A recent article on the NBC News site described the rehabilitation underway of the term “retarded,” which in recent years has just been solemnly referred to as the “R-word.” Public figures like Joe Rogan, Elon Musk, Ben Stiller, and a Danish astronaut have landed in hot water for their unrepentant use of the term. Curiously, other former medical terms for the intellectually afflicted, such as “idiot,” “imbecile,” and “moron” have not only been spared semantic banishment but seem to form the foundation of much of our current political discourse.
The fight over cancel culture and linguistic exile now serve as one of the battlegrounds in our ongoing culture wars, a semantic battlefield littered with the corpses of politicized prose. The noncombatants deserve our sympathy. Many shade-tree mechanics must have scratched their heads in puzzlement after finding their YouTube mechanical tips censored for using “retard,” a term which is commonly used regarding the advancing or “R-wording” of the ignition timing in vehicles with old-school electrical systems. The culture wars must be confusing to the apolitical.
NBC described how the use or avoidance of language found offensive to some can serve as a sort of cultural signifier, which can either show allegiance or opposition to a cause. Sort of a badge to show whether you’re “with us” or “against us.” Achingly sensitive liberals may adopt newly coined euphemisms to virtue signal, while cranky old conservatives may eschew them to cry “bullshit” on the mandated sensibilities of the left.
The metamorphosis of everyday identifiers into painfully stilted euphemisms is fascinating. For example, we saw the terms “bum” or “derelict” morph into the 1970s “street person,” and then into “homeless.” But since even “homeless” seemed too harsh, we saw a further morphing into “unhoused,” and currently into the still more affirming “people experiencing homelessness.” In immigration, we have seen “illegal” morph into the more-approving “undocumented,” both replacing more pejorative terms. While the populations referred to have pretty much stayed the same, the labels used have changed as we fall over ourselves trying to use language to disguise the unpleasant reality.
Is it hate speech to yell, “Strike the bum out!” at a baseball game? Maybe I will forgo that seventh beer, lest I inadvertently find out.
Language can act as a catalyst for otherwise avoidable social conflict. People react, and positions harden. For example, like many, I never paid much attention to the transgendered one way or the other, other than to reflect that it must be a tough situation to be in. But with the introduction of personalized pronouns, and the demand that I must not only observe the preferred pronouns of those I deal with, but also use the whimsically contrived pronouns of 14-year-olds, well, up went my hackles. Most of us react negatively to being ordered to think or speak in a particular manner. We Americans tend to be instinctively anti-authoritarian and just plain ornery
Recall how the dispute over “Black Lives Matter” vs. “All Lives Matter,” two seemingly indisputable assertions, came to be a “signifier” as to whether or not the speaker wanted to pledge allegiance to the Black Lives Matter organization. I watched progressive icon Bernie Sanders being driven off of the stage for being an “all-lives” guy before he got with the progressive program and conformed.
The media, with their unslakable thirst for clicks and viewership, can be counted upon to highlight the rhetorical excesses of the political combatants, and to showcase the most provocative and obnoxious. When was the last time you clicked on a piece because the headline sounded so well-reasoned and thoughtful?
I recognize that words can have an offensive power, even when used innocently. When I was young, I sometimes unthinkingly used the term “redneck,” a common slur of that era applied to anyone who didn’t subscribe to the prevailing liberal sentiments. I was later surprised when a friend of mine from a rural farming background let me know that it was offensive. And you won’t find me using the “N-word,” as there is just too much ugly and hurtful history behind the term, besides making the user look especially ignorant, as does the use of other ethnic slurs as well.
Hopefully, we are not entering an era in which people will feel empowered to vent their raw ids about everything and to abandon all filtering, like was promoted by the 1960s “keeping it real” ethos. There is no good reason to deliberately offend others, and especially none to abuse or torment the afflicted. But the language scolds and their cancel culture seem to be in popular retreat as folks have wearied of having to walk on eggshells around them and are less likely to indulge those who always seem to be spring-loaded to be offended by something. Δ
John Donegan is a retired attorney in Pismo Beach who speaks kindly because he is too old to win many fights. Send a response for publication to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Pride 2025.
“Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thought-crime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can ever be needed will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten. . . . The process will still be continuing long after you and I are dead. Every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller. Even now, of course, there’s no reason or excuse for committing thought-crime. It’s merely a question of self-discipline, reality-control. But in the end there won’t be any need even for that. . . . Has it ever occurred to you, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now?”
1984
Ironically, liberals have become the new authoritarians. Liberal authoritarians.
This issue with language is like being raised by an alcoholic, one must, as you noted, “walk on eggshells,” around them lest the condition the dysfunctional family has been trying to hide, become apparent. We don’t want mommy to become unhinged because one of her kids asked why there [enter social issue] is no food in the refrigerator. The kid that actually points it out, as in my case, gets called “crazy” and banished.
This is America when portions of us ask why there are no jobs, the pay sucks, and our social safety net gets sacrificed for the defense budget and our bond holders. If actually asked, one is called “racist,” “disgruntled,” or as Hillary Clinton called us, members of a “basket of deplorables.”
I doubt anyone is getting bent out of shape over the word homeless.
Undocumented is a more encompassing term as it covers both illegal entry (a crime) and overstaying a visa (a civil infraction).
Dem Bums is a phrase used endearingly to refer to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Thanks to John Donegon for including the terms retarded, idiot, imbecile, and moron in the same thought with Elon Musk and Joe Rogan. Couldn’t agree more. Keep it up, you’re finally breaking through.
It’s a matter of context. As the father of a developmentally challenged person, I don’t much care one way or another if you call your beer-drinking friend the R word at the bowling alley. It’s when, at a pick-up game, you shove my son and say “You can’t play with us” that I contemplate ways of raising your consciousness by making you experience being disabled.
@Greg H: Both illegal entry, and overstaying a visa, are violations of the law, and thus “illegal” fits both. They vary only in degree, not nature.
@Something or other: Actually, after watching the recent antics of Democrats, I’d say that the terms “retarded, idiot, imbecile and moron” sound more like the the firm name of the consultants that the Democrats hired to advise them.
@Steve Felton: I agree about context. If someone is abusing a developmentally disabled child, I might join you in giving them a couple of whacks. But if someone gratuitously injects themself into the abuse I am directing at a drunken buddy of mine who was knocked over my beer, and lectures me on the words I am allowed to use, well, I might raise their consciousness with any remaining beer in the bottle. That, of course, depends upon whether the surviving beer is Pabtz Blue Ribbon or Bud Light, or a more restraint-worthy Belgian Trippel.
Another inane column from Mr. Donegan, New Times’ resident culture warrior. But, I get it, as a so-called conservative, he doesn’t want to talk about any of Trump’s messes or the fact the Republican Big, Ugly Bill will throw 290,000 children in California off of their health insurance.
Friendly reminder, John Donegan is an actual (retired) lawyer. Unless any commentator is an attorney, it might not be a good idea to attempt to interpret the law based on something you may have seen on some TV show. I really do enjoy seeing him roast contributors with a clinical understanding of the law and Constitution. If only all of us were as familiar with our rights and obligations as outlined in the Constitution as members of the Bar, perhaps our country would run better. I do not subscribe though to an originalist interpretation of the Constitution.
In case any American wonders why the SCOTUS rules they way they do, here’s a list of current members of both the Federalist Society and SCOTUS:
Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts (disputed)
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett
Goodbye Roe v. Wade, goodbye elections ala Citizens United v. FEC, soon to be good by to marriage equality. Hello forced births, hello bought and paid for elections, hello decades of partnership never to be recognized by the state and no survivor rights.
6 of 9, folks.
Re: LA ICE detention riots.
Seeing the footage and reports of of far left activists in Los Angeles, attacking ICE agents carrying out the lawful order to detain illegal immigrants and presumably deport them, is alarming to say the least. Consequently, the National Guard is being called up to support ICE agents carry out their orders.
