‘It’s easy to embrace freedom of speech for ideas we accept. The essence of freedom of speech and the press is that we must protect the ideas we hate.” — Harriet Pilpel, lawyer, 1986

Words hurt. Some words can destroy lives.

The release of “Tropic Thunder” Wednesday is a reminder of that fact for the one in 10 American families directly affected by a developmental disability.

The film uses the term “retard” liberally, 17 times by one count. In a line that is bound to be memorable, the character played by Robert Downey Jr. says, “You went full retard, man. Never go full retard.”

This is not a plea for political correctness. It is a demand for basic human decency.

Those most affected speak to the cause perhaps most eloquently:

“I came out of it (the movie) feeling like I had been assaulted,”   David Tolleson, executive director of the National Down Syndrome Congress, told ABC News.

Dustin Plunkett, Special Olympics global messenger, said: “When I heard about it, I felt really hurt inside. I cannot believe a writer could write something like that. … We are people. We’re just like any other people out there. We want to be ourselves and not be discriminated against.”

A coalition of groups representing the developmentally disabled protested to DreamWorks Studios to make changes to the movie, to no avail.

Writer/actor/director/producer Ben Stiller said, “We didn’t mean to offend anybody in any way.”

However, the producers did seek input from other minority groups to avoid causing offense by Downey Jr.’s character, who appears in blackface. The producers  did not accord the same level of respect to those with developmental disabilities.

Denigrating or trivializing the plight of those who are developmentally disabled undermines decades of effort by those working to ensure that all Americans have access to the opportunity to lead  productive lives.

Our state continues to struggle with conditions at the Beatrice State Developmental Center as well as integration and provision of community-based services for those in need.

In addition, Lincoln will be in the spotlight when the Special Olympics National Games come here in 2010. More than 4,000 developmentally disabled athletes, their families and their coaches will throw a focus on our community. The local financial impact of the 2010 Games is expected to be at the level of seven consecutive football game days.

We will be measured by our response to the themes and ideas brought forth in “Tropic Thunder.”

We can perpetuate this denigration by purchasing “Never go full retard” T-shirts, which are now available. Or we can strive to use the controversy surrounding this film to remind each other of the cruelty that language can carry and thus help erase the “r-word” from our lexicon.

It is the hope of the Journal Star Editorial Board that we, as a community, will choose the latter.