The Pioneer Woman & Plagiarizing Recipes

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Originally Posted by Jinx

Holy trout, only someone who is living under a rock doesn't know that the way she used the word retarded could be considered offensive. She could've also said "My brother with special needs". No, saying someone is mentally retarded is not offensive if they are actually mentally retarded. But the way she said it is kind of gross.

But just your argument that she's dumb because she's from a ranch/the country. People from the country aren't dumb, and they aren't shut out from the world.

I mean, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt that she wasn't being malicious in any way. More likely than not she wasn't. But saying that a grown woman probably didn't know any better because she comes from the country is a.) stupid and b.) kind of offensive in itself.

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It's not offensive to think that of her if you actually understand that there is a clear and distinct culture shift depending on where you live and in what community.

I live in a fairly conservative urban environment. Around me, the term "retarded" is used freely to describe mental retardation, and has no negative connotations unless it is clearly being used as an insult (and even then, you're more likely to get cries to stop misusing the term because it's offensive to people who are actually retarded than anything else). Usage of the "politically correct" terminology is almost universally met with derision and eye-rolling.

But I have family that lives in a rural environment far closer to what the Pioneer Woman lives in. And visiting them is an eye-opener to this sort of thing. The usage of PC terms would never even come up. It just doesn't happen. No one would blink an eye if you used them, but they wouldn't realize why you were doing it, or that there was anything wrong with using the terms that most of them had been using their entire life. Change of that sort comes far, far slower than it does to urban environments, and anyone who has been a part of that culture, even for a short time, can realize that.

Until she stepped into the culture outside her hometown (with things like the writing deals and the Food Network deals), her only likely exposure to a culture where the term "retarded" was considered inappropriate was on the internet. Which, unless she was extremely active on message boards, would mean that she wouldn't encounter the PC terms except in comments and complaints about her own works. It's not a common discussion topic, since most of the internet doesn't actually focus on culture trends, if you're not actively looking for it, which she had no reason to do.

You say you have to be living under a rock to miss the clear negative connotation that "retarded" has in today's culture. But "today's culture" is not a homogenous one, and it's more offensive that you think it is, than it is that I acknowledge the differences.

She lived in L.A. for years during college. She hasn't always been living under a rock, so saying that she's a "dumb country girl" is a little off-base.She wound up back in her hometown while firming up plans to move to Chicago after graduation and stayed there, eventually marrying her husband and moving onto his ranch.

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Originally Posted by noxious.sunshine

She lived in L.A. for years during college. She hasn't always been living under a rock, so saying that she's a "dumb country girl" is a little off-base.She wound up back in her hometown while firming up plans to move to Chicago after graduation and stayed there, eventually marrying her husband and moving onto his ranch.

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Which means nothing, as "retarded" did not become socially unacceptable until several years after she married (which was in 1996). Heck, the "official" change recognized by Congress didn't happen until 2010 (and I didn't even know that until I was looking things up for this argument).

And, again, the acceptable social use of a word changes from culture to culture. Where I live, there is still nothing wrong with the word "retard". People I live around may be aware that it is unacceptable in the rest of the country, but they just don't care, and most of them think that the politically correct movement to get rid of the word is ridiculous.

Okay but you're saying she's a product of her culture and surroundings when she clearly isn't. She may have gone back to her "roots" when she transitioned into being a housewife on a ranch, but even still, the whole ranch life wasn't how she was raised.

She grew up in the suburban part of her hometown town and frequented the country club. Her dad was a doctor or something. She didn't get up at 4 a.m. to go herd cattle and bale hay.

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Originally Posted by noxious.sunshine

Okay but you're saying she's a product of her culture and surroundings when she clearly isn't. She may have gone back to her "roots" when she transitioned into being a housewife on a ranch, but even still, the whole ranch life wasn't how she was raised.

She grew up in the suburban part of her hometown town and frequented the country club. Her dad was a doctor or something. She didn't get up at 4 a.m. to go herd cattle and bale hay.

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I'm not saying she's a product of her culture, I'm saying she's a member of her culture. And that culture is based more on area and community than it is with activity (though they do influence each other).

If you don't live in and among people who think a word is improper, you are not going to think that word is improper. It doesn't really matter what the news shows, or what political groups hundreds of miles away say, language is determined by what is used in and around you, and how it is used.


Also, I'm not actually making excuses for her, largely because I don't follow her work nearly well enough to be familiar with it or to have heard any of her comments on her brother. It's quite possible her words were intended in a negative light (either to upset viewers or to speak out frustrations of her brother), I've never seen them, and I can't say. I'm more arguing against political correctness in general, as well as trying to present a differing perspective.

And if it was not meant with poor intent, she should not have to apologize for it.

No but she should be more mindful of what she says or writes -before- she writes it rather than having to go back and fix it later.

What's on the internet stays on the internet.

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Originally Posted by noxious.sunshine

No but she should be more mindful of what she says or writes -before- she writes it rather than having to go back and fix it later.

What's on the internet stays on the internet.

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True. But on the other hand, anything you write on the Internet is probably going to find someone that it offends, since the Internet connects people from many different cultures and backgrounds all around the world. Even being careful, you'll probably miss some things.

Bless yer heart.

This discussion is mostly tl;dr but anyone who uses a term like "retarded", especially to describe their own siblings, is a dick. Period. It doesn't matter what you think of "political correctness"; the term genuinely offends people and it's well known the term offends people and anyone who intentionally hurts another's feelings without provocation is a dick. If you aren't actually consciously aware of how offensive the term is then you must be living under a rock.

I'm suddenly reminded of that special needs teacher who anonymously blogged about her little retards. That was my favorite blog and I hadn't thought about it for years... I wonder what it was called.

I don't have a problem with people using offensive terminology when referencing their own friends and family.