Quote Originally Posted by dweezil22 View Post
No, it's not ridiculous at all. First of all, other than the fact that it reflects badly on Joe and Ravens, I'm glad Flacco did this b/c I think it's a useful discussion. A NFL media event is held to pretty much the highest standards of scrutiny and PC-ness (or whatever you want to call it, I don't want to get hung up on that debate). Anyway, I view it as a trickle down effect.
1) Flacco gets called out for using this term and apologizes (this alone doesn't matter to me)
which causes
2) Lots of people who used the term casually realize that it might offend people and stop using it (again, I don't care about this)
which causes
3) The term to be less widely used. So when a bully on a school yard wants to pick on a kid, especially a disabled kid (and perhaps my son), and decides to call him a retard, it's not normal or ok anymore, it's offensive. The teachers, and more importantly, the other kids now look down on that bully and make him feel ashamed for doing it, and he's less likely to do it again. (I care deeply about this)

Replace "retarded" with pejorative use of "gay" and you can have the same discussion about gay kids (with the obvious difference that "gay" has been co-opted into a positive or descriptive meaning as well).

The N-word is still the greatest example of this. Tons of people that might use the N-word with no malice don't use it, and it causes actual asshole racists to have to either stick out like a sore thumb or keep it to themselves, and the world is a better place for that.
I think it's ridiculous you don't. Agree to disagree.

There is almost nothing that offends me, so this is nothing new. Joe said retarded, where's the dead body?