[Serious] Proposing A Rule Change

[awty]

Decades ago in my youth I volunteered in the care of what was then termed Down's syndrome, nowadays Trisomy 21.

The thing that I learned from that, was that they are people just like the rest of us. No different.

So yes, the term "retard" is offensive.

That said, there is a problem with regulating it. I know of one chap who was censured for using the term. He was merely talking abut reducing the rotational speed of a device in an entirely friendly benign discussion about, IIRC, a proposed perpetual motion device. That then devolved into a strange bun fight with moderation. Needless to say, I did not participate, but I sure as hell ate a lot of popcorn. It was an afternoon cheap soap opera.

My point here is a pragmatic one. "retard the throttle" is normal speech in aviation circles. "throttle the retard" is composed of the same words, but means something very different. Are the mods willing to police every instance of that word, parse it for meaning and intent, pass judgment and deal with the inevitable rules lawyering? I doubt it. I know I wouldn't.

I think the staff here would be able to make this distinction with ease.  

And as with a recent poster here, the use of the word *retard* was one instance of hateful speech that was becoming more and more blatant and appearing more often in their posts.  It would be difficult to not see that particular choice of word as one in a long list that was growing ever longer.