My stance is just because you can make a joke about anything doesn't mean you should and doesn't absolve you of being called out for saying something offensive or in poor taste. Which it is. And if it wasn't a joke then it was just an unnecessarily ****ty/edgy comment to make when he could have expressed his distaste in a different way and still gotten the point across. I get that you are ok with using the R-word to describe things or use in a joking matter but the common consensus in society is that it's just a ****ty and ignorant thing to do because it's dehumanizing to people. He didn't use the R-word, but it's still fundamentally the same intent. If you're not ok with people making ****ty comments/jokes about people who are of different races or lgbt then I don't see why making ****ty comments/jokes about people with developmental disabilities is ok. It's just a double standard.
Personally, I take the George Carlin approach: anything can be humorous, it's all about delivery.
I think his comment was similar to the one that SSGuy made when he had to take an L for the whole autism thing: this person was upset with the designs and used a word that some people think is inappropriate to describe how he felt.
A personal example: when I was growing up as a teen and even into my early twenties, I used to say "Well that's gay." in response to something negative, like someone having a bad day or something didn't go right like McDonald's got their order wrong. I picked it up from someone else and it was just something I said. Did that mean I found gay people to be a bad thing? No (although I will say that in years before that I did, thanks Christian upbringing!
), it was literally just my version of "Well, that sucks!." I remember being in my local card shop and being pulled aside by staff because I offended one of the workers there who was a gay guy. I was pissed that the whole situation even happened because I have nothing against gay people, but suddenly I have to change how I talk because someone was overly sensitive and assumed something about me? Couldn't they just come to me personally and we could talk it out so they would know when I say "Well, that was gay!" that it didn't mean anything against them?
No, I'm the bad guy and I have to stop doing it because I could hurt someone's feelings. I eventually stopped saying it as frequently, but not for the reason: it just fell out of my common phrases as other phrases I liked took root. I rarely have it pop out randomly, but I'll never say I was sorry for it because it doesn't mean anything bad. This is why I think, as a society in the US, we are too focused on making others bend to our whims and wills instead of doing self-reflection: why force others to change when we can change ourselves to be better? Why do you have to place it on the customer to stop saying a phrase that means nothing because your employee can't be bothered to not feel threatened or offended by insignificant things when that customer literally knows nothing about that employee and clearly isn't there to offend them? Now if I had responded with "Oh, he's a f*****, well **** him then! What a freak of nature!" then I could understand some concern and I would hope they would ask me to leave at that point.
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Oh, right, Geno Thread!
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I know! Here's some badass Geno art!