what annoys me is that no one cared about this until Sarah Palin made a big deal out of someone calling her that and she pretended to get offended for her baby with down syndrome as if it was targeted on them.

but I'm also ok with never saying it again. not a big loss who cares. at least we got a legendary Linus clip out of it.

[–] spujb@lemmy.cafe 30 points 4 months ago (1 children)

no one cared until

literally misinformation. rosa’s law was passed in 2009, four years before the incident you cite.

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

that's not what we're talking about. as the original commenter said, using the r word to refer to any mentally challenged person was already a no-no. that law changed official use of the word, not the r word itself used as an insult.

[–] spujb@lemmy.cafe 14 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

law reflects society. just providing a timeline for things, the word as an insult was a problem starting well into the 90s so it’s absolutely absurd to blame it on sarah palin in 2013.

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

if you think people started saying r-word in the 70s you're out of your mind

[–] spujb@lemmy.cafe 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

sorry *90s that was a typo

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

ok, but the r word was very much acceptable through the early 2000s. it was even casually used on tv.

[–] spujb@lemmy.cafe 10 points 4 months ago

ok, but so was the n-word with a slightly different timeline. none of this invalidates my statement that sarah palin has nothing to do with it.

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

That clip is so funny