And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
I had thought you were a decent guy but shame on you for this post. And before you say I need to grow up or get a sense of humor, you should raise an autistic child.
The term retardation here references the cock-eyed decision making process that led to the inevitable crash. When I was about that age, me and my pals seriously considered jumping off a minor height with an umbrella to see if it would act like a parachute. Fortunately, we didn't, but we came close, given all the egging on boys will do to each other. None of us were retarded or autistic in the clinical sense, just inexperienced and too bold. This kid in the gif was perhaps just a bit bolder than we were, and learned a lesson. Most of us made some similar bad decisions in our youth, and maybe got a few broken bones and a good lesson in physics as a result. The stories I could tell. The humor of this gif comes from that shared experience almost all of us have. We see that and say, "that reminds me of the time that me and Billy Smith did (fill in the blank with story of crazy antics)." In no way does it make fun of anyone truly retarded or autistic.
Grow up James . Want to get snowflake pick on the moron that allowed the kid to jump then filmed it and then put it out there on the internet. By the way this is the kind dumb stuff we did back in the 60's. We survived
Well I feel you're showing no sensitivity at all . I'm not trying to start an argument with you. Its still a free country and you can post what you wish. I simply choose not to read you any longer.
No, I'm trying to present an alternative view of the gif, and why I posted it. To view this only one way would seem to preclude posting any gif that displayed a pratfall as it might be seen as making fun of someone for something they can't do anything about. Here, it is making fun of someTHING, which is the tendency for people to do silly, foolish stuff. It's not calling the person a retard, but the decision and the act stupid, but funny, because almost all of us share similar experiences.
You bring your own personal experience here, and find that post disturbing for legitimate reasons deriving out of your experience. However, you should recognize that there are different ways to look at it, and your way might not be the way the majority of people see it. That doesn't mean you can't find it offensive, or complain - please do - but recognize that others might find it hilarious for reasons of their own, yet still relate and sympathize with your circumstances.
People who are congenitally mentally challenged deserve our compassion, but demonizing the use of any word that describes it, when used as a metaphor, is just tiresome political correctness. "Retard" just means slow, in Latin. Don't be a retard, James.
If James is correct in assuming the table-smasher does suffer from mental retardation then I'd say the biggest takeaway is that his responsible adults ought to revisit how to "raise an autistic child." Aside from the perceived PC faux pas, that is one funny video! That kid will go farif he survives.
CW, thank you for posting all the pics and video clips you do, including this one. You choose your words and pictures carefully, which says something about the incredible popularity of your blog. Please keep doing what you do and please DON’T CHANGE A THING! This picture made me cringe by thinking about the poor boy’s injuries, but certain words like “retardation” are important and useful and worth fighting for.
When I was a boy, my pals and I also jumped off of single-story roofs onto a thin bunkbed mattress; the goal was to jump off of each kid's roof, but we didn't get to complete our task before our parents discovered what we were doing, and that, as they say, was that.
I do believe that the word "retard" was used pretty freely toward each of us, along with other words even less savory. The idea, as I understood it, was that anyone jumping off a roof deserved whatever he got; and that if any of us ever did such a thing again, we'd find out what hospital is like whether the jumping broke anything or not.
Back then, we didn't even know that we were supposed to be offended by words like that. We were just sorry we'd been caught. Oh, how I miss those days! Plain language and direct solutions.
And I'm another one who is sick and tired of all this delicate little snowflake political correctness crapola; enough already!
CW, you do just great! I love this blog, and don't want you to change a thing! (Well, you could have more freckled gals....)
I had thought you were a decent guy but shame on you for this post. And before you say I need to grow up or get a sense of humor, you should raise an autistic child.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteJames, you might be being a bit oversensitive here.
DeleteThe term retardation here references the cock-eyed decision making process that led to the inevitable crash. When I was about that age, me and my pals seriously considered jumping off a minor height with an umbrella to see if it would act like a parachute. Fortunately, we didn't, but we came close, given all the egging on boys will do to each other. None of us were retarded or autistic in the clinical sense, just inexperienced and too bold. This kid in the gif was perhaps just a bit bolder than we were, and learned a lesson. Most of us made some similar bad decisions in our youth, and maybe got a few broken bones and a good lesson in physics as a result. The stories I could tell. The humor of this gif comes from that shared experience almost all of us have. We see that and say, "that reminds me of the time that me and Billy Smith did (fill in the blank with story of crazy antics)." In no way does it make fun of anyone truly retarded or autistic.
DeleteGrow up James . Want to get snowflake pick on the moron that allowed the kid to jump then filmed it and then put it out there on the internet. By the way this is the kind dumb stuff we did back in the 60's. We survived
DeleteWell I feel you're showing no sensitivity at all . I'm not trying to start an argument with you. Its still a free country and you can post what you wish. I simply choose not to read you any longer.
ReplyDeleteNo, I'm trying to present an alternative view of the gif, and why I posted it. To view this only one way would seem to preclude posting any gif that displayed a pratfall as it might be seen as making fun of someone for something they can't do anything about. Here, it is making fun of someTHING, which is the tendency for people to do silly, foolish stuff. It's not calling the person a retard, but the decision and the act stupid, but funny, because almost all of us share similar experiences.
Delete
DeleteYou bring your own personal experience here, and find that post disturbing for legitimate reasons deriving out of your experience. However, you should recognize that there are different ways to look at it, and your way might not be the way the majority of people see it. That doesn't mean you can't find it offensive, or complain - please do - but recognize that others might find it hilarious for reasons of their own, yet still relate and sympathize with your circumstances.
I thought it was funny too. Maybe I'm just a bad person. Oh well.
ReplyDeletePeople who are congenitally mentally challenged deserve our compassion, but demonizing the use of any word that describes it, when used as a metaphor, is just tiresome political correctness. "Retard" just means slow, in Latin. Don't be a retard, James.
ReplyDeleteSo James, I have to ask you, why do you assume this person is autistic?
ReplyDeletei think the retardation is strong in James.
ReplyDeleteIf James is correct in assuming the table-smasher does suffer from mental retardation then I'd say the biggest takeaway is that his responsible adults ought to revisit how to "raise an autistic child." Aside from the perceived PC faux pas, that is one funny video! That kid will go farif he survives.
ReplyDeleteCW, thank you for posting all the pics and video clips you do, including this one. You choose your words and pictures carefully, which says something about the incredible popularity of your blog. Please keep doing what you do and please DON’T CHANGE A THING! This picture made me cringe by thinking about the poor boy’s injuries, but certain words like “retardation” are important and useful and worth fighting for.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a boy, my pals and I also jumped off of single-story roofs onto a thin bunkbed mattress; the goal was to jump off of each kid's roof, but we didn't get to complete our task before our parents discovered what we were doing, and that, as they say, was that.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that the word "retard" was used pretty freely toward each of us, along with other words even less savory. The idea, as I understood it, was that anyone jumping off a roof deserved whatever he got; and that if any of us ever did such a thing again, we'd find out what hospital is like whether the jumping broke anything or not.
Back then, we didn't even know that we were supposed to be offended by words like that. We were just sorry we'd been caught. Oh, how I miss those days! Plain language and direct solutions.
And I'm another one who is sick and tired of all this delicate little snowflake political correctness crapola; enough already!
CW, you do just great! I love this blog, and don't want you to change a thing! (Well, you could have more freckled gals....)