So this guy you probably don't know anything about and aren't losing anything for not knowing named JonTron recently tweeted "Playstation Now is the most painfully retarded thing I've seen in a while. WTF even."

Afterwards, one of his fans tweeted him back saying "please don't say retarded Jon, it's pretty rude. Thanks."

To which Jon replied, "I'm sorry, I forgot you were retarded, my bad."

This, of course, sparked a firestorm, which, as psulli put it, is caused by "information disseminated online [that will] dissipate in force within days."

Then this JonTron guy, after receiving a bunch of criticism, responds with this, along with the fact that tumblr should be declared a "national threat" (that is an entirely different discussion, though I am absolutely fascinated by the recent uprise in the belief that 'social justice' is some new phenomenon that spawned from Tumblr, the push-back against it, how it ties into /r/tumblrinaction, etc. etc. It's pretty crazy.)

So yeah, it pretty much sputtered off from there, he did an interview that is WAY too biased for me to even post here. But I'm interested in what you all think, because I can't find any serious discussions on the topic that don't devolve into shout-fests and name-calling, as the internet tends to do.

So. What do you think about the use of the word retarded in everyday life? Do you think it's offensive to use? Do you think the word has changed in the impact in its meaning, thus making it okay to use? I've noticed some people online saying that they've been saying 'retarded' for their whole life, and friends, family, and coworkers seem to have no problem with it. Does its use change when referring to inanimate objects/concepts like Playstation Now versus people, or do you think it should not be used as an insult either way? What about the usual 'retarded is just another form of stupid' argument? Does that hold merit?

I'm interested in your thoughts. I don't really have any particular feelings on the matter, besides the fact that I think it's dumb to think Tumblr is some monstrous place where people just want to scream at you about their "transethnic blah blah blah" privilege, which is just some straw-man used to beat back actual social progress. I also think his tweetlonger response was disingenuous and a way to deflect people away from an actual discussion about what he said.

I don't really know what to tag this besides askhubski. Make liberal use of the community tag, please and thank.

Edit: thank you for all the responses, you guys. It's been very informative going through all of them. You are all so much better than the rest of the Internet.