@Diogenes

Thank you for your detailed answer. I do agree with you that context matters and that words are neither inherently good or bad by themselves. However, I think you’re looking at the situation from a more microscopic point of view as a simple joke between two people. I prefer to take a more macroscopic view of the situation. Allow me to explain.

Going back to my hypothetical example, it’s true that I didn't mean any harm when I used the term "retard" towards my brother. I think all people like to think of themselves as "good" people. For example, I would never in my life point at person with Down Syndrome and scream "Retard!" at the top of my lungs or attempt to belittle someone with an actual mental disability. The problem, however, is that by using the word in the way I did in the example I am tacitly--and quite publicly (remember this is happening in a parking lot)--endorsing the equating of people with mental disabilities to stupidity. I may be making a joke towards my brother but it isn’t just my brother that winds up being the butt of the joke.

Now maybe from your perspective, it’s just one person saying a joke. Look at the context, you might say. It’s a distasteful joke but no big deal, right? And I could agree with that if it was just some off-color joke limited to a single individual. Unfortunately, and I think we can both agree on this, the use of “retard” to mean “stupid” is a relatively common occurrence in American vernacular. You couple that with the stigma against mental illness and mental disability and I think it becomes fairly plain to see that on the macroscopic level (i.e. society) we have a problem: a group that is socially disadvantaged and historically discriminated against is even further marginalized by the language people use in their everyday lives. Now, if you don’t agree this is a problem, I’m afraid the conversation has to end here since the logical conclusion of such a stance is that people should be free to say whatever they want and be immune to criticism, damn the consequences.

But if you do agree it is a problem, how are we going to solve it? My take on the situation is that doing absolutely nothing when witnessing a situation like the one I've described is unlikely to improve society in any way. The status quo will be maintained if people are not confronted about their language use.

That being said, people often say things without fully comprehending the implications of what they are saying. They often talk the way they were raised and never once questioned whether what they were saying was actually harmful or not. I don’t think people should be pilloried for that, but in the event that they are unaware of how they are contributing to the discrimination and oppression of others they certainly need to be educated.

This necessarily entails confrontation, although that confrontation might be very low key. Continuing the example above, I think a good way for the woman in the example to “enlighten” me about my misguided use of the word “retard” would be something along the lines of this:

“Excuse me. I really wish you wouldn’t equate having a mental handicap with stupidity. My nephew has Down Syndrome and even though, yes, he can’t do everything that a person without an intellectual handicap can do he is most certainly not stupid.”

Now, all of that said, I see nothing wrong with publicly shaming those who clearly understand the implications of what they are saying and out of either stubbornness, a need for attention, or actual spite willfully continue to use language that is degrading or oppressive. A white person frequently using the N-word in public to describe black people, for instance, is a situation where I’d be completely fine with them getting verbally eviscerated. We don't always have to be polite, even when being politically correct.

As a final note, I want to make it clear that I believe in free speech in the sense that everyone should be free to say whatever they wish. However, as a caveat to that I also believe that free speech comes with the responsibility that people must own everything they say. If someone wishes to use offensive, degrading, or oppressive language that is their choice. Free speech in no way gives them a free pass from criticism of that choice, however.

Excuse me. You made an outrageous blanket claim. You offered zero evidence or proof of your unlikely claim. If it were fact, you could prove it instead of winging and whining.

You said you could find it on Google in less time than it took to ask for it.
You have now replied 4 times with derision and hilarious cranial rectosis, but still are completely unable to find any actual evidence or proof.

One example of one case in no way makes your point. If a prosecution was successful just once, it invalidates your claim. That could mean 100000000 murdering cops were not convicted, and you would still be dead wrong.

Your inability to comprehend the difference between fact and claim, even when you provide the definition of each, is evidence of cranial rectosis, more evidence than you've provided to support your claim, but it's not proof. Your continuing inability to produce the evidence you claimed was simple to find makes me think you're just a liar that can't admit they were caught making shit up. Prove me wrong.

Excuse me madam, but have you noticed your dog is a better dancer than you?

According to the JH website, it's not only wrong, the study could not show what you claim by it's design.
Excuse me...let me use their exact words....

Food Hypersensitivities and Their Link to RA

In some patients, specific foods have been shown to exacerbate the symptoms of RA.(ref 5) Avoiding these foods or food groups has been shown to have limited, short term benefits but no benefits long term. Even though different forms of dietary modification have reportedly improved symptoms in some patients, people with RA may have spontaneous temporary remissions. Therefore, it is important to perform double-blind, placebo controlled trials to differentiate diet effect from spontaneous remission. You may identify a food that is a particular trigger for you, and this phenomenon is real. However, the science is not able to reliably identify specific triggers for individuals.

Diet elimination therapy is a method of determining food hypersensitivities with patients. Elimination diets avoid a specific food or group of foods such as milk, meat or processed foods that are known to be prime allergy suspects. These foods are eliminated from the diet for a specific period of time. Foods are then gradually reintroduced one at a time, to determine whether any of them causes a reaction.

