I don't typically think of what I do here as arguing. Once in a long while I get heated, but usually I think of it as discussing. (Not even debating.) And Kat, your reply sums up my feelings pretty well.
posted
Frisco, that quote and picture aren't very flattering for those of us that have special people in our lives.
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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I saw the quote/translation and thought it was actually pretty offensive.
But I had made a pact with myself to not post in any more serious threads... or at least, not to do so seriously, for a little while at least.
Guess that's broken.
Still - I do think it is out of line. To those people who are closely associated with people with disabilities, making fun of the special olympics isn't particularly clever.
(Edit: If I've got the wrong end of the stick, and it wasn't meant in that way, please let me know. But that's the way it sounds to me)
I think that "arguing on the internet is like running in the special olympics; even if you win, you're still a retard" is indeed offensive, but it manages to convey the proper feeling about the former component of the analogy even if the latter part of the analogy is an offensive, incorrect stereotype, whose sentiment i don't agree with.
i think the same sorts of things can be said for how people treat the elderly. People often treat them like dirt, and it's awful. But it seems to come out of a lack of empath or understanding. I'm undecided if making statements like the above quote constitutes such a lack of empath or understanding. My gut reaction is no. but that's because i have friends who've quoted the phrase before who i don't think are extrodinarily prejudiced against the disabled or elderly.
Posts: 4482 | Registered: May 2000
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posted
Pod, surely there is enough wit and intelligence at Hatrack to come up with an analogy that is appropriate at both ends.
I won't tire you out with a long harangue about what winning the Special Olympics really means; suffice it to say that I think more of Hatrack than to expect it to come up with an analogy that relies on such a cheap, shallow, trite stereotype to make a point.
I mean, please ... free speech yes, but tacky cheap shots & intellectual laziness, no.
It just doesn't ring true if you've even been involved with the issue.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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posted
If Hatrack is torn apart by this debate. . .
Do you think I could grill it, and serve it on tortillas, with guacamole and habanero salsa, and grilled onions, bell pepppers, and tomatoes?
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
Scott, I'm still waiting for the gooey center to be revealed.
How about this analogy instead:
Arguing on the internet is like trying to wash a cat: even while one spot is finally getting cleared up, an outlier you weren't expecting claws you in the back.
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Arguing on the internet is like making spun sugar baskets; sure, you may end up with a brittle structure that is somewhat attractive, but it's never worth burning half your hands off to get there.
posted
Once again, I am extremely grateful for the gentle voice of CT.
Today, like all too many Saturdays, I'm at the office. Two things struck me while I was working on some other stuff. One was a picture I pass by several times a day:
The picture is of a young man - 18 years old - who has Down syndrome. He's holding and umbrella, wearing a Not Dead Yet tshirt, and holding a sign that says: Civil Rights Are For EVERYONE! It's from the 1999 protest at Princeton when Peter Singer first came to campus. Ted - the young man in question - knew exactly why he wanted to be there and what Singer's advocacy was on infanticide - it's not that complicated. Ted stood in the rain all day, with about 200 other people.
The other was something I came across by accident in a book I was using as a resource for one of the projects I'm working on. It's one of those quotes that a lot of authors like to put at the beginning of chapters:
The point I'm trying to make is that we would prefer to have people laugh with us than at us. -- Burton Minow
Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003
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