Help Us End the R-Word

[Strangler Lewis]

Okay, I'll play devil's advocate. While I don't condone making fun of disabled people, I feel that the word is often an apt criticism of the presumptively abled--even though I think it more than say it. If we can't say "retard," may one/must one then say, "He repeatedly engages in conduct, the foolishness of which should be obvious to anyone of even borderline normal intelligence"? If we can say that, aren't we saying the same thing as "God, what a retard." If we can't say "retard," do we also lose "idiot" and "moron" and other terms that have at their root a specific definition of cognitive limitations?