11th Grade WR 121 Compare and Contrast Essay

Retardation versus Stupidity

In today’s high school culture and setting, the terms “retard” and “stupid” are lobbed interchangeably at many students who don’t comprehend a certain concept or subject that which they are being asked about or taught. In countless cases, these terms are used similarly, and wrongly. It is ironic how people wishing to insult someone’s intelligence use the wrong term, for this only shows that the recipient of the verbal stigmatism is not the only one lacking certain key facts of knowledge.

A common misconception is that retarded and stupid mean the same exact thing. Retardation and stupidity both deal with the working of the mind. Both, when used by an immature person, are seen as verbal abuse. Just because they are both insults on someone’s insight does not mean that they are synonyms. The ignorance of people and their improper usage causes embarrassment and gives a bad connotation to the term “retard”. To call someone stupid is a clear insult, and because of the wide and incorrect usage, so too is being called retarded. These are both common and unimaginative insults, since anyone with an imagination would think of something more descriptive and less generic.

While the term “retard” is thrown around as a common insult to any individual who just doesn’t seem to understand something, to be retarded is to be the victim of a medical disorder that affects the regular growth and development of the brain. Mental retardation accompanies several genetic disorders such as Angelman syndrome, Down syndrome and Prader-Willi syndrome, though each of these has varying degrees of retardation.

Stupidity, on the other hand, is a lack of self-motivation to better one’s own knowledge. Stupidity is laziness. As said by Ed Uecker, “Wisdom is skin-deep, but stupidity goes all the way down to the bone.” Stupidity is a habit, and is not a medical condition, but a lack of intelligence due to one’s own decisions and stubbornness to not absorb and retain information since it is not deemed worthy of being known. To be stupid is to act in an unreasonable manner devoid of common sense.

Retarded people have communication problems as a result of their stunted brain growth. Though they may have a surprisingly extensive vocabulary and understanding of concepts, they are incapable of expressing what they mean, understand and feel, such as individuals with Angelman syndrome. Retardation is a feeling of frustration and the lack of ability to express what you desire. Retarded people cannot communicate as an average person can. These people struggle with trying and striving to put to words and gestures what it is that they want. Stupid people, on the other hand, can voluntarily choose to communicate and express the fact that they do not discern something; they can choose to desire to learn, just as they originally chose to live simply to add carbon dioxide and other pollutants to the earth’s atmosphere. Stupidity is a feeling of apathy. People who are “stupid” do not want to strive or have to work for anything; they have settled into a numb feeling and wish to be isolated from anything that requires effort or causes any kind of stimulation.

Mental retardation comes with a whole set of other problems. People with mental retardation are plagued not only by their brain malfunctions but also by other forms of cruel and unusual punishment that accompany their particular disorder. For instance, with Down syndrome, individuals often have heart problems, numerous respiratory infections and are prone to leukemia as well as Alzheimer’s. With Angelman syndrome, the mental retardation is accompanied by motor movement difficulties, and Prader-Willi syndrome includes obesity, stature problems and unusually small hands and feet.

Stupid people are stupid by their own choice, but this could be a side effect of depression or abuse. People rarely randomly decide to not care about themselves, their education and the future; usually there is a significant experience that changes their outlook on life and their drive, or lack of, to improve themselves. For them, feelings are associated with pain and shock; they would much prefer to remain in their numbness.

The sad thing is that most of the time when these terms are used, the person being branded by them is usually just not understanding something. Sometimes concepts are complicated and students in high school can’t be expected to understand everything. Minors can get confused very easily, and it’s not as though people are expected to always understand everything one hundred percent of the time. People will be people, and, as said in the Sarah Conner Chronicles, “it’s the flaws, those little mistakes and imperfections, that keep us human.” We shouldn’t wait for perfection. These terms are taken way out of context and given new, derogatory meanings, made precisely for hurting people. These terms shouldn’t be used to hurt. Stupidity is apathy, numbness; retardation is a frustrating effect of a medical disorder. One is a word once used as a synonym for the feeling of being numb; the other was simply medical jargon, a word not used or heard of in everyday language.

What is the difference between stupidity and retardation? Both are words that should not be used the way they are. Both have entirely different meanings now than they used to have, and both seem only to hurt and never help. The difference is the way in which they are used; the difference is in how we use them, to either hurt, or define.