To see the images of people burning bags of trash, hiding their faces, and threaten these federal agents has raised the hackles of many law abiding Americans. Less than a year ago we saw portions of LA literally burn hundreds of homes down and now a mob is threatening the very government providing relief to the homeless impacted by the wildfire.
This is a result of decades of lawlessness in our nation and mismanagement at our southern border. Illegal immigration to the United States is not some sort of birthright. Other countries encouraging their people to leave and illegally enter our country to send billions of dollars in remittances back is not in America’s interest. Last month saw a boat load of illegals capsize of San Diego where “…Mahi Brijeshkumar Patel was one of four passengers who died after their boat capsized on May 5, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiners Office.” [https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2…] This child was not Hispanic but South Indian or Punjabi, the name Patel indicates so. When a family from half way across the world risks death to come to the U.S. shows how little our borders are respected and what chaos has been going on there. Some of these illegal immigrants come from America’s adversaries with ill intent. The antisemitic terrorist who attempted to firebomb Americans last month exercising their Constitutional right to peaceably assemble was Egyptian and here illegally.
As someone who is of very modest financial means and who paid for two green cards for my wife and stepson, I have zero sympathy for individuals who attempt to enter the U.S. for free under the cover of darkness, bypassing the safeguards involved in legally immigrating to the U.S. Ask any Pakistani shop or restaurant owner how they feel about the army of people who until now, have swept into the U.S. without going through the difficult process of obtaining the proper visa. As law abiding immigrants, they resent the hell out of it as do most critically thinking people.
Seeing all the destruction going on in LA as the mob attempts to obstruct agents of the federal government doing their job, I can’t help but to ask, is this this eras raid on Harpers Ferry? Do these hooligans really think they are doing god’s work? If anything, they should be celebrating the removal of these undocumented individuals. Each one is an economic competitor of theirs. America removed illegals by the thousands during the Great Depression and life went on.
Although no fan of all of Donald Trump’s actions, his pick for DHS Secretary pick summed it up best: Under President Trump, Americas borders are closed to lawbreakers. – Secretary Noem
This insanity going on in LA by the mob could be a shot across the bow and every American should be very alarmed and concerned. Right now the issue is illegal mass immigration, who knows what it will be tomorrow. I would encourage every American to support your local police, your National Guard, and the U.S. military. Our economy is collapsing and Americans are scared. The last thing we need is the mob to get away with attacking federal agents.
For liberals out there who sympathize with the hoodlums attacking detention centers, when the mob comes to your front door because they see you, your wife, and children as “oppressors,” that neighbor of yours whom you mock with his giant truck, American flag flapping in the wind, hound dog, and small arsenal in his gun safe, might just let you burn. Think about it next time you want to restrict the 2nd Amendment, tell them how to speak, think, dress or vote, restrict their religious freedom, or any other bs that does nothing more than help you feel superior. That clown next door might just be your last, best hope. LOS ANGELES IS BURNING, THE NATIONAL GUARD HAS BEEN CALLED OUT. SEND MORE TROOPS IN.
I’m hoping Fly’s uncharacteristic post is sarcasm; it could have been a Pam Bondi quote. I’m not defending the looters or fireworks-throwers, but the majority are peaceful protesters, and this is a deliberate provocation to advance a fascist agenda. Yes, the National Guard was called out, but proper protocol was not followed. The Governor did not request it, and it is a blatant attempt to normalize militarization to suppress civil rights. Decades of business owners hiring undocumented workers while government is looking the other way should be considered before going into churches and businesses and breaking up families.
What those who might consider leaving the union need to understand, including Gavin Newsome, not all Californians will join them. Some might actually fight to remain in the union. Personally, I would be happy to secede, but not on the terms of a mob waving foreign flags as they threaten federal employees. I have yet to see or hear a member of their community stand up for civil order, instead, what I do see are people encouraging more destruction. These people serve as a fifth column or enemy within and a complete disgrace, our governor is pandering to human traffickers and organized crime.
