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A Movie The R-Word By Patricia Bauer

1272 Words6 Pages

Have you ever said something completely incorrect that you get screamed at for being a retard? Today in society many of you would have answered yes, and this is exactly the topic at hand in the two articles written on the R-Word. Patricia Bauer writes “ A movie, a word, and my family’s battle” concerning her family's hardships with this terrible word. Christopher Fairman writes “ The case against banning the word retard” where he goes into detail on why the word should not be banned. These two articles have much in common the talk about retardation the good parts and bad parts, but each have their own views. Bauer thinks the derogatory word needs to be put to rest and be thrown out of english vocabulary. Fairman believes that the word will …show more content…

He confuses the audience since he should focus more on how redard should not be banned. If he stuck to one group of people he would have a stronger argument on why we should not ban the word. On the other hand, Bauer focuses on the younger population when she talks about teenagers using the word to make fun of anybody. She pinpoints one large group of people and sticks directly with them. In fairman’s argument he states many derogatory words such as “fag” and “N-Word” to show how they have gained new meanings over the years. Bauer went and targeted the movie Tropic Thunder and the audience by saying the terms “Never go full retard” are harmful for children. Bauer also mentions when she decided to confront teens for calling her daughter a retard. They always responded with “it was just a joke” or “don't take it seriously.” Fairman confused the audience because he jumped between all theses different derogatory words. He tried to explain to the audience that these words are being changed within society and will always be changing we just need to accept it. Although, he did not make it clear and the audience could have taken it as him insulting many different people. When Bauer discusses the movie Tropic Thunder she states the audience is not suitable to hear the phrases said in the movie. The actors of this movie made the argument that it was rated R for a reason. This is true, but kids nowadays use this language all the time and throwing that into their vocabulary started a fire. Bauer also stood up against her daughter's bullies and called them out for saying the things they said. She keeps her target on one group of people and it is the teenagers of today's

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