I saw that a few days. Antartica? Wow....

I love that piece of music and I don’t care where Matt is but, that was well done.

I was going to say; “Wow” but VR beat me to it.  That is beautiful.  I hope geography teachers show it to their classes.

I love it.

I hope geography teachers show it to their classes.

Knowing most kids they’d be more worried about him dancing like a retard and not give two shits about where the hell he is.

Oh, and the monk guys in the orange robes were cool. For some reason I just expected them to start in and I was a bit disappointed when they didn’t. :(

Knowing most kids they’d be more worried about him dancing like a retard and not give two shits about where the hell he is.

Very good point.  If I were the teacher, I’d introduce it this way: “I’m going to show you a film of a guy dancing like a retard all over the world.  You get extra points toward a grade if you can name the continent or continents he missed.”

Then I’d get fired for being insensitive to the developmentally disabled…

Then I’d get fired for being insensitive to the developmentally disabled…

Thanks for pointing that out.  My girlfriend, that is in a Special Education program at the university we both attend, and I are on a mission to get people away from using the word “retard”.  I don’t mean to go on a rant, but it is insanely insensitive and most people do not even know what a “retard” is.  Anyone want to take a shot at it?

BTW… the movie was awesome.  I would definitely show it to my students if I were a geography teacher.

I was making a cynical joke.  I have no problem with the word ‘retard’ and (as you know) believe that ‘sensitivity’ is a vice posing as a virtue.

Since ‘retard’ is not, and never has been, a technical term for the developmentally disabled, I am in favor of redefining it to refer to “people with no excuse for being as stupid as they are”.  In the context of humor, this might apply to someone who dances, well, like me.

Using polysyllabic words to denote handicaps, and tiptoing around people’s differences while eschewing humor, guarantees an unending stream of euphemisms that are discarded as people realize that they mean the same thing as the old, offensive word.

I figured as much DOF, but still I would be interested if anyone actually knew what the word means, without looking it up.  No CHEATING

OK, it’s been about 28 years since my last psych class, so this is probably both out-of-date and eroded memory of something imperfectly learned in the first place, but here goes:

“Retarded” and “Mental retardation” at one time was one of a set of technical terms that referred to different levels of developmental impairment in children and adults.  Go back far enough in history and the set included “moron”, “idiot” and “imbecile”.  I don’t remember the age-functionality relations.

Referring to someone as a ‘retard’ was never correct technical usage.  It is equivalent to referring to a hospital patient as ‘the liver in room 234”.

DoF: “Retarded� and “Mental retardation� at one time was one of a set of technical terms that referred to different levels of developmental impairment in children and adults.

And that’s the way I remember it before Political Correctness reared its ugly head.
Retard was never quite a word unless it was to do with mechanics and retarding the points or timing or something like that - I know zilch about mechanics.
In later years retard usually referred to a person like Matt - seemingly developmentally UNchallenged but dancing like the other.
But, the little bloke I work with who IS mentally challenged doesn’t like being called a retard; he’s fully aware it’s an insult, like being called a fuckwit, but has no idea what it is/was supposed to mean.
Ha-ha - I think I’m sounding like one.

He probably doesn’t have the mental capacity to understand it’s meaning.  And if he does truly understand why it is offensive, then he certainly a high level of functioning.

Go to the website and watch his earlier video. There is more background noise of the people laughing around him. I actually found it kind of neat to see an American traveling the world, third class, and taking it all in. As his web site says, “Americans need to travel more.”

The music is by Deep Forest and called “Sweet Lullaby”. It is based on a recording of a women on an island north of Australia singing a song older than she.

Webs: he certainly has a high level of functioning.

He does ... and Jim & I are constantly amazed.
He was telling us that over the weekend he said hello to one of Jim’s wife’s employees. Craig, his ‘mate’, who’s not on a disability pension, asked: Who’s that? and Jason, as quick an adlolescent fuck said: She’s my ex-girlfriend.
Jim and I cracked up loudly - partially coz it was a fucking good come back and partially coz it was ... a fucking good comeback from anyone.
It just bore out that 4 years ago I said to Jim that we’d learn as much from Jason as he learnt from us. It’s the little things we’ve learnt.
No, he’s not Einstein, Mozart or Bobby Fisher but ... sometimes when we’re all 3 on the same wave length we laugh WITH him about something he’s done or said - it builds him up (something we consciously try to do as often as we can… but happens rarely) and it brings us back to ... whatever the fuck it brings us back to.
Don’t get me wrong - neither Jim nor I are saints - we push him and tell him what we think without trying to, consciouly, bring him down.
Ha-ha. A coupla weeks ago Jim said I could take Jason to see the snow at Oberon (there wasn’t any as it turned out) or spend some time with Doug, our other mate, who was pissed (drunk).
I took Jason to see the snow, which wasn’t there, as I don’t (can’t/won’t) cope with drunks too well.

I found an interesting comment about Matt here.