The Other R*****, Part 2

Well, I already made a post on this. Now I have received an answer from Comet:

Well, to put it simply, it's hate speech.
Hate speech that has been diffused throughout the west and has lost some of its impact, but hate speech nonetheless, and that is not lost on those the word targets.

I'll put it like this; if the word nigger became prevalent across the west (again) and was used in common conversation, and lost some of its impact, would you expect black people to not be offended? And people are offended even if you don't use it around them, as you're still promoting the idea that such speech is acceptable.

I remember you said that even if we stop using the word retard, another word will take it's place, but unless we try and stop the use of such language in the first place things are unlikely to get any better, and at the least we can make the use of such language less common. Thank you for changing your name. 

(I did make it a bit more readable, but it's mostly copied out of my inbox).

In the thread where the discussion started he said: "Why won't you call yourself 'TheOtherNiggerFag', see how that turns out."
I won't call myself 'TheOtherNiggerFag' because I have nothing to do with the word Nigger, and I don't identify myself with people with a darker skin. Not that I will avoid them, I have friends that are pretty much "chocolate brown" and I have no problem being seen with them. (Some exceptions are made when it's late at night and I'm walking to my home when a group of 15 of them, dressed as New-Timey Gangsters, stares at me), nor do I relate myself to the group of Fags (Yes, one of my best (male) friends has a boyfriend and I'm completely okay with that. As long as they remain decent in the presence of other people (as ANY couple should do)).

I mostly relate to the group of Retards, acting 'stupid' (in the eyes of other people) for no particular reason, being happy with the smallest thing they receive, ...
If I could I'd like to share some of my IQ with my mentally retarded nephew so he could see the world a bit more like we do (but on the other hand I don't think he'll be as happy as he is now with that gift...).
I care about anyone who has a disadvantage in any way, as I know they'll be pretty much picked on by the first bully they meet (children can be evil to each other once they find a weak spot).

In any way I'll keep my name as 'TheOtherRetard' unless the website's Admins say otherwise, next will be 'ThOR' (with that exact capitalization) and if that's not available I'll figure out something different.

I think that's all I have to say on this theme...

Thank you for reading.

-ThOR

The Other R*****

Dear readers.

A few days back I happened to be in the center of a heated discussion concerning my name.
Quite unsettling for me as it's the very first discussion on the internet with me in the center of it (mostly I'm what some call a lurker, I don't really say much)

I had registered on the forum of Notch's new game (0x10^c, may you wonder) and I posted a small introductory post saying hi and stating who I am...

First reply is made by someone named Comet:

Nice post, but please let me know if your name is intended to be funny or an attack at people who think it is? If it's the prior, change your name. It's offensive, and even though i take it you don't mean it, you should know better.

Until now I still don't actually know what the guy meant, I just sent him a PM as a request for more information on his arguments.

And why could I use my name for about 3 years without anyone pointing this out to me?
A short list to all my identities as TheOtherRetard or alike on the internet:

• CounterStrike (and Steam in general) 
• LeagueOfLegends 
• O-Game 
• Minecraft
• CastleStoryOnline
• Twitter
• Youtube
• here
• Wikis
• Weekly Pickaxe
• ... (This is just what I could remember from the top of my head, if you Google me you may find even more...)

So yeah, on all those communities, on all those websites, after my 400+ posts on the Minecraft forum only 2 have openly opposed and demanded me to change my name because of possible offensiveness...

First of all: I don't use the word Retard as an offensive word. In my opinion it's used for someone who acts stupid. And I do lots of stupid stuff...

Let me tell you a bit more about myself.
I know what it's like to be called names. I was that one kid that liked to play alone, I was that kid that was the first one of my class to wear glasses (at the age of 7), I was that kid that didn't do or say much during lessons, but still could score above average on most tests...
Per definition I was the one they (the other kids, you know which ones) picked on. Well, me and the fat kid. And when they were picking on the fat kid I never participated, just because it wasn't as fun as they made it look like...

Anyways, this made me have quite an aversion from calling names cursing and stuff, which I still have (if you hear/read me cursing you know I'm agitated...). So when i use the word Retard I mostly just refer to myself...

Oh, I didn't tell about the creation of TheOtherRetard.
It dates a few years back, to when I was playing Counterstrike 1.6 with my (younger) brother. One day we had the idea to name ourselves alike and have some kind of a "clan" feeling. After some suggestions we stopped on "Retard", since we never took ourselves quite seriously and did a lot of stupid stuff while playing the game...
This discussion was followed by a few days of me being away from the computer and when I came back my brother had taken "The_Retard". I quickly settled for "The_Other_Retard" and we went on shooting...

And I liked being the Other Retard. No-one expects much from me, so when I screw up they can say "What a retard!" ending up with me smiling.

One letter too long to fit on a sign...

Ever since that I kept on using the name for pretty much every other game I played, just to have something of a continuity. After the realization that my name was 1 letter too long to fit on a Minecraft sign I dropped the underscores in other games and went on playing.

It never occurred to me people could consider my name as an insult as I clearly name myself a retard, and no one else.

After all that time I'm proud of that name, I'm identifying myself with it and I don't plan on dropping the name because 2 people (of the millions on the internet) want me to change it.

I ended up changing my name as they added "Slurs and insults" to the Forum Name Rules, so I'm now registered as "ThOR"...
I won't fight this decision, there's been enough discussion on it. I'll still use "TheOtherRetard" as a first choice, "ThOR" if Retard is considered insulting and if that's taken I'll think of something similar.

Anyways, thank you for having read all this. If you have any comments, please post them, I'll respond on them as soon as possible.

-ThOR

PS: The story hasn't ended yet, there is a Part 2 of this post.