Personally, I think there’s no real “political correctness”. Something is only offensive if you let it have that affect on you. Otherwise, it’s a bunch of assumed possible offensiveness worrying someone might get their feelings hurt.
Now, that’s not an excuse to be a jerk to people, I’m just saying I feel it’s mostly made up as another means of coerced control.
If words have a history of always being used in a hurtful and discriminatory way, then it’s just awful to use them. That’s also why you don’t use the n word. While it is “just” a word, why would you just use a word that hurts many people and has awful historical usages.
Personally, I think there’s no real “political correctness”. Something is only offensive if you let it have that affect on you. Otherwise, it’s a bunch of assumed possible offensiveness worrying someone might get their feelings hurt.
Now, that’s not an excuse to be a jerk to people, I’m just saying I feel it’s mostly made up as another means of coerced control.
If words have a history of always being used in a hurtful and discriminatory way, then it’s just awful to use them. That’s also why you don’t use the n word. While it is “just” a word, why would you just use a word that hurts many people and has awful historical usages.
Laws have an effect on people whether they want them to or not. Slurs are a reminder.