The R-Word?

When I was in the sixth grade there was a McDonald's commercial featuring Corky from "Life Goes On." He was the one in the show with Downs Syndrome - not to be confused with his sister who later starred in "ER" and got stabbed to death IN THE VALENTINE'S DAY EPISODE, which is still very traumatic for me to recall because, as she lay on the floor bleeding out, the rest of County General was in another room dancing and noshing on pink cupcakes. Nothing good EVER happened at that hospital.

Not as traumatic is said Mickey D's ad that highlighted the fast food chain's then-publicized commitment to giving opportunities to mentally disabled workers. "Hello, welcome to McDonald's, my I take your order please?" Burke said at the close of the spot and then smiled, showing that he too could serve fries like any "normal" person.

But Burke never pretended that he was "normal," nor did he shy away from attempting to do whatever he wanted. He was different, there was no denying that, but he could still super-size your value meal if that's what you asked of him, thank you very much.

Rahm Emanuel, President Obama's Chief of Staff, recently came under fire for describing a Democratic ad campaign as "retarded" in another indication that - because of the growing mountain of verbal faux pa's created by Obama's administration - the President's best communicators are, in fact, retarded.

Now, to be clear, negatively using what people are now referring to as "the R-word," isn't something I can get behind, though I do not deny having used it myself in the past. (Like in the previous sentence.) But I also can't hop on board Sarah Palin's overreaction that Emanuel should resign. Were he to quit for this reason - and not because he's a crappy Chief of Staff who's running Obama's presidency into the ground - half of New England and the entire staff of "Family Guy" should also resign their jobs.

I have a friend who's gay who hates it when people say "That's so gay!" when they talk about something that was unpleasant. He says it's reinforcing the notion that "Gay = Negative" in people's minds, and he has a point.

But people also have to stop being overly sensitive. A gentle tap on Rahm's shoulder and a reminder that decrying a bad idea as "retarded" is not cool will probably make the point as strongly as pitching a hissy fit while "going rogue" on FOX News.

And by the same token, maybe we should all reexamine our vocabulary and stop saying "retarded" - or "re-TAH-ded" for you New Englanders and "Family Guy" staffers - because, even though retarded people are in fact retarded, using it negatively just brings them down and makes you look like a jackass. Let them be who they are, but let us not be as ignorant as those "ER" staffers who stuffed their faces with cupcakes while Becca Thatcher got hacked to death by the weird kid from "Numbers."

Man...I really need to get past that.