The "R-Word"

It continues to amaze me how having a child diagnosed as being on the spectrum can change your point of view on just about everything.

When I was young, the word "retarded" was part of mine and my friends natural language. We didn't mean any harm; We were young and naive. Even as an adult I don't know that I truly understood just how offensive the word was. Of course I knew that describing someone with any form of mental challenge that way was offensive, but using it otherwise, not so much.

A b-rated movie director, Uwe Boll, recently posted a video ranting about the fact that no one was contributing to his Kickstarter campaign. In it, he used the word "retarded"a few times. Being that he was already depicting himself as a complete ass-hat, I didn't really react to it. He wasn't worthy of the small effort it takes for me to be offended, so I moved on.

Today I found that one of the media outlets I follow on YouTube had posted a video on the story. It depicted two of its female stars running around the office to collect money for a movie called "Retarded Wizards in the Forest" (the title Boll used in his video). As they did this and were turned down, they'd use the R-word to indicate their displeasure. I was, officially, offended.

I've tried in the hours since to remember that it's essentially a comedy routine. The company's channels have posted videos in the past discussing the offensive nature of the N-word so, I suppose it surprised me. 

No, it bugged me.

Just constant picking at my brain bugged me.

I'm not typically one of those people that feels the need to be politically correct. In fact it drives me nuts how hard society tries to be just that. But in this case, I was in fact, offended. 

I suppose this post is essentially to say that you need to consider your audience. I don't care what you say among your family and friends. Everyone is entitled to say and think what they want. But, when you are producing material for the masses, it makes sense to think about what you're putting out there before you click that upload button.