I think that last sentence is a needless insult to innocent microcephalic people everywhere. (I am being only slightly sarcastic…)

There is a big difference between someone born with diminished mental capacity and someone who does “bad reporting” because he is either (a) an idealogue, (b)does not care to “sweat the details,” (c) has inflated or falsified his credentials, or (d) was hired for some reason other than his competence (e.g., to get good ratings; to fill an affirmative action quota.)

My experience with mentally disabled people is that very few of them have the kind of evil intentions we find so often in media people and politicians.

NOT that I am advocating a Forrest Gump, or a character like Jerzy Kozinski’s Chance (“Being There”) for high office…

But I do think everyone in the political discourse has become too glib about throwing around characterizations such as idiot, moron, pinhead, retard. The problem being that kind of name-calling lets a person off the hook morally for being a fraud, or for having evil intentions.

BTW, it’s “worst,” not “worse.”

You are talking about the superlative, not merely the comparative.

Olbermann was away recently and Rachel Maddow filled in for him. While she has the same politics as Olbermann she is a pleasure to watch because, unlike Olbermann, she is not a hate filled person. Olbermann is seriously disturbed and when he’s hosting Countdown it’s one hour of pure hatred every night. That’s why I find his show to be unwatchable. When he “left” ESPN a few years back someone there was asked if Olbermann burned any bridges. The reply was, (paraphrased) “He didn’t burn bridges, he napalmed them”.

Blogger 1947: I wouldn’‘t characterize pinhead, moron, or idiot as being in the same league as “retard”. You don’t see Olbermann getting into arguements with his guests because he almost always brings on left wingers like himself. It’s more like a mutual admiration society of left wingers. At least O’Reilly allows other opinions on his show.

The best thing MSNBC can do for their ratings is to dump Olbermann now, and if they want the same left wing stuff to be told on Countdown give the job to Maddow, or even Amy Goodman. Olbermann is a one man wrecking crew and his hate filled rants is what has MSNBC in the ratings cellar. He sets the tone for the entire prime time lineup.

Right on, Mike. That’s why I don’t ever watch KO’s program either.  He is just too hateful to watch.  He may need therapy.

I think they are keeping Olbermann on the air, hoping he will have a fatal stroke on-camera.

Mike, you and I will have to agree-to-disagree about name calling. The words idiot, moron, and imbecile all used to be considered legitimate medical/psychiatric terminology. “Pinhead” is a slang term for someone who is microcephalic. And “RE-tard” is just plain mean.

Let me simplify by saying that I have been called all those names, and other worse ones. Much of this happened during my public school years, and had it not been for my two parents who were constantly reinforcing me by reminding me the name-callers were just nasty people that I should not worry over, I could have become the 1950s version of Dylan Kleybold.

So I am a little more tetchy than most people about this stuff.

Moreover, I think that if you disapprove of someone strongly enough, you ought to be able to articulate exactly what it is that you disapprove, not just throw a one-word label at them. It’s weak thinking, and when you resort to that sort of thing, your argument is too easily dismissed.

That said, I think K.O. is execrable. He has surpassed Howard Cosell as “the man people love to hate,” and I believe he has taken on that mantle on purpose, not only for the money but to satisfy some perverse need for attention.

Keith Olbermann: the overdue New York State Tax Warrant, Chinese American Trading Company the buyers of his real estate, the corporation

Keith Olbermann: the address from 2001 of his, the parents of Katy Tur and the civil actions

http://webofdeception.com/#Olbermann

well, put in a larger perspective, sentient people must admit that frequently Olbermann is quite good. His takedown of potential war criminal Rumsfeld was reminiscent of Murrow at his best.

that said, he does seem intent on jumping the shark…

I just hope NBC is not that crazy enough to send Olbermann to their Olympic coverage in Beijing next month. Having him on NBC’s NFL pregame is bad enough which I why do not watch “Sunday Night Football” (memo to NBC: Please do not bring back Pink or Faith Hill for your singing introduction.).

Also, no one has given an adequate explanation why Olbermann left FOX Sports Net. There are several employees who used to work with him on ESPN, most notably Dave Despain and Bob Varsha. I wonder why Olbermann has not named them or anyone employeed at FSN his “Worst Person of the World”. If he did that to Troy Aikmann or Darrell Waltrip, I know both would deck his butt like I would like to.

Olberman IS a problem; I find watching him a cross between the masochistic and sadistic (which is common man parlance, not to be compared with anything you’ll find in the DSL).

As to the words referenced by Blogger1947, English is not alone here. Each of the 5 languages I know has words like these. Stigmatizing them or placing them under taboo may keep them out of the written and perhaps spoken variants of the given language. But the metaphoric (not literal) concepts the objectionable words represent will still exist in the given languages. New words—euphemisms or circumlocutions—will be invented for those concepts. Of course, as the communities where a language is spoken change, it’s almost a given that the concept and the words for it will become archaic, then obsolete, and finally disappear.

If we now see whites excoriated, shunned, or fired for use of the N- word and its use confined for the most part to certain social groups among Blacks, the time will come when no Blacks will use the word.

I agree, it’s hard when you are the object of such metaphoric or literal verbal abuse. Fortunately, one of the words that used to be used about Jews has almost totally disappeared from American English. Ask anyone under 40, and I’ll bet they don’t even know the word. Older people remember it, but I haven’t heard it since childhood.

Olbermann, in a serious departure from the tack of most talking heads, tells the truth. This seems to rub people the wrong way. My, my. People like him are the reason for the existence of the media in the first place; to hold peoples’ feet to the fire and to inform.

Gee Argus, thanks for filling us in on your linguistic stats.

Your speculation regarding the common word used to offend blacks is patently false. Whites ARE (rightly so) excoriated etc for the use of that word. Blacks will NOT stop using it if whites stop using it. It’s a different word to them. Apples and oranges…

Your notion that since YOU don’t hear a certain word anymore is indication that it has fallen out of favor suggests delusions of grandeur. Sadly, anti-Semitism has not waned, regardless of the alleged decrease in the use of a word to belittle or denigrate the Jews.

Argus, had you read as far as the penultimate parragraph of my #5, you would have read:

“I think that if you disapprove of someone strongly enough, you ought to be able to articulate exactly what it is that you disapprove, not just throw a one-word label at them. It’s weak thinking, and when you resort to that sort of thing, your argument is too easily dismissed.”

I did not, and would never, suggest declaring any word verboten.

My point is that too often what passes for criticism is “[Person under discussion] is a[n] [insult of choice].”

That kind of statement communicates nothing, other than the speaker’s dissatisfaction. It allows no basis for counter-argument, and communicates nothing as to what the speaker/writer finds unsatisfactory.

Such a statement wastes others’ time, and serves no purpose, beyond making the speaker/writer feel “better.”

NBC & MSNBC have jumped off the ratings bridge !

Olbermann might improve if Maddow would give him some of her testosterone.

Like a horse, they keep running back into the burning barn throwing more gasoline on NBC sports
“saddled” with Olbermann’s immitation of a skunk at a garden party.

The competing Media can only pray that NBC MSNBC programming brass continue this self destruction.

Rod