Opinion : Why a new political term is so offensive

I came across something rather disturbing in the last few days. And what is more disturbing is where it came from.

As a writer, I have always been into words. Words have always been my world. But there are words and there are other words. Some are appropriate, some aren’t.

Recently, there has been a new word that has made it’s way through politics, a word apparently coined as a slam on Libertarians. For me, personally, it is a difficult word to use, but I think it it’s important to put out there.

Libertard (a combination of the words Libertarian and retard). Both writers on the left and right have taken on this word to ridicule the idea of pure, utopian Libertarianism. But it is the word itself that is disturbing.

Enlightened people around the world in recent years have come to realize that certain words that are considered insulting and hurtful to certain groups or cultures are inappropriate, and in many cases, have been put into the grouping of actual obscene words. If you don’t believe that, watch “Blazing Saddles” or any Richard Pryor movie sometime on TV and see how many times the “N-word” gets bleeped.

We have since made the common slang words for other races and ethnic groups in vulgarisms as well. The most recent word is the slang word for mentally and developmentally disabled individuals, and that word, of course, is “retard.”

While it has always been a common word and young people use it freely when they describe something they think is dumb, there has been a national campaign to end the use of the word. Enlightened, intelligent people are behind the campaign and most public and private schools have banned the word.

Yet here in 2011, in the midst of the Republican campaign for the nomination for president, “libertard” has been thrown around by pundits on both sides of the political fence, but mostly from the right.

But whatever side it comes from, and whoever it is about, it is hate speech. Oh, I know, the main reason it gets aimed at Libertarians is because “pure” Libertarians are supposed to be against any kind of regulation of personal rights. And when Libertarians complain about the word, they are asking for the same regulation they rail against.

But what they leave out of the definition is that TRUE Libertarians are against the regulation of any personal rights, so long as they don’t infringe on the rights of others. In other words, while a Libertarian might be against making restaurants smoke-free, they also recognize the right of nonsmokers not to be exposed to the smoke.

This is personal to me. Very personal. My son is autistic and mainstreamed in a regular elementary school. While I have never heard it, I’m sure he’s been called the “r-word” on playground or other places out of the earshot of teachers. Thankfully, I don’t think he knows what it actually means, but I wouldn’t doubt that he has heard it. And if I personally ever hear anyone use it toward him, there will be an issue.

We are supposed to be an enlightened society. So in this enlightened society, in a nation of freedom, we are all supposed to be equal under the law and in the eyes of God. When we use words of hate, we are sinking to the lowest of the low in society.

I personally intend to call out anyone who uses the word, whether it’s in conversation, on Facebook or in political speech. I urge all of you to do the same. There is no room for hate in an enlightened society. End the hate now.