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Is Lewis Black ‘Retarded’?

February 19, 2008 at 13:29 PST
A few weeks back I went to the Just for Laughs Festival in Toronto. Lewis Black was the headline comedian—you know, that crazy, shaking, angry, left-wing comedian that shows up on the Daily Show every few weeks for a five minute monologue?

Black combines social commentary with comedy, always making a point, always funny. As expected, Black threw down on his usual targets—George W, neo-cons and religionists in general. He also threw down on ‘retards’.

His argument is that it’s now OK to call people ‘retarded’ when they are being stupid. How many times have you called your brother a ‘retard’ for farting in public, or called your best buddy ‘retarded’ for not getting a girl’s number? ‘Retarded’ has come to mean idiotic rather than ‘mentally handicapped’. Few would ever now dream of referring to a handicapped person as ‘retarded’—it would be considered vulgar by any standard. But joking that your roommate is ‘retarded’ for not beating you on a university exam is normal and acceptable.

True? Has the meaning of ‘retarded’ shifted enough that it has now lost all reference to mentally handicapped people? Lots of other ‘hate’ words have shifted meaning in the last few decades. The gay community has certainly worked to take the anger out of ‘fag’, ‘queer’ and ‘gay’. The black community has certainly shifted the N-Word, but it still represents enough hatred that I would feel awkward writing out the word in its full form. Other ethnic slurs have certainly lost some of their former ‘power’. Take ‘mick’, ‘frog’ and ‘dago’. While I would never refer to someone by them, they don’t see to hurt their intended victims nearly as much as they likely once did.

While I respect Black, ultimately I can’t agree. ‘Retarded’ for me still conjures up images of the mentally handicapped. When my buddies call me ‘retarded’ for writing this blog, I still get a mental picture of someone that would struggle to do just that. Those in the gay and black community took ownership of the slurs used to hate on them. While still hurtful under some circumstances, those slurs have been turned against themselves, taking the sting out some forms of their usage. Mentally handicapped people generally cannot do the same. There is little central coordination in the community and a lack of community ‘culture’.

‘Retarded’, in the form Black was using, is still used as a put-down, as a jocular joke. It’s a harsher form of ‘idiot’ or ‘stupid’. Which, taking to its logical extreme, is still calling someone mentally handicapped. Thus, anytime someone makes fun of someone for being ‘retarded’, they are degrading an entire population that has no choice in their condition. In the end, ‘retarded’ is still fundamentally offensive.

So, Mr. Black, by calling people ‘retarded’ you’re acting like an ‘idiot’. Not quite as impactful as calling you a ‘retard’, but certainly more accurate.

Note: This posting is my own and does not necessarily represent the positions, strategies, opinions, or beliefs of Journalists for Human Rights (JHR).

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Is Lewis Black ‘Retarded’?

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