The Left says some pretty stupid things. I mean, like, really stupid. Of course, we’ve got our own stupid people, unfortunately. No matter what, you just can’t avoid stupid.
Exhibit A: Feminists have just brainstormed a whole new oppressed class: people with dumb ideas.
Katherine Timpf at National Review unpacks all the stupid:
According to a post in the social-justice blog Everyday Feminism, the word “stupid” is not just a kind of mean thing to say, but actually an all-out “ableist slur,” regardless of whether you’re using it to describe things or people.
“In my view, the fact that this word is a slur is self-evident,” Jenny Crofton writes in a piece titled “Yes, ‘Stupid’ Is an Ableist Slur — Let’s Unpack Your Defensiveness About That.” Crofton explains that not only is stupid “an insult,” which she claims is “reason enough to stop using it,” (something that I, personally, disagree with — we need insults in our language because let’s face it, sometimes people deserve them) but that it’s also an ableist term because “it’s used to insult people with cognitive impairments, autism, Down syndrome, ADD, and other developmental disabilities.”
…
Look — I completely agree that society is not fair toward people with intellectual disabilities, but trying to connect someone using the word “stupid” to describe an inanimate object to the sexual assault of a child is completely bananas. It’s great to be sensitive, and it’s especially important to be sensitive toward people who are dealing with disabilities. But the truth is, no one sees the word “stupid” as being reserved to describe people of a certain group, or even as being reserved to describe people at all. Are all words in the English language positive? No, and “stupid” is certainly an example of a negative one. But to say that the word “stupid” is so harmful that it is actually contributing to the sexual assault of children and creating “mass psychological harm” is pretty clearly taking things just a bit too far.
Crofton is trying to white knight for people like, say, myself — I’ve been diagnosed with ADHD — and she needs to knock it the hell off.
Of course people with cognitive impairments such as autism or Down syndrome don’t deserve to be called stupid. They don’t.
But it’s condescending to everyone — that includes most with ADD/ADHD — who isn’t cognitively impaired to that degree to claim they need to be protected from negative words. If you feel oppressed by the word stupid, you’re being stupid. The knock on ADD/ADHD hasn’t generally been that we’re stupid, but that we’re lazy, unfocused, and irresponsible. But frankly, I’m an adult and can deal with those words, too.
Crofton argues that the word “stupid” being an insult is ample reason to drop it from use. Well, I’m insulted that Crofton just included ADD with autism and Down syndrome, where many sufferers are required to live in group homes with trained personnel who can provide care on a daily basis.
Should she drop her column because she got all “ableist” about me?
Luckily for her, I support free speech. She gets to say her piece, I get to point out that she’s being stupid to think free speech is a problem, and condescending to think people need her to shelter them.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member