This is just too much and hard to take seriously, except … well I do, and tells much about the left and their supposed sensitivity to “diversity”.
Jus to recap: In August WH chef Rahm Emanuel meets with Democrats. During that meeting Rahm drops the “R” word.
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel’s verbal indiscretion — referring to some liberal activists as “f**king retarded” — has shined a spotlight on just how pervasive the R-word is in American conversation, and how offensive it can be for millions of Americans.
Ooops. Not surprisingly Sarah Palin, who has a child with Down Syndrom, pushed back.
Palin, whose youngest child, Trig, has Down syndrome, wrote that Emanuel’s expletive was “heartbreaking” and said his “degrading scolding” has been “completely ignored by the White House.”
“Just as we’d be appalled if any public figure of Rahm’s stature ever used the “N-word” or other such inappropriate language, Rahm’s slur on all God’s children with cognitive and developmental disabilities — and the people who love them — is unacceptable, and it’s heartbreaking,” wrote Palin.
So now, who does the media blame? Why Sarah Palin of course. Disgusting.
Then, yesterday, Bernie Goldberg told Fox News this is political correctness out of control. But Megyn Kelly correctly pushes back.
Actually, it’s not. The word was used in a pejorative manner. It was meant to be comparative in the worse sense. I work with teenagers with disabilities each summer at UCONN with the Youth Leadership forum. People with disabilities, not matter what disability, deserve respect as humans and should NEVER be held up as an example of scorn, Never. As far I as concerned both examples above are wrong. And its truly a shame.
I actually do think that Rahm should be forgiven. He apologized. But this is just an example of how people with disabilities are dismissed summarily in main stream America. So much work to do, which is why the Special Olympics did not just walk away from this. Special Olympics wants a long talk first.
About Jim Vicevich
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I am not one to countenance political correctness. If a person is “developmentally delayed”, there should be nothing wrong with stating that that person’s development is retarded. Check the definition of the word. While Emmanuel was definitely using the term pejoritively, I think Sarah Palin was being overly sensitive; perhaps she just saw a political opportunity. What I have a bigger problem with is the expletive that has to be concealed with substitute characters. Isn’t that one of the words that cannot be broadcast? That, to me, speaks more about a person’s character. Why is no one condemning him for that?
There is a clear disturbing pattern. When Harry Reid acts in a racially patronizing paternalistic manner in favoring light skinned negros without dialect YOU are the racist for expressing any offense. When whitehouse officials are insensitive toward the retarded, Sarah Palin is the problem for taking offense. The reason the left acts this way is because their only justification for having absolute power is their moral sanctimony . They are the ones holier than thou in caring for the people beneath them. Without that bigotry they have no reason at all to live better than the rest of us at our expense.
Jim, you spoke much better then anyone both today and yesterday on your show and here in this blog about Mr. Emanuel and the use of the “R” word in a very demeaning way. As a person who was a Special Olympics athlete when younger and now is getting ready to do teaching of people who are also are challenged computer skills, while I do forgive Mr. Emanuel, as a Christian, let Mr. Emanuel know that ALL of US, with and without challenges all have gifts to give to this country. BTW, I had posted the URL of this blog entry over at Free Republic a short while ago:
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2444486/posts
I agree. It’s not about political correctness. It’s about using an entire class of people as an example of extreme stupidity. Offensive? I think to some and for good reason. Insulting is more like it. I would take the kids I work with each summer over Congress any day.
Anne, once again you said it far better than I did.
Jim, a giant THANK-YOU and also here is the URL to my new blog site:
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http://annem040359.wordpress.com/