How do parents, teachers, and advocates for people with disabilities feel about the movie "Tropic Thunder?"?

[simonlaurel]

I am really bothered by the "retard" jokes. I understand this is supposed to be "satire" and the joke is on the actors. But I feel like this is making bullying and name-calling of innocent people acceptable. "Retard" is and has always been an insult - unlike the term "mentally retarded," which at least has a clinical definition. I am quite sure that people will pick up the catch phrase about not going "full retard," and people with developmental disabilities will be the victims of these "jokes." Aren't some things out of bounds as topics of humor? Is it OK to make fun of people who have been burned or disfigured by accidents? "Never go full ugly deformed revolting freak?" Is it OK to find humor or satire in the kind of tragedy that Ben Stiller's mother, Anne Meara, suffered as a child, when her mother committed suicide? "Never go full pathetic bereaved kid who needs therapy because her lunatic mother offed herself?" Some things, I think, are sick, inappropriate, and unacceptable. How do you all feel about it?
Just curious, Music Man - are you a parent, teacher, or advocate? ( I do get the irony - the character is a pompous a** whose behavior and choices would be offensive to many different groups, hoping for his personal gain through getting an Academy Award for his "groundbreaking" roles. But again, I am asking how people who actually care about someone with developmental disabilities feel about this.)