[Salty]

Good afternoon, everyone. Most of you know me, so I'll just cut right to the chase of what I am asking for.

MY REQUEST

I believe that there should be a new word added to the "slur" category: the word in question? Retard.

 I believe that if we are going to be consistent about how we approach inclusiveness and equality in the community (I fully understand this is an internet community but regardless), we truly need to consider not allowing the usage of this word, as it is extremely ableist and dehumanizing.

 I want to make it clear that I am not angry with anyone about this; It just is something that I would liked to see changed; I think allowing the word contradicts that "we are a welcoming community" message that we try to present to people who play Garry's Mod; we do not know the situations of people who we play with, as there may or may not be folks who have firsthand experience with disabilities either through themselves or a sibling, etc.  For me personally, I have a brother who is on the spectrum and my mother has worked in public school special education for 25 years; therefore, I don't like hearing the word being used in such a manner, as I am used it hearing it as a way to degrade my mother's students or my brother.

Rebuttal

You might be thinking "Salty, this is cringe; grow some thicker skin and shut up." I get why you would think that, as none of you are trying to use it in a malicious way and it's usually a joke in regards to yourself. Something that is mentioned in the Discord Rules & Punishment guidelines Section 5B in the discord rules is that "retard" is considered to be gamer talk; however, it does say that if it is excessive that it would be subject to be treated as trolling/inciting drama. I do not think this is the right approach to dealing with this word. As I stated above, I think that it's a word that should be avoided used: there are plenty of synonyms that get the same message across without using it: for example, asinine means the exact same thing you're trying to say but isn't nearly as offensive. 

Closing Remarks

Ultimately, I just want the community to understand why I don't particularly like the word and would like it added to the slur list; at the same time, however, this isn't going to be something I will harass people over. I don't really think I've ever said anything other than when I'm in game and I hear someone say it, I'll just casually ask them to refrain from using it around me. The last thing I want is to sound like a Karen screaming about it to anyone, as I know that doesn't do anything productive.  

If you feel that my take is cringe, that's perfectly fine. I'm not going to disrespect or hate you for disagreeing with me, I just ask that you respect my opinion, and I will do the same for you if you disagree with mine. If nothing changes, I am not going to raise Hell over this. I just wanted to pitch a suggestion to the staff.


Thank you for your time,

Salty

[HONG]

You might be thinking "Salty, this is cringe; grow some thicker skin and shut up." 

you're right

[Penny]

Then should we not say stupid, moron, idiot, or dumb. Or are those allowed? Is there a hierarchy to this?

[Salty]

Then should we not say stupid, moron, idiot, or dumb. Or are those allowed? Is there a hierarchy to this?

Those that you listed are different because there is a historical significance with the word "retard" being used to dehumanize people whereas things like idiot, moron, stupid, dumb are just playground insults. Retard has a history of being used to degrade individuals who were  born with intellectual disabilities (formerly considered "mentally retarded.") 

Does that answer your question?

[Icey]

There’s a certain word I would use to describe this


In all seriousness, well made thread. Extremely respectful and to the point, I just disagree with it. I can see something like this happening in prop hunt but not in TTT. As we all know, adding rules isn’t something the community is fond of, and I really think that if we began to censor words besides blatant slurs, we would see a decline in players.

[Penny]

Now for my less serious reply. I asked my mentally challenged friend to read this to give their opinion and their exact words were "that's retarded". Which is funny. I agree with hong.

[Jammin]

Some servers do have this setup.
I get the concept behind making this a slur, but I don't think the word is that big of a deal personally, being the brother of a mentally challenged man myself.
If it is used in a sneering way to address someone who is mentally challenged, I get it, but otherwise I think this is on the other side of "gamer talk" that is somewhat more appropriate.

I do very rarely use the term however, usually only when directed to @Raider Hanks

[conversion software version 7.0]

no, that's retarded

[happy]

Then should we not say stupid, moron, idiot, or dumb. Or are those allowed? Is there a hierarchy to this?

Those that you listed are different because there is a historical significance with the word "retard" being used to dehumanize people whereas things like idiot, moron, stupid, dumb are just playground insults. Retard has a history of being used to degrade individuals who were  born with intellectual disabilities (formerly considered "mentally retarded.") 

Does that answer your question?

Moron was a medical diagnosis at one point... all were used to insult people who people felt were lower intelligence

[Foxka]

I understand where you're coming from but this is a word that has no racial or cultural significant. I mean, if it's an issue of someone calling you a retard all the time or blatantly mocking someone who's retarded then I'd get it but outright banning the word is too far