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this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2023
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Kinda like calling someone cracker, but when you're Jewish.
It can depend on how you mean it.
Not exactly though. Goyim isn't usually considered a slur because most Jews don't hate non-Jewish people. A word becomes a slur when it is primarily used to convey hatred, and this word isn't. Much like how "cis" is not a slur. People who hate Jews and people who hate trans folks call these words slurs because they want to feel like victims, but it's the usage of the word that matters.
So whats your stance on Retard? Which for 30 years now has NOT been used in reference to people with developmental or learning disabilities, but gets treated like a slur because it used to be a medical term for it. Most Millennial or younger people are using the word to describe someone acting stupidly within their cognitive ability to avoid such stupidity, not a relation to a person with a disability. This isnt a gotcha or sarcastic question, its genuine since I feel this falls someowhere in the middle of what you are talking about
r***** is a slur. Have you ever said it in a positive or neutral way? You say it primarily in a negative way. People with disabilities will also understand it that way, no matter what your context.
Slurs can become slurs through lots of routes, but if people primarily use it in a certain way; and if most people understand the meaning and the hatred behind it; so do the people it's referring to. When you use a slur you lose control of the meaning. The group of people your word refers to will feel a certain way about it, and you can't control that. Which is why you should stop using it, and why a word is considered a slur.
It's an insult, that's the whole point of the word... Have you ever used "motherfucker" or "bootlicker" in a positive or neutral way?
Steve Martin once called Tom Hanks a motherfucker in a totally positive way.
This is a fantastic description of what makes something a slur that I think most people will get. It helps to emphasize the loss of control. It makes why something said without malice can still be malicious.
Fair enough! Thank you for your response!
Actually, when that word was first invented and used, it was used more in a medical way, and not in a way that was derogatory.
Society mutated its meaning into a derogatory term later on, and when that happened the medical industry changed to use other phrasing like "mentally ill", etc.
This is how ALL words work, though. That word isn't special at all in that regard. Most slurs are initially used innocently and then acquire a negative meaning based on who uses them and how they are generally perceived to be used over time.
And now people use "mentally ill" (derogatory) instead of retard. When will that become a slur?
I'm not who you asked, but the US government was still removing the use of "mental retardation" from its documents as late as 2013. Maybe even longer.
And the UN General Assembly's Declaration on the Rights of Mentally Retarded Persons is still active international law, without updating the language.
There was a big campaign to not use it in medical / education professional settings 30 years ago because it was also being used as a slur, but that doesn't mean the continued use of it as a slur is disconnected from its history or original meaning.
Kind of proved my point.
Trans isn't a slur, except for the people who use it as one, and think that means cis must be a slur as well.