Who's the idiot now?

         When we think of the words “imbecile”, “moron”, and “idiot”, the image in our minds is anything but scientific. These are all words we hurl at others in order to insult intelligence and competence. Yet, what if I told you each of these words began as genuine medical terms, it seems hard to believe right?

        When the first IQ tests were created, people who received scores below average were labeled as “morons” and “idiots”, not to demean them, but it soon became that way. Thankfully the use of these words fell out of practice in professional fields in the early 20th century, where it was then replaced with the now equally derogatory term “mental retardation”. Today, we use the term “intellectual disability” to signify low levels of intelligence, but let's be honest, it's only a matter of time before the connotation of that too shifts into the insulting and becomes too offensive for medical use. Everytime people change the words we use to describe a person with low levels of intelligence, we are not fixing the root issue, we are only delaying the problem. The words we use are nowhere near as important as the culture that surrounds them. Instead of repeating the cycle of labels to slurs, we simply need to educate people on why it’s not ok to use actual terms for people with mental deficiencies as insults. 

Since the rise of politically correct language, more and more words are being labeled as problematic and in need of change. For example, turning “women” into “womyn” to break free of the patriarchal history of our language. But as history has proven, changing the word we use for the female gender wont fix the fact that to this day women are being oppressed and denied basic human rights. Instead of arguing over different interpretations of the words that we use, we should be fighting for actual change in culture and perspective.


Comments

  1. Isabel BucklesMarch 6, 2022 at 4:29 PM

    I one hundred percent did not know that “moron” and “idiot” were once medical terms. I really liked how you pointed out the cycle of these medical terms transitioning into derogatory statements. I also agree with your point that we need to educate people to not weaponize words like these.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Leah OstrowskiMarch 6, 2022 at 6:34 PM

    I like that you mentioned the idea of education, and that we should focus more on fighting for change. The rhetorical questions and picture made this fun to read:)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Krish GuptaMarch 6, 2022 at 8:47 PM

    I agree Charlotte, we should be fighting for actual change instead of getting caught up in trivial matters such as politically correct language to the letter. However, when you classify the term "mental retardation" or "moron" as derogatory, you failed to realize that it is society itself that creates the negative connotation of those words. If you are "thankful" some words fell out of medical practice, its simply redundant since there will always be some word to replace it. And that word will have negative connotations simply because of its definition scientifically.

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