Weren’t idiot, moron and imbecile medical terms specifically used by white scientists to describe black people back in the good old eugenics days of the 1920’s America? Language changes sure but it often has very racist roots.
Moron is a term once used in psychology and psychiatry to denote mild intellectual disability.[1] The term was closely tied with the American eugenics movement.[2] Once the term became popularized, it fell out of use by the psychological community, as it was used more commonly as an insult than as a psychological term. It is similar to imbecile and idiot.[3]
Once the term became popularized, it fell out of use by the psychological community, as it was used more commonly as an insult than as a psychological term.
Any term for something that is likely to be a target of scorn or mockery has this problem unless it’s so bloodless, detached and clinical that it is effectively only usable as medical jargon and barely has any meaning outside that context. George Carlin once did a bit on this.
Related is how therapy language seems to increasingly be seeping into literally everything.
All good points. It only stuck with me when I heard it because I personally loved the term moron (it’s fun to say and can be really cutting). But I’m also well aware that loads of the words me and my friends used growing up are now (rightly) frowned upon.
Yes, but that’s very different from claiming that the people who came up with terms like “moron”, “idiot” and “imbecile” as a way to describe people with intellectual disabilities were necessarily racist.
Weren’t idiot, moron and imbecile medical terms specifically used by white scientists to describe black people back in the good old eugenics days of the 1920’s America? Language changes sure but it often has very racist roots.
I’ve never heard anything about it having a racial component.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moron_(psychology)?wprov=sfla1
Moron is a term once used in psychology and psychiatry to denote mild intellectual disability.[1] The term was closely tied with the American eugenics movement.[2] Once the term became popularized, it fell out of use by the psychological community, as it was used more commonly as an insult than as a psychological term. It is similar to imbecile and idiot.[3]
Any term for something that is likely to be a target of scorn or mockery has this problem unless it’s so bloodless, detached and clinical that it is effectively only usable as medical jargon and barely has any meaning outside that context. George Carlin once did a bit on this.
Related is how therapy language seems to increasingly be seeping into literally everything.
All good points. It only stuck with me when I heard it because I personally loved the term moron (it’s fun to say and can be really cutting). But I’m also well aware that loads of the words me and my friends used growing up are now (rightly) frowned upon.
Eugenics was related to racism, but it wasn’t the same thing as racism.
The intellectual ability / disability axis of eugenics was completely different from its skin colour axis.
I’m sure there was quite a bit of crossover between the eugenics people and racists.
Yes, but that’s very different from claiming that the people who came up with terms like “moron”, “idiot” and “imbecile” as a way to describe people with intellectual disabilities were necessarily racist.