Latest White Party (GOP) Name Calling Attack: Ann Coulter Continues to call Obama "Retard" Despite Backlash
/Conservative commentator and frequent Fox News guest Ann Coulter defended her repeated use of the derogatory term "retard" on Thursday, saying the word is simply a synonym for words like idiot and moron. In fact, the word is widely considered a slur and disability advocates argue it is hate speech.
Appearing as a guest on Alan Colmes' Fox News Radio show, Coulter stated she did not regret her use of the word, saying that "no one would refer to a down syndrome child, someone with an actual medical handicap, by saying retard." She added: "Where do you think the words idiot, imbecile, cretin, moron, come from? These were all technical terms at one time. Retard has been used colloquially to just mean 'loser' for 30 years."
In an October 22 post on her Twitter feed following the presidential debate, Coulter wrote: "I highly approve of Romney's decision to be kind and gentle to the retard," presumably a reference to President Obama. The next day she again tweeted that if Obama is "'the smartest guy in the room' it must be one retarded room." In an email to Politiker defending her remarks, she wrote: "The only people who will be offended are too retarded to understand it."
But many agree that the word is meant only to demean and should be considered hateful speech.
Huffington Post blogger Ellen Seidman, who has a son with special needs, says that while it's not true that "anyone who uses the word flippantly has something against people with special needs," the word is demeaning "even if it's meant as a joke, because it spreads the idea that people who are cognitively impaired are either stupid or losers."
Analyzing the fact that the word is now being increasingly avoided, NPR reported that disability advocates have continually campaigned against the word, arguing that "it's not a hilarious put-down; it's hate speech."
Organizations like the American Psychiatric Association still use the medical phrase "mental retardation," so the term "retard" is culturally understood to be associated with mental disability, regardless of context. What distinguishes the term from the other words Coulter cited, such as idiot and cretin, is that unlike "retard," they do not necessarily denote mental disability.
However, CNN reports that even the APA "plans to replace the term 'mental retardation' with 'intellectual development disorder'" in the 2013 edition of their manual.
