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Twitter Rally Aims to Make "Retard" New Dirty Word
Yes, it is true. These "red-brick road" babies high school students think they can tell us what words not to use? I mean, I love it, but i also hate it. "Retard" is my go to word when i don't want to say "gay"--> about anything and everything. I've bolded some words that I feel are essential for flow. I thank you in advance for the compliments. Anyways, here is the story: It’s the slur raising a ruckus from the White House to Hollywood, and today friends of the intellectually disabled will stage a pledge drive at the State House to ban the word “retard” in Massachusetts. Soldiers of the anti-R-word movement will be collecting signatures from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Great Hall from those who “pledge and support the elimination of the derogatory use of the R-word from everyday speech and promote the acceptance and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities.” On Wednesday, at least 200 students plan to hold an anti-R-word rally at Winthrop High School. “When that word’s used, it’s a sign of ignorance. That’s the bottom line. We can change people’s way of thinking. I really believe that,” said Craig Smith of Brighton, founder of the equal rights group Massachusetts Advocates Standing Strong. Smith, who was born brain-damaged, said, “I would love to see that word banned. Names hurt. As a society, we have a lot to learn. Sometimes we have to think before we speak. We don’t do that very well. We’re all guilty of that.” And not just schoolyard bullies. Earlier this month, conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh mocked liberal activists as “retards,” after White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel was forced to apologize to the Special Olympics for rebuking left-wing extremists as “(expletive) retarded” for threatening to alienate more conservative Democrats. The Black Eyed Peas’ song “Let’s Get it Started” was originally “Let’s Get Retarded.” And in 2008, Ben Stiller’s comic blockbuster “Tropic Thunder” was picketed at movie theaters for its excessive mocking of the R-word. “As you’ve seen over the past couple of months, it’s kind of flared up on the political level,” said David Greenwood, spokesman for Massachusetts Special Olympics. “Every time you hear it in a school setting or in a sentence that might have a swear word before it, it’s meant to be derogatory.” Story from Bostonherald.com, click the like to go to the story page.
