Though the language is currently problematic, it's a valid message.

Back in the 80s, many people lamented how the word gay had been "ruined" for them.

From that time, there was a sketch by Toronto's comedy troupe The Kids In The Hall of a little old lady lamenting how the word f-gg#t had been ruined for her. Back in her day, a f-gg#t was a bundle of dry sticks, "on cold winter nights we'd huddle by the fireplace and we'd throw another f-gg#t in the fire", she says with a sigh.

Then she goes on to say how she used to like fisting - calls it a needlepoint technique - until her friends told her what that word meant now.
She speculates that the word rambler might now mean something filthy, too. All those lovely old words, now tucked away, can't use them anymore.

EDIT: I am using a certain word in historical context here, got censored, so I edited it to see if it now flies under the bots' radar.

As far as it becoming a word of disparagement and slang for those who are stupid - thats basically what constantly happens. A new word comes out and eventually it is used to insult people and then another new word starts being used.

For an example:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiot

It really is a shame that "retarded" became a word of disparagement and slang for those who are stupid. A word which is widely regarded as insulting more than anything else.

"Moron" was literally something doctors used to describe certain patients once too. Any clinical term used to describe someone of low intelligence (putting aside the difficulties in making that determination in any universal sense) will inevitably be used as a pejorative/insult. It can't be stopped.

I agree 100%, if I may add: Society has also little place for "stupid" people. I mean people with a smaller IQ but who are not special needs. I have a friends who really, with all the best of support, is just not smart. Who has barely managed to finish school and couldn't understand stuff in their vocational training (I live in Germany, that's the typical route to go). She is working in a cafeteria now, serving food. She has this job for years and years now, she's well adapted there. It's not a special needs job, it is just the kind of job you get if you don't have a (vocational) degree to show for.

And there is no actual problem with that. She has friends and a husband and a fulfilling life. She's happy. She does her job well. You can argue that school has failed her but the truth is no matter what you do, she'd never become a lawyer or an accountant. That's just not in the cards for her. And that's ok. But what's not is that she is struggling with money. Because this is where society fails her. Assuming that you can always do better, have a "higher" job, if you just try hard enough. Like, no. We all have limitations. I couldn't be a doctor because I faint when someone tells me about injuries. That's ok, too. She won't have a career or manage the canteen, she's content, she doesn't want that either, but she will probably have to work until she dies because her retirement won't be enough. This isn't fair.

I've seen this with tutoring school children too. Some kids just won't make it to university and some won't even finish school. Or they will but that's just it then. And the sad part is not that they won't have an amazing education but that despite holding down a job they will just never be able to make it to a point in which they will not struggle financially.

The way I see it is if a word causes harm to people who mean no harm themselves, then we don't need to use that word in any contexts other than historical. Just like how the use of the words ******, and ******, and my goodness even the word ********* have fallen out of use, rightfully so.

You mean this 2002 Kenneth & Gabrielle Adelman, California Coastal Records Project, photograph that she attempted to suppress in 2003?

Is that the photograph you were referring to? Then yes, you're absolutely not supposed to see this.

She has a fake shopping mall in her basement. Seriously. That is far weirder than any photo of the outside of her house.

https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-barbra-streisand-tiny-shopping-mall-basement-malibu-2023-11

Euphemism treadmill

In the UK people of a certain age remember Joey being an insult.

This is because Blue Peter, a popular kids show, had a segment on a heavily disabled man called Joey Deacon. Between him and his friends at the care home, they had written a small book, at a few words a day. This, they thought, would endear the disabled to the nation's children, who would see that just because somebody cannot speak or move, they could still achieve something.

The next day, every playground was awash with kids calling each other Joey and grunting at each other.

Blue Peter really did not know us at all.

Except it is not said condition. Because the condition was a misdiagnosis.

"Hysteria" was once a diagnosis for overly-emotional women. It was a misdiagnosis too. And now calling people hysterical is often viewed by those people as offensive. Even if they are being overly-emotional.

I'm sure the ad is real, although I don't know it for a fact. It is still a real organization, though the name changed 30ish years ago. It was between 10 and 15 years ago that Obama signed Rosa's law, changing the words in federal law to "mental disability" or "an individual with an intellectual disability".

Remember, there was a time when that wasn't a pejorative term. It was a diagnosis. The way people used the word to "other" those with disabilities is what made it pejorative. Prior to that it was a neutral term.

A lot of terms used to make fun of intelligence used to be a diagnosis, like idiot and imbecile. That's really neither here nor there, but I find it interesting how mental medical diagnoses become insults but physical ones don't. I've never had someone yell "you play baseball like a paraplegic!" at me.

Edit: I was wrong and have been corrected. See below.

Ok, now climb down from that rooftop before you fall or something

I just looked up the history of ARC (previously NARC). It started in the 30's when Retarded was the medical term for intellectual disability. Now that Retarded is a pejorative they changed their name to ARC (no longer an acronym) in the 90's.

Looks pretty heinous today but when this ran it was probably an acceptable use of the word.

I can't speak to the text of the PSA though, I got lost in the Wiki rabbit hole trying to figure that out.