Earlier this week,
sarrabellum posted a cryptic comment about a certain Very Nasty Word. I, having strong but more complicated feelings around the use of said word in comedic context, started a comment that, on sober reflection, ought to have been a post. And here it goes: the short, safe version, follwed by, well... a brief treatise upon the R Word, and a plea for the memostantiation (new word: the changing of a word or concept from a simple idea into a transmitted meme) of a new insult.
So, the short and sweet: You use the word retard seriously and derisively, you should be tarred and feathered and left naked in the middle of Safeco Field on Free Lawn Dart Day. End of story.
People who use the word "retard" are fucking idiots. I laugh at them. Hence, I do laugh and enjoy movies that make fun of them. But I can comfortably accept the case that the kind of people who use the word "retard" and think it's funny are numerous and unlikely to see the same nuanced social commentary in such stuff as I do. In other words, we laugh at the same scenes, but not for the same reasons. :( So I am willing to find other ways to laugh at them in order to deprive THEM of the chance to laugh at people who deserve nothing but respect.
I know I've told some of you before, but I decided to create a new word - 'nard. Herewith:
Nard - Noun. Someone who laughs at the difficulties of others. Also, someone who denigrates others because of percieved differences in faculties, appearance, etc. Also, someone who, while apparently having the mental capacity NOT to act like a hypoxic, drunken four year old, for reasons that defy all logic CHOOSES TO DO SO ANYWAY, much to the eternal horror and disgust of the rest of us.
See Also: 'nard, assnard or fucknard.
Apparently it's also a very, very obscure cooking spice from the Bible, but I don't think the authors will complain. Jesus would call certain people 'nards if he were alive today.
Also apparently (yes, I just looked this up) the word 'nard is in the Urban Dictionary as slang for the testicles. Again, given the obvious association (sweaty, wrinkly annoyances with poor decision-making skills that mainly cause pain and get in the way), I am willing to take that hit.
Aaaaaaand finally, a little anecdote. Since I'm a lesbian, I'm not a big fan of the word gay as an insult. One day when I was working at a certain Large Software Company on a certain Very Popular Game as a tester, a couple of the other testers started a conversation about a dumb, dumb idea that was being pushed into the game that we all hated. One of them busted out with "I mean, it's just so, so gay!"
I whipped around in my chair and said "Oh, no you don't!" He blanched, and the other people in the conversation froze. Oh, crap. Dyke on the warpath! PC Cop on the beat. "You do not lump me or my wife in with that ass-hattery!" My whole team laughed.
Activisim, education and standing up for what's right aren't antithetical to humor. In fact, humor is vital. I like it on the edges of humor where sometimes the comics fall off and screw up, especially when they risk skewering the popular dickwads for crapping on people for being themselves. :)
Nobody else NEEDS to share this idea, or this attitude. There are a lot of ways to fight for what's right; this is mine. And I wish that the bunch of fucknards who think they're funnier than they are don't screw up the fun of stupid movies for the rest of us. :(