The words "nutcase" and "wacko" are discriminatory

[Cetacea]

Aside from the fact that the usage of the words to describe others is usually a sign of weak intelligence, the words , especially when used in a subject line, are highly inflammatory.

I think most of us would agree that the words are used to describe someone suffering from severe form(s)of mental illness. The words in question are the equivalent to referring to someone missing a leg as a "gimp" or "stub".

As most Americans either have or know someone suffering from some form of mental illness, I cannot see how the usage of these words are allowed and why threads with the words in the subject line are not deleted.

Surely, if someone referred to Max Cleland as a "gimp" or some other derogatory and discriminatory fashion in the subject line, the thread would be deleted in short order.

[leftofthedial]

1. I'm sick of you nutcase wackos trying to constrain language

[Cetacea]

49. You wouldn't have wanted "WMDs in Iraq" constrained?

[Lex]

2. So when I posted that Alan Keyes is batshit crazy that was like

calling Max Cleland a "gimp?"

[Beelzebud]

3. If you are never offended, you aren't living in a free society.

[YOY]

12. {Happy Brady Bunch End Music Plays}

:D

[Beelzebud]

22. LOL pretty much!

In my mind it's a pretty simple issue.

[Cetacea]

30. self-delete...lol

[Cetacea]

58. Ok. I am cool w/ being called "unpatriotic"

for having never supported the war. Are you?

[Beelzebud]

66. I'm cool with that. Just because someone says something, doesn't make it true.

I really do place value on our freedom of speech.

Just because some idiot might call anti-war people unpatriotic, does not mean I'd give up free speech to make them stop...

Should I be allowed to call those people idiots?

[Cetacea]

73. I value freedom of speech as well.

And of course you can refer to right-ringers as idiots. But if you were to refer to them, or fellow dems here on DU using a word/s that most people use to depict so-called crazy people, then is it discriminatory? That is all I am really asking. I should not have stated it as fact in the op, though I personally feel it is and have difficulty not using the term myself. (especially in discussions about wing---s.)

[Kelly Rupert]

4. I thought for sure this would be a joke thread.

Apparently I was overestimating humanity.

[Cetacea]

57. Yeah. We have devolved.

Apparently being uncivil is the norm these daze.

[Kelly Rupert]

77. Enforcement of civility is folly n/t

[Dukkha]

5. give me a break

Grow some thick skin already. As Frank Zappa once said, There is no such thing as a dirty word. Nor is there a word so powerful, that it's going to send the listener to the lake of fire upon hearing it. Free speech is a two way street.

[Cetacea]

69. Thick skinned politicians don't even use it.

How long would a National Candidate last if he called his opposing candidate a "nutjob"? Not very long. Why?

[Cruzan]

6. Your user name makes fun of a vegetable and I find that offensive!

[Lance_Boyle]

59. HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Your user name also references a vegetable. Albeit one much more dignified than an artichoke.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Cruzan

[Cetacea]

62. LOL

But seriously, I'd rather any veggie over a Boil. (j/k)

[EstimatedProphet]

7. That's true. I discriminate against nutcases and whackos.

Give me a reason why I shouldn't. I'm not talking about mentally ill people. I'm talking about mentally lazy people.

BTW describing people as of "weak intelligence" because they use certain words is also discriminatory.

[Cetacea]

44. I wasn't referring to mentally lazy people.

My use of the words "weak intelligence" were perhaps as discriminatory and DISMISSIVE as using the words "nutcase" and "wackos" to describe an entire population of DUers in a thread subject line.

[EstimatedProphet]

78. ?

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

8. Oh God Where Does It End.

Outrage outrage outrage. Everyone's outraged over something. Don't do this, don't do that, shoulda done this, shoulda done that, say this, say that, blah blah blah blah blah.

Can't say wacko. What a crock.

[Cruzan]

9. I remember when I used the word fucktard and someone got offended.

People like that ought to be taken out and shot -- or at least tasered.

[Cetacea]

11. Are you encouraging Murder? (eom)

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

13. Over Fucktard? ROFLMAO!

Some people are just too silly.

[Cruzan]

16. And I wasn't even referring to anyone.

I was only commenting on the "fucktard misspelling loose for lose."

[Cetacea]

10. So, if I call all of you "retarded"

should I be banned?
Calling you a "retard" is free-speech too.

[TwilightZone]

28. What does it have to do with free speech?

This isn't a governmental agency. It's a private web site.

[Cetacea]

31. Did I mention free speech?

I was referring to words that are offensive and now am asking for the difference between words on DU that are prohibited and words that are not.
Some others brought up free-speech, which we all know is what has kept us out of Iraq.

[TwilightZone]

35. "Calling you a "retard" is free-speech too."

Yes, you mentioned free speech.

[Cetacea]

My bad. The first ten or so responses did. Sorry. eom

[Cetacea]

54. Yes. A private website with rules.

Please explain to me how describing a large population of DUers as "nutjobs" and "whackos" is not insulting, or at least intentionally baiting? If it is not insulting please explain why.
(I am referring to a thread with those words in the subject line.)

