Rahm Emanuel recently said this.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Emanuel, exasperated upon learning that liberal special-interest groups were planning to run ads against conservative Democrats not supportive of health care reform, blasted the plan as “f—— retarded” over the summer.
This prompted Sarah Palin, that beacon of hope for morons everywhere, to say this.
In a post titled “Are You Capable of Decency, Rahm Emanuel?,” Palin wrote, “Just as we’d be appalled if any public figure of Rahm’s stature ever used the ‘N-word’ or other such inappropriate language, Rahm’s slur on all God’s children with cognitive and developmental disabilities — and the people who love them — is unacceptable,” adding, “it’s heartbreaking.”
I’m always amazed when I see people trying to make such tenuous connections. The reality is that the only thing that connects “retard” and racial slurs is that both are meant to be offensive. Why each one is offensive is another thing.
“Nigger” is meant to disparage a person based upon race as if there is something inherently negative about being a certain color. Since reasonable people tend to agree that skin color has no normative value, the word can be rejected because it is offensive in a wide array of contexts (though not when specifically defined). “Retard” and its derivatives, on the other hand, are meant to disparage a person for saying or doing something unintelligent, as if there is something inherently negative about not being smart. Reasonable people tend to agree that there is something negative about a lack of intelligence.*
There is, however, a narrow band of usage where “retard” might be considered legitimately offensive to people who are actually retarded. This would be when one uses the term to reference the goodness or general value of a person. Emanuel didn’t do this, instead referencing the quality of the idea of weakening the Democratic party with the goal of passing healthcare. (And he’s right – weaken the Democrats and who do these people think will take power?)
I hate political sensitivity at the expense of linguistics.
*Boy! I can’t wait for the first Clever Carl who disagrees with me to come by and turn this one around on me! Internet. Scoff.
Filed under: Politics and Social | Tagged: Politically Correct, Rahm Emmanuel, Retarded, Sarah Palin |
For the Sake of Science 
“(And he’s right – weaken the Democrats and who do these people think will take power?)”
Wow, talk about retard. hehe. Okay, a bit much, but I do disagree. Weaken who again? The Democrats, the same ones who mostly voted for the Iraq war, the FISA/Telecom Immunity BS, completely forgetting all their talk about Single Payer plans in previous years, not one of them calling out Obama for his horrendous hypocrisy with state secrets etc.?
No, I won’t vote for these shills anymore either. Yes, that will most likely mean that the Republicans will win again, if enough lefties are as retarded as I am, and then we’ll really see DC/Pentagon go full retard. I say, let’s really, really get the representation we deserve.
Let’s follow Texas and and some other states that are transforming into perfect little replicas of Saudi Arabian moral police states.
They say never go full retard, but that’s just ’cause they haven’t really tried, at least not since the 1860s.
I agree that the whole load of ’em blows, but in this context these people want to oust conservative Democrats in order to pass healthcare. All they’re going to get is conservative Replicans who have no interest but to block everything.