@Steve Felton: You are objecting to a breach of “protocol”, and not to the substance? That is hardly a compelling call for “justice”. Looting, arson and assault are not protected civil rights which should be defended. As we saw during the recent wildfires, local authorities are too inept to competently handle big problems, especially in this case in which it is politically unpopular in that locale to intervene. And it makes good sense to respond strongly now, rather than wait for it to blow up more. I was in LA during the 1992 riots, and with the rest of the country watched on TV as thugs caved in the head of Reginald Denny, an innocent truck driver who had just been passing by, with chunks of concrete. We watched for a very long time as he lay there seemingly dead, wondering where the police were and wondering why they weren’t there to help the victim (who was eventually rescued by nearby residents). The police had assembled nearby, but knowing that news copters were filming overhead, didn’t want to risk the “optics” on intervening with force during a race riot, especially since the riots were driven by the verdict on the Rodney King beating.
The failure to act to save Denny while millions watched on TV drove the LA riots to the size and intensity they were, by showing everyone that no one was in control, and that “anything goes”. Acting earlier would have saved lives then, as it will now.
LA has turned into 1980’s El Salvador now, all we need now are clergy to make an appearance and give their blessing to the mayhem on the streets. LA has become an example of a nation crumbling from within and is turning into a giant favela. As government agencies struggle with funding, and as their employees face runaway inflation, the cartels will move in and either threaten the employees or bribe them. As this happens, it will slowly make its way to management and then upper management, rapidly compromising the entire government. The cartels are here and the two major California street gangs are their foot soldiers. If we actually had an economy that wasn’t composed of just liquor stores, cannabis dispensaries, fast food restaurants, gyms, nail salons, and tire changing shops, perhaps young people with nothing to lose would have an option other than operating protection rackets and running drug or prostitution rings.
I never thought in a million years I’d say it, but we need a strong government. If not, we might as well hand over California to the lowest denominator of our society and turn into something right out of a zombie movie. From a land of plenty to a complete hell hole. Why? Because the mob in LA hate America. As much as I have found little relief in electoral politics, that is how we institute change, not threatening federal employee or burning public buildings. It’s only a matter of time before one of the protestors shoots someone. Everything they are doing does nothing more than bring shame to the foreign flags they insist on waving.
I had the misfortune of listening to Democracy Now this morning where an LA high school history teacher with rhetoric so inflammatory, Mussolini would have blushed, basically called for turning into LA into an ethno state. As a high school teacher, he is paid by the very public he condemns. Is it time to bring back loyalty oaths for civil servants?? If he hates this country so much, why not leave? There have been some notable Ivy League professors who have done so lately, he should consider joining them. In psychological terms, what he is doing is “projecting.” As Marx described, in a capitalist society, we are alienated from the fruits of our labor and rendered nonexistent. This “teacher” is so traumatized by it, he can’t face it. It is easier to blame society for his personal failings or unresolved issues. We all do it, but doing so on mass media as he has done, encourages others to do the same. This is not to excuse capitalism and blame its victims, such as this “teacher,” but rather to look within ourselves for our solutions. When government fails to exercise its authority or its monopoly on violence, the people will do it themselves. Our society if fracturing rapidly and what appears on its surface as ethnic strife, is really class struggle. This insistence on defending millions of illegal aliens in our country is an attempt to gain enough influence by his ethnic group to sway politics and divert the material fruits of our society to them. Demographically, this same group has high rates of teen pregnancy, gang violence, and obesity. These three conditions can be attributed to knowing that if a member of this strata won’t be able to make it vocationally, the state will provide support by means of SNAP, Section 8, and transportation vouchers. Gang violence is often a result of turf wars where each set has a distinct geographical area where the usual rackets and proceeds thereof stay. If these gangbangers had meaningful employment and were holding a job, they would have no incentive to join a gang and defend territory. Jobs have left because a certain preceding generation created global trade arrangements that incentivized corporations to set up shop overseas and lay off the American working class. LA and S.F. used to have actual factories. Obesity can be attributed to the poor quality and availably of healthy food in cities and for the working class. Junk food is often cheaper than nutritious food and many of the people currently burning cars in LA live in these areas.