[TwilightZone]

60. Oh, I don't disagree that calling people names is insulting. I just disagreed...

that it was covered by free speech.

[Cetacea]

67. Ok. Thanks.

[Bake]

14. "Nutjob", however, is perfectly acceptable.

Please revise your posts accordingly. That is all.

Bake

[truebrit71]

15. Oh my giddy aunt, what next? Only a nutcase wacko would have a problem with those words...

Gimp to describe a disabled vet = derogatory

Calling the lunatic fringe of the Geriatric Old Perverts party nutcases and wackos is not derogatory....

Calling someone who has a mental illness a nutcase or wacko = derogatory

In conclusion: The GOP are a bunch of nutcase wackos and people with mental illnesses are not...

M'kay? Feel better now that your 'outrage of the day' has been addressed?

[Cetacea]

61. Sorry about your Aunt.

About your conclusion: "...The GOP are a bunch of nutcase wackos and people with mental illnesses are not..."

I appreciate your attempt to clarify but you are still using a disability to describe...those ...people on the right.

[YOY]

17. What about "rimjob", "Jizzmopper", "cumdumpster", "windowlicker"

"buttbaby", "cornholer", "teabagger", or the ever popular "mother f***er".

Sorry. We can't all talk like Rummy! "Heavens to Betsy! Lets kill them all for the love of Pete!"

[Cetacea]

52. LOL. . eom

[TwilightZone]

18. So are "idiot" and "moron". Good luck getting them out of daily usage.

n/t

[Cetacea]

26. A good reponse that goes to the OP.

Thank you.

[Cetacea]

19. Cluster----- aside, thank you all.

I see the folly of my post but still don't understand at which point a word becomes a word that is forbidden here under the rules.
I have to go. My ass hurts.

[Connie_Corleone]

20. I only use those words to describe nutcases and wackos.

i.e. Republicans

[Cetacea]

47. Yes. But some on Du describe fellow dems that way. eom

[HughBeaumont]

21. Um . . . you're serious, aren't you?

"Dandelion, I don't much like where this is going."

Name the reference.

[Bitwit1234]

23. Why are there so many nutcase wackos on DU

there I got it out, me and my limited intelligence.

[Cetacea]

24. Ok, retard. eom

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

25. That sounds really loony.

[PDenton]

27. I think silent indifference ...

.. is worse than any epithet. It doesn't matter what word you use, people are still going to have a stigma attached to it.

I don't find nutcase or wacko particularly offensive. Maybe because it really doesn't carry the same emotional weight as "gimp". Gimp implies uselessless, lump of flesh, with bits of Nazi-esque overtones thrown in, "life unworthy of life". "Wacko" or "nutcase" doesn't.

[Cetacea]

33. Thanks for a measured response.

Though for me those words do have a lot of stigma attached to them. And what was done to the mentally ill by Nazis is largely ignored. Aren't wackos considered useless. Didn't we, as a society, "dump" them on the streets in the the past? And drill holes in their skulls to remove portions of their brains?
Again, thank you for your response.

[PDenton]

63. No

Some people might say Robbin Williams is nutty or wacko, for instance... but they still find him funny.

Mentally ill people were often dumped on streets because mental institutions were percieved as inhumane, and they probably would be right. You can blame partly the Civil Righs movement, and partly the Reagan-era budget cuts. Also, the advent of anti-psychotic drugs was suppossed to end the need for long-term mental hospitals, but it didn't quite work out like that.

I have chronic depression, always have had this tendency, and anti-depressants tend to make me hypomanic sometimes (talk very fast)- caffeine does this too. I also have bouts of obsessive compulsive disorder, but this has tended to be reduced as I have gotten older. Now days I get by on St. John's Wort because it is inexpensive and the insurance I have (what little I have) I'm not going to push because I'm lucky to have any at all, so I'm trying to spend as little as I can- suffice it to say I strongly favor universal healthcare.

Wacko and nutcase are not that offensive to me, but others might feel differently.

[Cetacea]

74. Good point about comedians.

I am referring to when the words are used as obvious insults.

Good luck with the SJW. Health insurance in this country is a travesty.
Also, whatever happened to Mental-health Parity legislation?

[TwilightGardener]

29. I guess gimpy wackaloons better stay off DU, then.

[Cetacea]

46. ...

So clever, you are.

[snooper2]

32. how about crazed, shaky, tottering

lunatic, mad, foolish, imprudent, foolhardy or rickety? :evilgrin:

[Cetacea]

34. Depends. Do you equate a foolhardy person w/ lunatic? eom

[snooper2]

39. I think a lunatic is a foolhardy person, but not in the reverse...

depends on the context of the synonym you decide to use....

[Cetacea]

55. "Unpatriotic", Bleeding-heart liberal". That context. eom.

[Igel]

36. Can I still say "whackadoo"?

And doesn't it really rather matter who/what the referent is?

If I use it to dehumanize somebody worthy of sympathy and empathy, somebody who can't control their mental state, it's cruel.

