Isn’t Your Mommy Calling You?

Note to e-mailers: if you use the word “retarded” as a counterargument to something I wrote, I am not going to take you seriously. I am going to assume you have just started your middle-school classes, and are making yourself late for the bus.
As my partner Mitch says, that is all.

25 thoughts on “Isn’t Your Mommy Calling You?”

  1. CE. What’s more worrisome, the “childishness” or the “coherent” lefty whose goal is the violent overthrow of the U.S. Government?
    Ignoring the former, or not taking him serious may be a good tactic…but “civil discourse” with the latter does nothing but give him (and his cause) more “credibility”.

  2. I didn’t even know I could email you. But my preferred epithet is idiot. Idiot or maybe lunatic, crazy nutso lunatic (I enjoying being redundant).
    As to my Mother calling me, according to Sally Field at the Emmys last night the world would be a peaceful place if mothers ran everything. Not that I actually saw her say this. I was occupied in a far worthier endeavor, watching the Patriots prove they don’t need no stinkin’ defensive signals to put a hurting on you. But it’s in the papers this morning, Sally Field I mean, well and the Patriots too.
    Hopefully you aren’t going to ban rambling, pointless comments anytime soon.

  3. CE… thanks for making my day! It’s Monday and one can always use a bit of humor to start the day off right!
    ps… I can’t watch Sally Field without thinking of that stupid Boniva commercial. Guess mothers would be more concerned about osteoporosis than more mundane things, like the economy, foreign relations, immigration… and probably one or two other items that have escaped my notice (Hey, I said it was Monday1)

  4. With all due respect from a longtime reader, this article was retarded. It makes you come across as petty, like someone said a mean word to you and YOU’RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE! (stomping foot dramatically)
    And, by focusing on this one word, it raises a delicate question:
    Are you implying that “moronic” is okay?
    How about “Neanderthal”, “hackneyed” and “myopic”? In essence, you just said it’s okay to call you whatever we want and you’ll give it full consideration — as long as we don’t use the dreaded word “retarded”.
    How about if it’s used in analogy?
    “Dear Ed. My car’s been running rough lately so I brought it to the mechanic. He put a big fancy testing machine on it and said the timing was retarded. It reminded me of your column!”
    Where there’s a will, there’s a way. 🙂
    Have a fun week,
    Doc

  5. “Retarded” is such a silly argument, even Monty Python would swear off it.
    So who was *that* silly?

  6. “Guess mothers would be more concerned about osteoporosis than more mundane things…”
    Well and there are some moms who send their kids off gladly to be suicide bombers and other moms who sell their kids for some crack and well, I could go on…
    so yeah, moms everywhere are all about peace, love and understanding. It’s the typical Hollywood bobblehead claptrap, although now it’s not enough to be a woman, you have to have popped out a kid or two and that’s all it takes. Moms of the world unite…except maybe those who endorse honor killings and forced marriages…maybe you should hang back a little, let your western sisters lead the way.
    Not to put down moms generally, after all we all needed one at the start at least (and beyond that, too, of course)….okay I’m abandoning this comment now.

  8. So, will you delete this post if I say that Dr. Mercury’s response was “retarded”? Because it was.
    Methinks the point Dr. Mercury is missing is this–it is NOT the USE of the word “retarded”, but rather that liberals–many of whom are confounded by things like facts, logic, and common sense–who cannot put together a decent rebuttal often resort to simple name-calling (i.e., homophobe, Islamophobe, racist, bigot, etc.) rather than using a part of their body called “the brain” in response to the Good Captain.

  11. But Captain Ed, your blog has clearly “retarded” the spread of disinformation among the MSM and members of the lunatic left. I think your early exposure of the “Swift Boat” people and the fact that nearly everyone who fought with Kerry in Vietnam “retarded” the spread of his campaign throughout the nation. Does this mean I’m banned?

  12. Capt’
    I understand the frustration. Granted a chance to have a civil debate on issues I mostly see the American left going into personal attack and child like taunts. It is not a debate on issues that is wanted. The common lefty policy is “my way or the highway.” When discussion degenerates down to name calling I fully support you in shutting down the conversation.
    To those of the left who read this mans blog, try this simple experiment. Go to Huff Post or Kos and post a counter point to topic or disagree with the premise of the topic. Try it, see if the debate will be civil or you get the dander of the readers up. Will the readers post logical responses to your counter point or go to the bottom level of discussion which is personal attack? Go try it.
    I have tried to discuss issues at the Daily KOS, those attempts were about an enlightening experience as smacking my head into a brick wall.
    “Don’t wrestle with a pig, you get covered in S^%$ and the pig likes it.”
    Have a good day everyone
    Herkeng

  13. I approve of the policy, and am PC enough to avoid that word when I can.
    But …
    “Retarded” is one of those words that George Carlin would love because of the way it rolls off the tongue with such forcefulness. Sometimes it’s great for emphasis.

  14. Years ago, I had an English teacher who told us at the beginning of the semester that we would be writing quite a bit in her class. And further, she announced that we were all forthwith banned — on a threat of receiving an “F” for any offending submission — from the use of the word “interesting” in anything we wrote!
    Imagine telling anyone under the age of about 30 that they should refrain from the use of the word, “like,” in conversation?
    My current recollection is that the ensuing class discussion of this rule bore a striking resemblance to some of the comments in this thread.
    Through her insistence, she induced stubbornness. Remarkably, everyone tested and resisted, despite entertaining doubts.
    A few of us in the class developed secret ways around the rule, including encoding the word into sentences or paragraphs. Now, that took work . . . and, a bit of organization! Finding just the right word was our real introduction to Roget’s.
    We also quickly discovered that eleven (the number of letters in the word “interesting”) is a prime number, so in order to be mathematically consistent, you could only insert encoded letters one at a time if you wanted to effect a pattern.
    Of course, her intended lesson was not lost on me, nor do I think on many others in the class. And I must concede, that year was my first real introduction to the fun inherent in language.

  15. Agree wholeheartedly with the Captain. Also think that the words “Nazi” and “fascist” should be looked at askance, as should “hegemony”. And I’m developing a real dislike for “ad hominem”, too, although it probably goes to prove whatever point is being made about playground name-calling.
    Captain Poopy-Pants has a certain inventiveness to recommend it, although how it would pertain to any argument likely to come up on Captain’s Quarters is a headscratcher.

  17. Regarding your
    Excellent request that we
    Try to refrain from
    Any use of the word
    Retarded in any
    Dedicated correspondence to you or your staff.
    Okay.

  18. Anyone wanting to insult the Cap by calling him or his writings retarded should hearby use the word “special”.

  19. Captain, you’re right about flippantly using the word “retarded.” I’ve not called anyone that maliciously–ever–on a blog or anywhere else. However, somehow my husband and my friends and I have gotten into a bad habit(don’t know where it came from) of calling each other that when we’re acting goofy. Even in the context of having fun with each other, it’s wrong and we acknowledged that recently; that we’re adults and that has to stop. Period. You never know who’s listening or who might have loved ones with Down Syndrome or mental disabilities.
    It did all started with us in jest with my husband teasing me about the possibility of parking in a handicap parking zone (he didn’t, BTW!) if I’d act retarded. I cackled and did my dead level best to embarrass him in the grocery store, and it’s been like a running joke with us.

  20. Eric, I take it you caught my earlier comment?

    Through her insistence, she induced stubbornness. Remarkably, everyone tested and resisted, despite entertaining doubts.

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