I used to think central and south American countries were cool, now I don’t. In fact, now I can only think of them as terrorists. Isn’t it their flags we see waving as they question the patriotism of federal employees and troops? Good job.
These people need to think critically and not disgrace America or the foreign flags they wave and whose fealty they put before the very nation they live in that puts clothes on their traitorous backs and food in their slanderous mouths. There will never be a Templo Mayor built in LA, this is the UNITED STATES and always will be. Love it or leave it.
Let’s see, five injuries sustained by LAPD officers in the protests, three treated at the scene and two others no longer needing medical assistance. That is the extent of the violence that caused Trump to send in the National Guard and now the Marines.
In contrast, 140 officers were treated for various injuries during the attack on this nation’s Capitol in 2020. Many of those officers had multiple surgeries, some have died and several still suffer PTSD. Where was the National Guard for that? And don’t give me the lie that it was up to Pelosi-it’s nonsense.
In my opinion, this is simply a distraction to take Americans’ minds away from Washington D.C. where the Republican controlled Congress is contemplating a bill that, according to the New York Times, Fortune, CNBC and other media outlets, is the largest upward transfer of wealth from the poorest Americans to the wealthiest in U.S. history. Fortune has called it the Reverse Robin Hood bill.
Michael:
“Let’s see, five injuries sustained by LAPD officers in the protests, three treated at the scene and two others no longer needing medical assistance. That is the extent of the violence that caused Trump to send in the National Guard and now the Marines.”
So it would bring you great joy to see injured police and National Guard troops protecting property and lives? If it was your property or your life, you’d probably glad to see al the sheriffs, police, troops, and federal agents.
Additionally, the fact that there have been few injuries on the side of the federal government is a testament to good planning. This is under a republican administration too. It almost sounds as if your jealous few law enforcement have been injured. The fact that 140 officers were injured during the events in 2020 is an indictment on those who could have done precisely what Trump has done and chose not to.
Yes, Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” is a complete rip off and the end to our social safety net and will lead to mass hunger. My question is how many of the people waving foreign flags, looting, burning, and burning the American flag are on some sort of social support, whether it be Section 8, SNAP, or “disability?” This is why FDR created a public works program during the Great Depression putting I believe 20 million people on the public roles. Hungry, idle, and unemployed people do exactly what these rioters are doing. Doing so isn’t just sound policy, it would be in the self interest of the rich. If not, as history shows, they can expect a knock on the door by people wearing tattered pants, carrying sickles and torches ready to lead them off to the guillotine or revolutionary courts. When you take a poorly educated person and through monopolizing every industry, deny them the ability to earn a living, or, through printing trillions of dollars to do nothing more than bail out banks and at the same time cause hyper inflation in the matter of a few years, yes a lot things will start burning. We can expect a long, hot, summer.
@John Donegan (One of these days you’ll spell my name correctly) I repeat, I’m not defending the few violent offenders, but when the President says anyone who protests his birthday parade will be met with very big force, how do you, as a self-described conservative, react to this assault on the first amendment?
@Fly So you feel safe with a strong government? Well, I hope you washed that red pill down with some bleach, because you won’t be getting vaccinated against the next epidemic.
Steve:
Yes, I’m quite happy seeing our federal government do what our state government refuses to do, namely remove the millions of individuals not supposed to be here. I’m not sure why that is such a contentious issue.
What I’d like to see it actually do is prosecute the companies that hire the illegals and run sweat shops or exploit them in the agricultural fields. Speaking of agricultural fields, are you aware the United Farm Workers union one time actually advocated for removing illegal aliens because they were strike breakers and would work for lower wages? Translation: Illegal aliens act as scabs during organized labor action and defeat the purpose of collective bargaining.
Yes, if another pandemic comes around I will go ahead and get vaccinated again. Science is real.
Lastly, allow me to leave you with the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution:
“This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”