"I am so tired of dealing with socially retarded people. They just go through life with no filter on their mouth. They say whatever is on their minds without thinking of how it might be hurtful to others. I never know quite what to say to these people. Do you call them out right then and there? Ignore them? Shoot them? " ~ "FB friend"
I guess that's the danger in facebook. We read thoughts and post from "friends" who don't actually know they post words that are hurtful to our family, most directly hurtful and painful to Sadie and others who are offended by the r-word (most of my real friends are extremely offended by this word).
Her post has been bothering me all night and all morning, as I see people "LIKE" her comment, and even comment, with little regard to her use of the r-word.
I get it, so called "normal" people who act like jerks, or assholes, or flat out just don't give a hoot if they offend someone. But my FB friend did the ultimate, she associated intellectually disabled people with jerks, by directly calling them socially retarded.
But even so, I find it extremely ironic that she is actually contradicting herself by posting such an ugly statement about people in general. What is "socially acceptable" about posting a comment like this on facebook, when she has over 300 friends, and her business page has over 1000 "Likes."
Here is a link to one of my favorite bloggers...he says it pretty well... http://www.schuylersmonsterblog.com/2011/05/just-word.html
Here's another powerful message from Glee.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T549VoLca_Q&feature=youtube_gdata_player
"Not Acceptable" is a powerful and compelling 30 second television PSA which gives voice to a variety of diverse communities each of whom expresses that it is not acceptable to call them by what were once common words, but are now recognized as offensive slurs. It culminates in actress and self-advocate Lauren Potter from "Glee" stating that it is not acceptable to use the word 'retard' and she and "Glee" co-star Jane Lynch make a call to action to stop using the word and to promote the acceptance and inclusion of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and to make their pledge online at http://r-word.org.The bottom line...find a better word to describe what you want to say, or better yet, If you don't have anything nice to say...say nothing at all. People are offended.
