There Will Be No Spazzing For Beyonce
Who is fat? Is it someone over 150 pounds, 200 pounds, 300 pounds and who decided what defines fat. Who is ugly? Is it me or you or your brother or sister? Who is dumb? Maybe it’s your neighbor but there are people dumber than him. Maybe it’s the guy who pushes the carts in the ShopRite parking lot? For all you known that guy goes home at night and composes beautiful music.
And why do people, me included, toss around these aspersions, apparently unconcerned with the emotional damage that the slurs reap? Why do people seem to believe that those who are different do not laugh, or cry, or feel pain, or have hopes, or feel the cutting slurs? Perhaps, people use stigmas to make themselves seem more able, more important. Words about differences minimize the people who are targeted, turning them into one dimensional “stutterers” and not people who stutter or “epileptics” and not a person with epilepsy or “people with substance abuse disorders” and not substance abusers.
The timeless, shameful habit of ridiculing people for their differences, known as abelism, was back in the news with Beyonce’s newest album which had one lyric that generated outrage. The song in question is “Heated,” written by Canadian rapper Drake and Beyoncé, one of the world’s best-selling recording artists, having sold over 120 million records worldwide. The line considered offensive goes, “Spazzin’ on that a — , spazz on that a — .”
Spazzing is a slur that refers to spasticity, which is defined as an “abnormal muscle tightness due to prolonged muscle contraction,” according to John Hopkins Medicine. The symptom associated with damage to the brain most commonly affects leg muscles but can affect any, which can cause pain, disfigurement and disability. But in the politically incorrect vernacular, a spazz is someone “who can be very over-dramatic, moody, weird, quirky, flamboyant, annoying, suggestive, passionate, passive-aggressive, and/or socially retarded (awkward),” according to the Urban Dictionary.
Beyonce apologized and eliminated the questionable words from the song. Entertainers like Beyonce generally get a lot more slack from public shaming but not always.
When Susan Boyle, who is considered overweight and frumpy by many, stepped onto the audition stage for “UK’s Got Talent,” judges and audience members raised their eyebrows, winced, made muffled laughter and rolled their eyes. Then Boyle dazzled them all with sang a song from her 2009 debut album “I Dreamed A Dream” which holds the record for being the UK’s best-selling debut album of all time.
Closer to home, I work with a population of people who often look different, either they can’t make eye contact because they are on the autism spectrum, or they can’t walk or use their hands and have to be fed because they were born with cerebral palsy or they don’t talk because they can’t and generally, they are expected to be of low intelligence. I love them because they battle against the odds and because invariably they are interesting, witty, bright and generally nice.
Unintentional abelism sneaks into our vocabulary until someone like Beyonce is criticized. People are labeled as stupid, dumb, crazy, nuts, psycho and lame. The slurs generally go unnoticed and unchallenged. Who hasn’t referred to “the blind leading the blind” when explaining someone doesn’t know what he or she is doing. It’s a harmless expression except for inferring that blind people can’t be in charge or take on leadership roles.
Dumb is a word to describe someone who isn’t intelligent, but the word “dumb” refers to a person who is unable to communicate verbally. We say “lame” to mean boring or dull, but “lame” actually refers to the lower body parts that don’t function properly for walking, like the person with cerebral palsy.
Retard was popular slur when I was a kid, referring to someone who wasn’t smart or particularly skilled. Mental retardation is now referred to as generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significantly impaired intellectual and adaptive functioning. It is defined by an IQ under 70, in addition to deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors that affect everyday, general living. Intellectual functions are defined under DSM-V as reasoning, problem‑solving, planning, abstract thinking, judgment, academic learning, and learning from instruction and experience, and practical understanding confirmed by both clinical assessment and standardized tests. Retard? Hardly.
How about that old reliable slur, moron. The offensive term refers to a person having an intelligence quotient of 50 to 69.
The outdated, derogatory expression, Mongoloid idiot, describes a person with the often misunderstood condition of Down syndrome, a genetic disorder caused when abnormal cell division results in an extra full or partial copy of chromosome 21. The extra genetic material causes the developmental changes and physical features of Down syndrome.
The Mayo Clinic reports that Down syndrome varies in severity among individuals, causing lifelong intellectual disabilities and developmental delays. It’s the most common genetic chromosomal disorder and cause of learning disabilities in children and it commonly causes other medical abnormalities, including heart and gastrointestinal disorders.
“Better understanding of Down syndrome and early interventions can greatly increase the quality of life for children and adults with this disorder and help them live fulfilling lives,” the Mayor Clinic reports.
There are probably more slurs to refer to African Americans than any cultural or racial group with Jews coming a close second and closing the gap. Blacks are known as “Buck Nigger;” “Africoon Blacks,” a combination of African and Coon; “Banjo Lips” referring to Blacks with large lips; “Jungle Bunnies;” and dozens of other pejoratives all cooked up to promote and sustain the white racists majority.
Discriminating against people who are considered physically attractive is called “lookism.” Who isn’t guilty of being drawn to people we deem physically attractive and turn away from those not considered so visually pleasing? Victims of lookism have received less attention than racism or sexism and there are typically no legal protections for those who are ridiculed.
There have been notable exceptions throughout history of people who looked or acted very different, but attained great heights, like the astrophysisicst Stephen Hawking, who suffered from Loug Gehrig’s Disease and the artist, Michelangelo who had epilepsy. But they are not the rule. Invariably, people who look different are isolated to the fringes or worse.
Studies on newborns have found that human infants as young as 14 hours from birth prefer to look at attractive faces rather than unattractive faces. Research found that American women exhibit a preference for dating taller men or shorter men if they have a lot of money. Studies also have shown that in men, physical attractiveness is the most valued quality in women. People are bigoted about the dogs and cats they pick, as pet lovers often choose lighter-colored animals
There were even common “ugly laws” around the world. Between 1867 and 1974, various cities of the U.S. passed laws to control unsightly beggars also dubbed ugly laws. The 1867 ugly law in San Francisco, deemed it illegal for “any person, who is diseased, maimed, mutilated or deformed in any way, so as to be an unsightly or disgusting object, to expose himself or herself to public view.” The last ugly laws were repealed in 1974 in Omaha, Neb.
Of course, ugly laws did not apply to performers or entertainers, often the subjects of the once, ubiquitous freak shows, who made money for the circus owners. They were physically unusual humans, with uncommonly large or small arms or legs; those with intersex variations; those with extraordinary diseases and conditions; and others with performances expected to be shocking to viewers.
The freaks were people who appeared non-white or who had a disability and were advertised as being undiscovered humans. For example, there were the “missing links,” a person with microcephaly, a condition linked to intellectual disabilities and characterized by a very small, pointed head and small overall structure. Armless, legless, or limbless people were shown as exotic animal-people, like “The Snake-Man”, and “The Seal Man.”
A famous early modern example was the exhibition at the court of King Charles I of Lazarus and Joannes Baptista Colloredo, two conjoined brothers born in Genoa, Italy. In the 18th century, Matthias Buchinger, born without arms or lower legs, entertained crowds with astonishing displays of magic and musical ability, both in England and later, Ireland.