Panush and colleagues, demonstrated temporary improvement in the signs and symptoms of RA with diet elimination and modification in a controlled study where the symptoms associated with food sensitivities were studied.(ref 5) During this study when the patient was fasting or on a severely restricted diet, the patients symptoms improved significantly. However, when the patient had milk reintroduced into the diet, episodes of pain, swollen and tender joints and stiffness were experienced. Similarly, Kjeldsen-Kragh and colleagues(ref 6) noted that fasting may be effective in reducing the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, however most patients relapsed as new foods were reintroduced into the diet. Pain and discomfort frequently returned once a patient reverted to a normal diet. These studies are few in number and should be interpreted and extrapolated to real life only with careful thought and caution.

This is how the white man goes to war --

Excuse me, do you by chance happen to um you know have any large sources and/or surpluses of precious resources?

1. No, ok bye. You need religion and economic aid for your local warlords to exploit and starve you.

2. Yes, ok you're bad and you believe in bad things. Anglo Saxons to the rescue -- if you don't like progress and [INSERT POLITICAL IDEOLOGY HERE], prepare to die -- or maybe be tortured and interned while we figure out what the hell our long term plan is.

Hey Jimbo, what's our short term plan?

Hell if i know. Here's a term stolen from the Chinese and reinterpreted to mean whatever the hell we want it to mean --- GUNG HO!!!!!! And here's a new one: SHOCK & AWEEEE-yeeaah! Oooooooooohhhhhh... *Hillary Clinton looking at balloons in wonderment -- Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra*

Ha!
I'm just going by my limited experience from the 80's when I spent 2 weeks there. At one point we went to a public hot spring that had cement pools that the water cascaded down, making what looked like a giant set of stairs going down a hillside. Some kids were there, playing in a few by throwing small rocks back and forth. At one point, a 14+- year old boy stood up, and in a calm measured tone said "Excuse me. I would appreciate it if you would stop throwing stones."...and they did. We fell over laughing, knowing that an American teen has never once in all recorded history been so polite and adult when dealing with other kids, nor would American kids respond by stopping.
We didn't meet a single rude kiwi.

I was so hoping Mom would show up and ask, "excuse me, why is my son hogtied on my lawn with a busted eye?"

I don't comment much, so this really drew me in....

I have 2 daughters, one who is already 24 and is following in my footsteps (silly Linux system admin).... There isn't anything I would do for my kids. This is so heartwarming, I could cry, and you wouldn't want to see a 47 y/o man cry, it is just disgusting....

Never been a fan of this guy, but to support your kids to no extent is pretty heart warming. Excuse me, I have to go tell them how much I love them.

Excuse me while I scrape my jaw off the goddamn floor....

That was fucking amazing. That reverse front flip at 2:00.... I have NEVER seen anyone do anything like that.

*quality

Excuse me, if so, why? You do not like it?

This need for folks to be squeaky clean is, excuse me, childish.

Good lord. Look at all the cliches there are around politics. It's a dirty business. Has been forever.

What HAS been said repeatedly, including in this clip, is that THERE IS NOTHING THERE.

I LOVED seeing asshat WikiLeak McFuckface squirm when Maher asked him to discuss the difference between transparency and privacy.

So many "let the system blow up" people are often fierce about privacy issues -- until it suits them to not care about it.

Those emails had nothing. People being people in private convos between co-workers.

Well. I won't be having any children.

Excuse me, I have to get back to my bread and circuses now.

@bareboards2, I take it back, you're absolutely correct.

@Syntaxed, I vehemently disagree with pretty much everything else you said.

@iaui is right, Trump is scum, which is an insult to scum, quite frankly.

He should be slammed at every possible opportunity.
"Can I take your order sir?"
"Thanks. Black coffee please. Also, Trump is a horrible human being"
"Amen to that!"

"Excuse me, ma'am you dropped your purse. Also, Trump is a racist asshole"
"Thank you, kind sir. But you forgot he's also a misogynistic windbag"
"You are quite correct... have a nice day"

and so on.

Trump isn't trying to "destroy political correctness" (whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean), he's just a fucking asshole, and a dangerous one at that.

You can call me an ass all you want, just don't take yourself too important. Your "punches" don't touch me the slightest. With "sad" I didn't mean myself but the fact that so many people are absolutely ignorant to the downsides of modern media.
I never wanted to say that I think there might be any physical dangers for the child coming from the screen, my thoughts were more in the direction LiquidAvatar mentioned.
And please excuse me if I apparently failed to explain what I meant without ambiguity, English isn't my native language.
I just wrote what I think about it and I'm well aware that my view on this matter won't find a majority. That doesn't make me automatically wrong though.
I'm very sorry I apparently upset some of you guys, but hey, that's the internet, right?

Excuse me, but your Corgi is about 3 Corgis overweight.