being anti-Zimbabwean or anti-black. Odd, that

mark renton · 27-02-2013 04:39PM

tdv123 wrote: »

It's a Linux-based operating system designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers

Yep, but still not a phone.

mark renton · 27-02-2013 09:56PM

kunst nugget wrote: »

And Apple make more than phones but I think it's easy enough to follow what he was trying to say.

Well for those of us who have Aspegers we need literal correction.

puppieperson · 27-02-2013 11:00PM

My unwanted opinion is that it would be better to tax pregnancy in this country rather then the internet. Everywhere i look there are babies being grown even where i work 1 girl gets preggers then 6 more are bloody preggers. Too many babies being brought into the world tax them and then there would be less to pay as the tax would work like a contraceptive. 100 euro when they go for the 1st scan, 100 euro when they go for the second scan and a further 200 on delivery soon put a stop to it .. my humble opinion

mackg · 27-02-2013 11:06PM

puppieperson wrote: »

My unwanted opinion is that it would be better to tax pregnancy in this country rather then the internet. Everywhere i look there are babies being grown even where i work 1 girl gets preggers then 6 more are bloody preggers. Too many babies being brought into the world tax them and then there would be less to pay as the tax would work like a contraceptive. 100 euro when they go for the 1st scan, 100 euro when they go for the second scan and a further 200 on delivery soon put a stop to it .. my humble opinion

Or €100 when they take the test then a tax of roughly €250 more than the cost of going to the UK for an abortion on delivery. We've only gone and solved the whole damn mess.

o/

mark renton · 27-02-2013 11:25PM

puppieperson wrote: »

My unwanted opinion is that it would be better to tax pregnancy in this country rather then the internet. Everywhere i look there are babies being grown even where i work 1 girl gets preggers then 6 more are bloody preggers. Too many babies being brought into the world tax them and then there would be less to pay as the tax would work like a contraceptive. 100 euro when they go for the 1st scan, 100 euro when they go for the second scan and a further 200 on delivery soon put a stop to it .. my humble opinion

your on the wrong thread pal

unwanted opinions --->>

pragmatic1 · 28-02-2013 12:08AM

Dumb people shouldn't be allowed to vote.

Quazzie · 28-02-2013 12:08AM

pragmatic1 wrote: »

Dumb people shouldn't be allowed to vote.

They can write down who they vote for, they don't have to actually say it, so that means they can vote.

pragmatic1 · 28-02-2013 12:31AM

Ugh.

mark renton · 28-02-2013 12:33AM

pragmatic1 wrote: »

Ugh.

I do like a short post but youre gonna have to elaborate their chief

Scruffles · 28-02-2013 12:36AM

smash wrote: »

But the reason that 'Worked like a black' is offensive, is because it refers to slavery. It's always going to be offensive.

and retarded is always going to be incredibly demeaning and dehumanizing to those of us with intelectual disabilities.
saying it isnt as offensive as worked like a black is; because it refers to slavery isnt any more reason than what retard means to those of us who are so wrongly attached to this label; retard is a throw back to an era which locked us away in hospitals,intelectualy disabled people were targeted and killed by pyschopaths in the past because no one gave a sht about their worth,we were thought of useless eaters by hitler and many were removed from residential homes and euthanised for their label,many of us have been badly abused and taken advantage of, treated as subhuman and also as burdens directly due to the label and its affects on us so please dont tell us our suffering has less a history or impact on us-it doesnt,but people havent gave a crap about ours.

our history has been hidden away in our families homes;treated like a dirty secret.
the thirty and forty year old intelectualy disabled people of today were locked away in their homes due to the shame 'they' placed on their family,even the queen has intelectualy disabled relatives whom she denied existed until not long ago.
of course our history isnt visible when people have denied us access to the outdoors and community for so long!

may find these pages useful-all from very valid sources-
http://www.r-word.org/
http://www.mencap.org.uk/node/7183
http://nickyclark.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/katie-price-mencap-c4-me.html

not ony that,'retardation' has nothing to do with our disability,we have a different level of mental capacity which affects and limits how we process information,its nothing to do with being the stereotypes we are asociated with; retarded is a word which does not even belong to describing a being,its something which describes a tool/a non living object,if the same way of describing gay people or black people was used on here there woud be a outcry and that is only because people from those groups have quite rightly stood up and said enough is enough.
its very difficult for any of us to truly know how powerful language is like if have never grown up with it directly.
the internationaly used DSM manual for pyschology is finaly changing mental retardation to intelectual disability from may this year[though over here we are diagnosed with learning disability],people need to look at how language affects those it affects and not just how they think its all about PC rubbish.

dizzywizlw · 01-03-2013 12:08AM

Using a word that literally means to slow down seems acceptable for slowed response and hashed thought IMO

That is to say, using the word to associated someone with a lack of thought rather than a disability.