I have been a listener of yours for nearly two decades. I used to use the word "retard" or some dirivative thereof on a regular basis. I used the word to describe anyone or anything I saw as dumb, stupid, ignorant or whose thinking, by my account, just was too way-off. I used to use it all the time. All the time that is, until my son Zane was born with Down Syndrome. At one point I bemused that this was payback for all the times I had used the term "retard" or for the odd occasion I would feign mental/physical retardation for a laugh from friends or those around me. I now know that it wasn't payback... it was a pure blessing.
My son is my hero. He never fails to make me laugh several times a day and even makes me cry on many occasions. Rush, until you have met and fallen deeply madly in love with someone who has a disability and had them profoundly change you, then you may never fully be able to appreciate the equally profound pain and sadness someone feels when such a derogatory term as "retard" is used outside its normal definition. As you know, the word "retard" or "retardation" in themselves are not bad words. "Retardation" is of course a clinical term. But in our generation, the term has taken on a bad connotation--dumb, stupid, ignorant--something shameful. So, when someone uses the word "retard" to describe or put down someone else, it is used in a negative connotation implying that person is bad or that their condition is bad. That connotation is then transferred back to my son, knowing as he will someday and as I know today, that by clinical terms he is "retarded". To hear that word used as it most commonly is in our society today, saddens and angers me all at the same time. My son is not bad. On the contrary. He is the biggest blessing in my life. I have learned more about myself, God, and life from Zane than I could ever learn anywhere else. He, like others with disabilities, is a sweetheart. Please understand that the term "retard" does not have to be aimed at my son for this to cause pain--it usually isn't. To people who are mentally disabled or those who love someone who is disabled, "retard" is on the level of the N-word for African-Americans. It just isn't used except by racists. It is on the level of spitting on a veteran. Using the term in a joking manner doesn't lessen the pain nor excuse its use, no more than does using the N-word in a joke or a joking manner.
Now, I have a disdain for political correctness as much as the next person. It is out of control and I can't stand it. People are offended by anything and everything these days. But this issue has nothing to do with political correctness and everything to do with decency and respect. Decency my son deserves and the respect he wants and we as a society are able to freely give. Rush, please reconsider your view and use of the word "retard". In my humble opinion, your current view and use is quite beneath a person of your stature.
Thank you.
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