Few words are as polarizing or debated as the word "retard". The word pops up time and time again in the world of comedy, though, and recently Special Olympics chairman Tim Shriver appeared on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report to discuss his ongoing battle against casual use of the word. Colbert and Shriver discuss the various ways that the word "retard" could be used (or abused, depending upon your viewpoint), and then Shriver asks Colbert to pledge not to use the word any more. Does he accept? Find out in the video below, my gentle Examiner readers...
The word "retard" is-- like the word "faggot" or "The N-word" (the Queen Mother of all epithets; you can't even write out "The N-word" without causing heads to explode)-- is one of the most debated, polarizing words in the English language. Over time, those with mentally retarded family members, special-needs teachers, and politically-correct proponents have come out against casual use of the word, but it remains in common usage amongst high-school kids, comedians, and anyone describing the cast of MTV's Jersey Shore. As one might expect, Special Olympics chairman Tim Shriver has a problem with this.
Shriver recently appeared on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report to discuss the (mis)use of the word with Report host Stephen Colbert. Over the course of the interview, Shriver lays out his argument against using the word-- we'll go ahead and grant him a few points, even though we can't promise never to utter "The R-word" again-- and then asks Stephen Colbert if he'll pledge to never use the word again, especially when on-air. Colbert agrees, and then announces that he'll record a PSA against the word, right there on the spot.
That PSA takes place at the end of the video over there on the left, and it's worth sitting through the entire video to see what Colbert does with it. For our money, it's the best possible zinger that Colbert could've thrown out there after that particular discussion. See it for yourselves by clicking the "Video" box over there on the left, folks, and sound off in the comments section if you've got anything you'd like to add to all this.
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