What, you never heard of a euphemism treadmill? Choose any “neutral term” you like as a synonym for “stupid”; there’s no kid in the world so “genetically disadvantaged” that they won’t realise what you actually meant to say. You do know that ‘retarded’ was once a perfectly neutral term, right? It literally just means “slower than the others”. It acquired its modern connotations because changing the word doesn’t change the phenomenon and doesn’t change the way people react, either.
It might be a palliative while we’re looking for a real solution. I actually pointed out the root of the problem right there: the godawful connection, overt or implicit, between the raw intellectual power and “General Worth” (incoherent concept, but sadly an emotional given) of a person in society’s eyes. Changing the language is, I think, a necessary but not sufficient part of breaking that habit of thought. When combined with other tactics, linguistic manipulation can be an effective tool, even working for the common good—see “Gay”.
What, you never heard of a euphemism treadmill? Choose any “neutral term” you like as a synonym for “stupid”; there’s no kid in the world so “genetically disadvantaged” that they won’t realise what you actually meant to say. You do know that ‘retarded’ was once a perfectly neutral term, right? It literally just means “slower than the others”. It acquired its modern connotations because changing the word doesn’t change the phenomenon and doesn’t change the way people react, either.
It might be a palliative while we’re looking for a real solution. I actually pointed out the root of the problem right there: the godawful connection, overt or implicit, between the raw intellectual power and “General Worth” (incoherent concept, but sadly an emotional given) of a person in society’s eyes. Changing the language is, I think, a necessary but not sufficient part of breaking that habit of thought. When combined with other tactics, linguistic manipulation can be an effective tool, even working for the common good—see “Gay”.
What do you propose as the new measure of worth? I think you’ll find that these things are pretty hardwired.