7 ms·

To anyone who down-voted, I'm curious to know why. There have been at least 5 down-votes, but no replies.

fnid2 17y ago
My guess, no one thinks she was making fun of retarded people and everyone knows she was making fun of Sarah Palin and her campaign to neuter the english language.
- dwwoelfel 17y ago
  I think that she was making fun of both people like Sarah Palin and retarded people. See this quote: "The only problem with adopting a retarded child is that the retarded child, when you are 80 is well, still retarded"
  - skybrian 17y ago
    How is that making fun of anyone? It's true, and people who actually take care of retarded children and adults have to come to terms with it. Who's going to take care of them when you can't anymore? The shock comes from finding selfishness in something that isn't selfish at all. How many people would volunteer to take care of retarded children they don't know for even a day?
    - dwwoelfel 17y ago
      It's making fun of them because she's doing it in the context of a comedian on a stage telling jokes.
  - GHFigs 17y ago
    That's the set-up. The joke is that to fix this "problem", she is only going to adopt a "special needs" child who is also expected to die soon, thus negating the "problem" (that the child will still have "special needs" when you are 80), while being in our paradoxical cultural calculations even more praiseworthy than adopting a "special needs" child who is going to continue to be just as needy for much longer. It can't really be parsed as mockery of "retarded people" unless you believe she was being earnest and sincere in her calculation and really believed what she was saying. She wasn't. She is a comedian.
- pistoriusp 17y ago
  I'm not from North America and as such wasn't aware of Sarah Palin's campaign against the word "retard." In fact, we happen to find Sarah Palin a bit of a comedian herself... And don't take her seriously.
  - elblanco 17y ago
    Yes, she's a joke. But you won't be laughing when/if someday she ends up President with the nuke codes on her desk.
    - sethg 17y ago
      In a poll taken earlier this month, 55 percent of the people surveyed had an unfavorable opinion of Palin, and 71 percent said she was not qualified to be President. I don't know why the media still treats her every tweet as newsworthy, because as a national political figure, she's a joke. And I'm not sure she wants to become President. She can continue to have a lucrative career on the lecture/pundit circuit, playing to that sliver of the population that does consider her to speak for Real True American Common-Sense Values. Why ruin such a good thing by seeking votes from more moderate voters or, heck, actually trying to run a country?
      - DanielBMarkham 17y ago
        I hate to write a political comment, but looks like a slow day on HN. Palin is like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, or Pat Robertson. She is famous and popular among a measurable slice of voters, so she speaks to/for those voters. I strongly doubt she has a future as a presidential candidate. But as a political figure and news magnet? She's probably just getting started. One of the interesting things about Palin is that the more she is trashed, the more she is loved by her supporters. So there's a feedback loop going on there. If you really don't like her the best thing to do is simply to stop talking about her.
        fnid2 17y ago
        My grandmother absolutely loves her and I fear if I discuss Palin with her, she'll just like her even more!
petercooper 17y ago
Because this reads like a pro-choice joke: Making fun of people like Sarah Palin, who believe that they are virtuous because they choose to bring mentally retarded people into this world, is funny. Sarah Palin is an idiot, but people who don't kill their own children merely because they have some issues are relatively virtuous. Well you asked..
- dwwoelfel 17y ago
  Thanks for replying. I completely disagree with the premises behind your statement that "people who don't kill their own children merely because they have some issues are relatively virtuous." But I know better than to argue with anti-abortionists.
  - petercooper 17y ago
    But I know better than to argue with anti-abortionists. Shame on you. Without that sentence, your comment would have been cool - instead you patronize me. I'm an atheist, liberal (mostly), and almost certainly not one of the typical "pro-lifers" you're looking down your nose at. My distaste of laissez-faire abortions does not make me "anti-abortionist." I believe abortion should be very much a "last choice" that's heavily regulated. In the standard terminology that makes me more "pro life" than "pro choice" - yet if someone makes a long, hard decision to have an abortion, I'm in support of them being able to effect that. It just shouldn't be easy to do.
    - dwwoelfel 17y ago
      I'm sorry I offended you. I should have said that I don't want to get into an argument with an anti-abortionist about abortion.
    - deleted 17y ago
      [deleted]
  - anamax 17y ago
    > I completely disagree with the premises behind your statement that "people who don't kill their own children merely because they have some issues are relatively virtuous." Fair enough. So, let's find out what issues qualify and how this all works. Let's start with the obvious - are fetus' special and when? For example, if a pregnant woman doesn't find out about the issues until a week before birth, do you think that it's wrong for her to not abort? How about if she finds out a week after birth? Should the kid be killed? Now let's talk about issues. How retarded is too retarded to live? Is retarded the only issue? How about blind, deaf, missing a limb or two? What about the mother's circumstances? Suppose she's a crack addict. Or, just incredibly poor. Or retarded? (There's progressive supreme court decision arguing that "three generations of imbiciles is enough" - the case involved forcible sterilization.) Me - I'm pro-abortion. (Yes, I know that pro-choice folks say that folks like me don't exist. Unlike some of them, I'm just honest.) However, I'd never tell someone that they're obligated to have an abortion.

