The moment America-hating Freepers realize they are clueless girlymen about NFL football

[Caliman73]

24. Yes, but you used it in your OP as an insult to conservatives.

That was apart from the Hans & Franz reference.

I am analyzing it from the perspective of where the "insult" comes from.

If I say, "That is retarded" or "You're retarded" or similarly, "That is so gay" or like I said in my initial response, "You throw like a girl". I am implying that the object of my attack is "less than" that something is wrong with them and I am doing it by comparing them with a whole class of human beings.

When I was an adolescent, I used "gay" as an insult. My sister, who was best friends with a gay man, who I really grew to like and respect, pointed that out to me and asked me if I meant to insult our friend. That was when I realized that the insult was meant in the comparison.

I worked for many many years with intellectually disabled people and again, realize that when people say, "That/You're retarded" they likely mean that the object of the insult has done something that is not intelligent or a good choice. However, the insult lies in the comparison between a typically functioning person, and a person who is functioning below the typical IQ level. When you realize that the insult is in comparison to an actual person, with challenges, who is just trying to live their life, it changes.

That is the point, that has nothing to do with Hans & Franz, parody, or drama. It has to do with US being aware that language an associations have meaning that affect other people's lives, and then choosing insults that are not based on the innate attributes of groups of people, like women, gay people, or intellectually disabled people.

It makes it more difficult sometimes to insult people when our options are limited, but it is worth it so that we don't disparage a whole segment of the population with our insults.