A clear sign that I'm growing up is that I am more easily offended. Ok, let me explain this. Years ago I was almost impossible to offend. There wasn't a horrible joke out there that would make me squirm or think less of the teller. Now, while I will sometimes pretend they don't bother me, offensive jokes make me cringe. But I think the thing that bothers me most is the truly politically incorrect statement. I can't think of a better way to describe it. I'm talking about when something is less than satisfactory and someone refers to it as "gay" or some other equally banal. "That's gay", or "that's retarded", or any of the number of other words that can be inserted.
It truly irritates me to hear someone say that. Regardless of your personal beliefs on homosexuality, the connotation is that whatever you're talking about is bad, and therefore gay is bad. And what about "retarded"? The connotation of the word in general is very negative, and it's disparaging towards people who are mentally disabled.
Any why, WHY, is it necessary to say that when there are so many other words in the english language. There are 324 synonyms for "bad" on thesaurus.com, and 67 synonyms for "stupid". I checked. There's just no reason to use a disparaging word when there are so many far more descriptive and colourful words to use.
Alright, rant over.
5 comments:
amen.
My friend started saying, "That's lesbian." and when people questioned her she'd say "Is it any weirder or sillier than calling something gay?"
It made me and a lot of other people stop and think about it and then stop saying it period.
That's fantastic! I would probably laugh out loud if I heard someone say that!
That blog entry was so gay it's retarded!
KIDDING!!! Good read. You're right :)
well said.
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