fnid2 17y ago

My guess, no one thinks she was making fun of retarded people and everyone knows she was making fun of Sarah Palin and her campaign to neuter the english language.

dwwoelfel 17y ago
I think that she was making fun of both people like Sarah Palin and retarded people. See this quote: "The only problem with adopting a retarded child is that the retarded child, when you are 80 is well, still retarded"
- skybrian 17y ago
  How is that making fun of anyone? It's true, and people who actually take care of retarded children and adults have to come to terms with it. Who's going to take care of them when you can't anymore? The shock comes from finding selfishness in something that isn't selfish at all. How many people would volunteer to take care of retarded children they don't know for even a day?
  - dwwoelfel 17y ago
    It's making fun of them because she's doing it in the context of a comedian on a stage telling jokes.
- GHFigs 17y ago
  That's the set-up. The joke is that to fix this "problem", she is only going to adopt a "special needs" child who is also expected to die soon, thus negating the "problem" (that the child will still have "special needs" when you are 80), while being in our paradoxical cultural calculations even more praiseworthy than adopting a "special needs" child who is going to continue to be just as needy for much longer. It can't really be parsed as mockery of "retarded people" unless you believe she was being earnest and sincere in her calculation and really believed what she was saying. She wasn't. She is a comedian.
pistoriusp 17y ago
I'm not from North America and as such wasn't aware of Sarah Palin's campaign against the word "retard." In fact, we happen to find Sarah Palin a bit of a comedian herself... And don't take her seriously.
- elblanco 17y ago
  Yes, she's a joke. But you won't be laughing when/if someday she ends up President with the nuke codes on her desk.
  - sethg 17y ago
    In a poll taken earlier this month, 55 percent of the people surveyed had an unfavorable opinion of Palin, and 71 percent said she was not qualified to be President. I don't know why the media still treats her every tweet as newsworthy, because as a national political figure, she's a joke. And I'm not sure she wants to become President. She can continue to have a lucrative career on the lecture/pundit circuit, playing to that sliver of the population that does consider her to speak for Real True American Common-Sense Values. Why ruin such a good thing by seeking votes from more moderate voters or, heck, actually trying to run a country?
    - DanielBMarkham 17y ago
      I hate to write a political comment, but looks like a slow day on HN. Palin is like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, or Pat Robertson. She is famous and popular among a measurable slice of voters, so she speaks to/for those voters. I strongly doubt she has a future as a presidential candidate. But as a political figure and news magnet? She's probably just getting started. One of the interesting things about Palin is that the more she is trashed, the more she is loved by her supporters. So there's a feedback loop going on there. If you really don't like her the best thing to do is simply to stop talking about her.
      - fnid2 17y ago
        My grandmother absolutely loves her and I fear if I discuss Palin with her, she'll just like her even more!

petercooper 17y ago

Because this reads like a pro-choice joke: Making fun of people like Sarah Palin, who believe that they are virtuous because they choose to bring mentally retarded people into this world, is funny. Sarah Palin is an idiot, but people who don't kill their own children merely because they have some issues are relatively virtuous. Well you asked..

dwwoelfel 17y ago
Thanks for replying. I completely disagree with the premises behind your statement that "people who don't kill their own children merely because they have some issues are relatively virtuous." But I know better than to argue with anti-abortionists.
- petercooper 17y ago
  But I know better than to argue with anti-abortionists. Shame on you. Without that sentence, your comment would have been cool - instead you patronize me. I'm an atheist, liberal (mostly), and almost certainly not one of the typical "pro-lifers" you're looking down your nose at. My distaste of laissez-faire abortions does not make me "anti-abortionist." I believe abortion should be very much a "last choice" that's heavily regulated. In the standard terminology that makes me more "pro life" than "pro choice" - yet if someone makes a long, hard decision to have an abortion, I'm in support of them being able to effect that. It just shouldn't be easy to do.
  - dwwoelfel 17y ago
    I'm sorry I offended you. I should have said that I don't want to get into an argument with an anti-abortionist about abortion.
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
- anamax 17y ago
  > I completely disagree with the premises behind your statement that "people who don't kill their own children merely because they have some issues are relatively virtuous." Fair enough. So, let's find out what issues qualify and how this all works. Let's start with the obvious - are fetus' special and when? For example, if a pregnant woman doesn't find out about the issues until a week before birth, do you think that it's wrong for her to not abort? How about if she finds out a week after birth? Should the kid be killed? Now let's talk about issues. How retarded is too retarded to live? Is retarded the only issue? How about blind, deaf, missing a limb or two? What about the mother's circumstances? Suppose she's a crack addict. Or, just incredibly poor. Or retarded? (There's progressive supreme court decision arguing that "three generations of imbiciles is enough" - the case involved forcible sterilization.) Me - I'm pro-abortion. (Yes, I know that pro-choice folks say that folks like me don't exist. Unlike some of them, I'm just honest.) However, I'd never tell someone that they're obligated to have an abortion.