Why okay to mock stupid, but not ret*d?

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Why is it perfectly acceptable to make fun of stupid people, but wrong to make fun of ret*d people? Isn't that just two words which, however accurately or not, describe the same mental condition? I mean, I understand making fun of deliberately stupid behaviour or words -- as in, the person is not trying their best, and is therefore producing output inferior to what they could. But why would anyone make fun of someone's actual disability, by assessing them as "stupid", and then proceeding to mock them for the way they are. Isn't that just as bad as making fun of a ret*d person? You're doing the same thing, only without the labels -- so you get away with it easier. That doesn't make it any more right, though.

Society is so hypocritical. If someone is behaving in an odd or seemingly incorrect way, you can make fun of them AS LONG AS they don't have a documented condition that is said to cause or influence them to behave that way.
Um... Why don't we not make fun of ANYONE'S disability, whether it's documented or not?

Again, it makes sense to chide someone for doing much less than their best, but it makes no sense to chide someone for doing less than someone else's best. Yet, that's what we do when we make fun of stupid people. Whoever does so on a regular basis should be willing for someone smarter than they are to come along and make fun of their relative stupidity. I guess this is an application of "Judge not, lest ye be judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again" (Matt 7:1-2). And indeed, also, "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." (Matt 7:12)

It seems like generally humans are prone to making the completely erroneous assumption that others are operating under the same pressures (or lack thereof) and with the same "deck of cards", so to speak. Sometimes we assume that others have better circumstances than ourselves, too.

I'm guilty of this. Right now I'm at or near the top of my class at college and I've looked very scornfully at some of the work my fellow students have turned in. The quality of their work is very low. They may very well have learning disabilities, extraordinary circumstances, a recent death in the family, or any number of good reasons to be turning in such shoddy work. But that's not my first thought. My first thought is "Sheesh, what a bunch of idiots. I bet they're used to having everything handed to them on a platter." (The college is located in an affluent area.)

Here in the states most of us have some remnant of the old so-called "Protestant Work Ethic", which more or less is the idea that if a person is good, he works hard. A consequence of that thought is that people who do not appear to work hard are bad. We value accountability. I think in practice when we say "he is stupid" we usually have the notion that he could be something other than stupid if he really tried. I don't mean to excuse this. I am just exploring the idea.

Of course, we can't know whether someone is trying their best or not. That's a pretty major obstacle to justifying any sort of judgment of anybody's traits or character.

Making fun of ret*d people is mean because they can't help the way they are. Making fun of people acting stupid is different because:

1. All of us are stupid when it comes to certain things (we all have weaknesses)
2. We all act stupid sometimes
3. It's fun to point out stupid stuff and doesn't hurt anybody (unless they have psychological problems in which case they fell hurt at a bunch of stuff anyway)

This could be attributed, in part, to someone wanting to assert their own intelligence over the other persons'. It's a form of bullying. (:doh:)

I'm quickly bored at other people's attempts to understand my thought patterns. People assume too much. There are things I don't know. There are things I do know. There are things I'm good at just as there are things I'm not good at. Everyone has a similar profile.

I'm guilty of (internally) mocking other people's stupidity and ignorance (which I don't believe are the same).

I've sometimes bullied others for their stupidity or ignorance. Not proud of it.

But, to not go off on a tangent (which is something I'm really good at, btw ), I don't think it's right. IQ doesn't really guarantee that many things in the larger scope of things. You can have a "stupid" person who's much better off than you, has the job you want etc.

Yes, it's all but impossible to see and understand someone else's best; we can only use the (quite limited) clues available to us. Therefore, like you say, gwen, we should err on the side of caution, even when it's oh-so-very tempting to give ourselves that little boost by summarily judging someone else's effort. In school, I was constantly told by adults that I wasn't trying, when I was trying as hard as I could. I often thought, "How can you know whether I'm trying or not? All you know is what you see from your outside perspective: my output in the narrow terms you've pre-defined." I would tell them I was trying, and they would argue with me. (I think I would know whether I'm trying or not. ). Then, they would call me lazy.

Clue to teachers: When your student is sitting at his desk obediently, quietly looking at his book and/or holding his pencil, and can't seem to focus his mind, that is not laziness. That is a learning disability. Laziness would more likely be him getting up and playing instead of trying to focus on his work. Although, with severe ADHD, even that wouldn't necessarily be laziness.

I believe I must have suffered from ADHD, because I had a major problem of not being able to focus on my work if I wasn't in the mood to. And no power of will on my part could overcome that, despite my senses of accountability and responsibility. Yes, I could make myself stare at the textbook. And yes, I could make myself hold the pencil. But I was still two universes away, diving down black holes and operating my time machine.

I had teachers who called me "lazy" and would hound me for being "disorganized", and for having "sloppy hand writing" for not getting better grades. This was when I had been diagnosed with "processing deficit", NLD, and ADD. Kids would call me "stupid" and "ret*d" so I think I can relate to what Ragtime is saying here. It is not ok to make fun of someone for being unable to do what others can because either lack of capacity or lack of being able to cope with distractions or other things. I don't think it is ok to make fun of anyone PERIOD.

I agree that people who are goofing off and joking around instead of working and doing as well as they really can be should be held accountable.

It's just dipstick double standards. People naturally lack the intelligence to utilize the categories into which they place other people creatively; thus, when they are indoctrinated into a given catagorization, the are unable to recognize the assumptions these categories are based on, and acquire such rules as "ret*ds have an excuse" through rote rather than as a consistent theorem of a particular moral system.

In other cases, people are just using higher level versions of the same idiocy: "diseases are outside of peoples control" is assumed, "x is a disease" so "having x is excusable" is an assumed rule, so judgments are based on an ad hoc system of exceptions to the assumption of "free will" that are more of a tacked on convenience than a fleshed out world perspective.

The assumption of free will and equality among people is the result of a combination of instinct and social culture.

^^^

So basically what you're saying is... people who dog on stupid people are stupid?

My brother is mentally ret*d, he cannot think or comprehend beyond a certain level. I tease him a lot. At the same time, I tease my other brother, and my parents as well. I try to treat everyone the same. This has branded me as a cruel and uncaring individual, but I just don't care about their "ethical" ways and opinions. I have the understanding that others cannot comprehend, yes, but I will not treat them as children because of it. I will talk to them the same as I do others. I don't like being malicious with people, but I find nothing wrong with joking.

We're all to occupied with what we feel and want, never taking into consideration others. I personally lack in many departments. I have very little common sense. I cannot carry on a conversation to save me from being considered stupid, but I know who I am, and what I am capable of. Belittling me would do no service to your part other than me plotting ways of injuring you.

Some stupid people choose to be stupid for social reasons and that people are comfortable with stupid people than those more intelligent than them.

But there are other stupid people that cant help but be stupid because they are probably mildly ret*d. Noone wants to be branded as ret*d but they probably actually are. It would be taken badly if people officially called them mildly ret*d because it is used as an insult.