If I refer to the squirrel that came up and tried to grab a roast beef sandwich out of my then-girlfriend's hand, "nutjob" suddenly is derogatory *and* ironic.

Note that such terms are nearly always derogatory, but since when should all things derogatory be prohibited? "I think he's stupid" is derogatory; "I don't think Hitler was really a very nice person" is also derogatory. "Hitler was *such* a swell guy" is, well, derogatory (with the right intonational contour). Even saying that you can't understand why usage of these words shouldn't be deleted has the implicature that you think they're wrong in some way, and *that's* derogatory.

Derogation is sorely underrated.

Now, I don't really much like general terms of abuse. "Dickhead", "fool", "retard", etc., etc. They really say less than you'd think. (Then again, most racial epithets are also just race-specific GTAs.) But when you need to emote, they're there and rather handy. It's got to get one's cognition past the emotional response, but that's the best some can muster on bad days (and for a very few, on good days ... but there I go, being derogatory again).

[Cetacea]

70. You don't need my permission. Say whatever you want to say.

Thanks for at least offering some discourse.

[AngryAmish]

37. How about "whackjob"?

[WinkyDink]

38. NUTS!

[guitar man]

40. ok then

I'll try to refrain from calling the deluded rightwing moonbats nutcases and wackos. "Idiots, morons and lamebrains" may be a bit hard to give up though! :silly:

[Quantess]

41. I see where you're going with this,

but I don't agree. If a mentally ill person gets called a nutcase, or a lunatic, then that would be very cruel. But I don't see how it's "offensive" to say that about someone with consistently questionable judgment, or who did something incredibly stupid, or who believes really wacky ideas. How else are we supposed to berate that person?

If someone is certifiably insane, psychotic, or has otherwise been diagnosed with a mental illness, then we should show a little consideration and not call the person a whackadoo.

But if we're talking about some nutty overboard fundie Christians, or Scientologists, or other religious extremists, or Bush lovers, then "lunatic", "nutcase" etc, seems perfectly appropriate.

[niyad]

42. I don't use those words to refer to clinically diagnosed people with mental illness. I use them to

describe, aptly, people who are running around loose without their keepers, and creating havoc in the world. surely, a person of such esteemed intelligence as yourself can figure out the difference, given your time here on DU.

[Cetacea]

53. Thanks.

My use of the words "weak intelligence" were not devoid of design.

[EFerrari]

43. Yes, they are. They compare assholes to people struggling with mental illness.

You are right, of course.

[DS1]

45. Volvos! They're boxy, but good!

The words in question are the equivalent to referring to someone missing a leg as a "gimp" or "stub".

not in my books

[mainegreen]

48. I would disagree that 'nutcase' or 'wacko' are primarily used to describe someone with mental illnes

nor that its primary usage is as an actual comparison to the mentally disturbed, but that it's primary and common meaning is to indicate that you believe the person you assigned this descriptor has such an inferior and faulty world view and logic processes that are voluntarily self created and self inflicted.

One upon a time these words may have primarily applied to the mentally disturbed, but I do not think that is true now in common usage.

:shrug:

[Cetacea]

51. Good points.

However, is it simply because we have gotten so used to using them?

If the words weren't offensive, then people would not use them in such emotionally charged and inflammatory ways.

[mainegreen]

56. Perhaps we have gotten used to them but...

I don't think that simply using a word in a charged or and inflammatory way necessarily indicates that the word is offensive, merely that it is meant to express and incite emotion.

I think in the end, it really has to come down to context. If I call Cheney a wacko, is it derogatory? Well, yes in the sense that I'm belittling his thinking processes, but I do not believe that saying something derogatory against another person is necessarily wrong. However, am I comparing him to someone with mental illness? I do not think most people, even those with a mental illness would make that assumption. But, that same word would clearly be offensive in the sense it is generally offensive (an not just the subject is offended due to a put down). However a word such as nigger could not be used in such a way, or at least not in a non-offensive way on this board. It's intent would be clear.

:shrug:

[Cetacea]

65. Again, good points. Thanks for your measured response.

I appreciate it.

[aikoaiko]

50. Meh, that's just crazy talk.

;)

[ThePowerofWill]

64. Ah, Du the land of the easily offended.

Can't say this, or that, yadda, yadda, yadda. Might as well tape our mouths shut, and avoid the risk someone my take offense.

[Cetacea]

68. Did you/do you oppose the war?

If so, are you offended when someone labels you "unpatriotic"?

[ThePowerofWill]

71. Not at all.

Words are like water off a ducks back to me. I learned long ago words only have power over you that you allow them to have.

[Cetacea]

75. Thanks.

Insults and character assassination are driving politics today. But that's not news. It still upsets me though.

[2rth2pwr]

72. Nobody has the power to insult or offend me

without my permission.

[Cetacea]

76. That is good. eom.

[Generator]

79. This coming from the nutroots!

I read that today here as what "they" ya know-the DLC, From, Frum or whomever it is that's ruined the Democratic party call US.

The nerve. But I laughed. (a play on the term NETROOTS for the dim bulbs among us-oh please laugh already!)

I am the nutroots!