As long as you get offended over the use of the word, you are giving that word power. Do what the LGBTQ community did and defang words like "f*g" and "qu##r"

[–] flicker@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

I don't have the ability to explain to the mentally disabled why, when someone says a word that they associate with themselves in a mean way, that they shouldn't be hurt.

I have a woman in her late 60s who will tell anyone who listens about the time some kids called her "handicapped." And she'll cry over it. And it happened more than twenty years ago. So instead I have to advocate for the discontinuation of it's use. My hands are kind of tied here.

So I'll keep reminding people, "Please don't be an asshole if you can stop yourself." And for the ones who either choose not to stop themselves, or gleefully continue to be assholes (like a troll, or the entitled prick who insists that since they don't mean it "that way" everyone else should just accept that and understand it) I'll do damage control. But even one less instance of damage control is a blessing.