I mean, literally the point of The Office is that Michael Scott is a racist, sexist bigot. And when you ironically emulate him, the result is that you kind of come off that way yourself. It's not especially pointed irony, either.

I said nothing racist here, just inappropriately sexualized (as the TWSS joke is intended to do).

Just trying to bring a little levity and lulz to a world of seriousness.

I mean, literally the point of The Office is that Michael Scott is a racist, sexist bigot. And when you ironically emulate him, the result is that you kind of come off that way yourself. It's not especially pointed irony, either.

Repo = Vagina

A woman walking around with a metaphoric "fuck my vagina" shirt is asking to be hit on and told dirty jokes. It would be like a straight man going into a gay bar with a shirt that says "My backdoor is open".

Just offering another data point.

Probably more realistic. Probably covers a larger % of cases.

Why should we care about donating money to Girls who Code? I'm not a girl and I don't see any reason why I should support them, particularly when the only time I hear anything about girls who code is when they're causing some drama.

You know what girls who code should do? They should write code and be humble instead of forming a group called Girls Who Code in order to get attention and hand-outs. To be clear: I'd rather buy a shirt that makes fun of all the drama caused by girls who code and donate the money to Children Who Are Hungry.

It's just a cause, it's just a group of people with similar desires. It's no different than black entreprenuer clubs or jewish groups. They're not asking for a hand out they're just working together.

I have no problem with the group itself, but if you start acting like people are bad if they don't support the group then I'm going to call it out.

Teenagers who, by culture, are reluctant to approach Computer Science and other technical fields. This education group is trying to reverse this trend.

RTFWebsite next time.

If you're targeting females, why post this to a site that is mostly comprised of men?

"Finger my ports" would be far more appropriate.

So, while I can understand why that word has a personal sensitivity to you and your situation, I obviously was not directing any of its archaic meaning toward you or your son - so I can't apologize for offending you.

What I can say, is that I appreciate how you simply informed me of the fact that it does hold offense for you and suggested I select a better descriptor, which in the future, I shall do.

Thanks!

I should also note that I hear this frequently, and I'm careful not to "hate" anyone using that term. The word "offended" is a pretty broad word, so it's somewhere between "I'd rather not hear that" and "I challenge you to a duel".

Have we learned nothing in the last 24 hours?!

The lesson we learned was how to handle being offended: to challenge the offender directly, find a resolution, without involving an internet mob.

OP did this the correct way, and you reacted with hostility instead.

"Retarded" is a word that the bullied (and their loved ones) have heard all throughout their lives used in a pejorative manner. It is also rarely used IRL in a non-pejorative context, even though the definition exists. For someone to associate the word with its pejorative and insulting context is not at all unreasonable.

"The only winning move is not to play"

This is why we don't use the words "nigger", "kike", and "faggot" as insults anymore, why calling somebody a "pussy" or "woman" for not being aggressive or assertive enough is generally frowned upon, and, yes, why casually dropping the word "retarded" like it ain't no thang will get people for whom the word actually means something politely asking you not to use it anymore.

Communication is a two-way street, and it's up to the listener to determine how they interpret the words coming out of your mouth. I'm amused and irritated by how many people get frustrated when they're told that their choice of language bothers somebody. It's like, hey, here's an opportunity to refine how to interface with the world! And a bunch of people see that opportunity and go FUCK NO, I'M TIRED OF HAVING TO DO THINGS, SOMEBODY ELSE JUST STOP BEING OFFENDED OKAY

If you think the correct answer is to try to get everyone everywhere to not use whatever subset of words you subjectively find offensive versus just IGNORING THINGS THAT OFFEND YOU, I'm not really sure what to tell you, other than perhaps:

Good luck with that, you retarded faggot.[1]

[1] http://youtu.be/Fcja4WFFzDw

Many other people are not aware of that offence, and also would not like to cause that offence, and once they know that many people find the word so offensive are happy to consider their use of language and find another word.

There are lots of great words to use instead of retard and retarded.

And asking someone to consider their language isn't asking for an Internet pile-on nor asking for anyone to lose their jobs.

Seriously. Could you stop that please?

What we should be talking about is where exactly the line is drawn, not whether complainers inherently suck.

They are subjected to verbal abuse, bullying, sexual abuse, and physical violence, sometimes from the people who are supposed to be providing care for them.[1abcd]

People with learning disabilities suffer poor health outcomes, and those are not all explained by their LD.

People with LD are deprived of their liberty, detained in hospital against their will, without trial. People get caught up in bizarre Kafkesque nightmares.[2] That man was held for a year, with all of his rights ignored.

People with LD are illegally discriminated against in the workplace assuming they can even get a job.

Given all this the pain caused by people carelessly using the word 'retard' trumps your supposed offence at my enabling 'complainers' so I say, politely as I can, FUCK YOU.

See, that's the point. I don't care if you know you are being offensive and want to cause offence. Go ahead. My post was clearly aimed at people who do not know how offensive some words are.

[1a] (http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2006/jul/05/longtermcare.g...)

[1b] (http://www.communitycare.co.uk/articles/31/07/2006/55162/cor...)

[1c] (http://www.mencap.org.uk/outofsight?gclid=CIziubGwkrYCFeXLtA...)

[1d] (http://www.dh.gov.uk/health/2012/12/final-winterbourne/)

[2] (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18998875)

It has only become a pejorative term because it's a label with negative connotations when applied to people. "Handicapped" is identical in this way.

Even if you're not sensitive to peoples' feelings about words, one good reason not to use "retarded" is that it makes you sound like a playground bully.

> Even if you're not sensitive to peoples' feelings about words, one good reason not to use "retarded" is that it makes you sound like a playground bully.

In not wanting to sound like a playground bully aren't exhibiting sensitivity to peoples' feelings?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_retardation#History_of_...

Apparently in Spanish and a few other languages they are too, though this seems to be a minority. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fork#Translations

If the design of a hardware dongle is Open Source, then it can be forked. Sorry, you did you did what you were afraid of but by movng in the opposite direction you thought.