No. I've never heard anyone compare the two, but maybe it happens in some bad social justice discourse. Disability-related terms with negative connotations and racial slurs shouldn't be compared to one another. Two things can be shitty for different reasons.

As far as I know, the n-word was deliberately invented solely to be used in one awful context, whereas the word retard has a wide frame of uses and references - although using it to degrade a person is wrong on every level. I think it’s very telling when a person uses these kinds of words. Apart from announcing to the world how much of a total fuckwit they are, it exposes their glaring feelings of inadequacy, and a severe lack of imagination.

N o way these are even comparable - the former started out benign, it was common to say that someone was mentally retarded until it started to be used in an insulting tone. The latter has only ever had one popular use, as a derogatory term for black people, to me it's more insulting to compare these two words than it is to use the n-word TBH

I’m cringing just by reading this question.

it should be but it is not

[09-17-19]

Not at the moment.

The n-word is usually treated as worse than everything (unless you're of an appropriate African American lineage). But offense is a national sport, lower point values can be assessed for other slurs. Words and their point values are dynamic. Though currently the most values go up.

It's the intentions and context that matters in language. Even benign words can have venom behind them.

I say neither because 1) I'm not black enough to be dropping any variation of the N-word and 2) I'm not in high school

Not everyone will agree, but I'm in the camp of George Carlin's idea that words only have as much meaning as we place on them. And context, more than anything matters.

I've noticed that people who don't like the word retard are the same people who have no problem with the words idiot and stupid, which have the same origins.

These people are stupid idiotic retards.

No, retard isn't even close. The only word that comes close to the word nigger might be the word cunt. But even that I think isn't in the same league.

The language of insults and aggressiveness live on and strive..there are some more words like it.

"Nigger" depends totally on the context. It is not racist at all if (mostly) black people calling others ( not only blacks ) that, because they don't mean it in a racist way. This is not so much possible for "retard". There are words in english that are much worse. Most people feel nothing but hate if they use the word "pedophile" although that one isn't automatically a child molester, still, they seem not to see the difference.