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.
GladiusB@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Retardation is a technical term as well. An engine retarder is one that slows the compression to ease the performance. I don’t think it was intended to be malicious, but it ended up that way.
Chocrates@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Yeah for sure. Retard is fine in a lot of instances but using it as an insult to refer to people is the pajorative, and it makes sense that an organization catering to intellectual disabilities would want to distance themselves. Isn’t language fun. I am still realing from the new slang the kids invented.