On the other hand, I try hard to draw the line at using terms that demean entire groups of people. I also doubt that any human is "standard" I expect people seeking higher office and those who support them to adhere to both standards.
Apparently Donald Trump and Ann Coulter, one of his more vocal supporters, don't share that belief. My Twitter feed is full of photos of the following excerpt from Coulter's book which I found re-produced here:
Trump denied knowing that Serge was disabled, and demanded an apology, saying that anyone could see his imitation was of a flustered, frightened reporter, not a disabled person. It’s true that Trump was not mimicking any mannerisms that Serge has. He doesn’t jerk around or flail his arms. He’s not retarded. He sits calmly, but if you look at his wrists, you’ll see they are curved in. That’s not the imitation Trump was doing—he was doing a standard retard, waving his arms and sounding stupid: “’Ahhh, I don’t know what I said—ahhh, I don’t remember!’ He’s going, ‘Ahhh, I don’t remember, maybe that’s what I said!’” [emphasis mine]If any Republican needs help in their efforts to explain to Coulter and Trump that "retard" should be used only as a verb and that no human is "standard," leave a comment and I'll be happy to use a short guttural verb in all its forms to explain it.
2 comments:
Have you and your fine readers noticed that when bigots speak of minority groups they always put a "the" in preface? e.g. The blacks, The Indians, The women, The Mexicans. It's a "dog whistle" message to other bigots that these "the's" are less human then older, angry, white males they're a part of.
I really don't think use of a definite article indicates bigotry. In any event, "always" is a dangerous word and rarely true.
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