(no subject)

[lollardfish]

There's a post out there today of a "friend" (not someone I actually know that well) who has been out of touch with LJ.

He's asking for updates because, "If there's something you've been assuming I know because you wrote about it on LJ and in the past I've reliably read your LJ, you might want to point it out to me. Alternately, you can just regard me as the retard in the corner who never knows what's going on."

I find this metaphor infuriating and offensive, although I know that as with most such things he means nothing by it. What's the best response? Ignore? Post something publicly in comments? Send a private email? Write an LJ post of my own about how offensive I find it and hope someone reads it?

What do you think?

Edit - I posted what I hope was both a polite and firm comment.

Comments

[davidschroth.livejournal.com]

What do you think?

I think you should wait at least 24 hours before doing anything. It's possible that you won't feel so strongly about it after a cooling off period.

My own take is you'll still feel strongly about it after waiting. So, how would you prefer that he phrase things? Draft a sentence that conveys the same/similar meaning, and then write him something along the lines of:

"In your post, you said this. While I don't think you meant any harm by your phrasing, I am not alone in finding such phrasing offensive. Perhaps you would consider saying something along the lines of 'insert your preferred wording here' in the future."

I'd put it in the comments, not because you want to publicly chide the person, but because the potential audience that might benefit is larger.

Mind, it's not clear that I'm in any position to offer useful advice on this subject.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

i agree about waiting twenty four hours to cool off, but then, were i you, i'd post something along the lines of "my wife, my retard son, and i have been yadayadawhatever. by the way, my son really does have downs, although we don't talk about him or about others as 'retards', and we don't keep him in the corner."

of course, i am not primarily noted for my tact. however, that may shock them into realizing that, you know, he's talking about real people he knows.

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's not really my style ...