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by snackbugs 2773 days ago
I don't know how to ask this without it seeming dismissive, but how much more difficult is it to live your normal life by someone's use of this word?
1 comments

You are asking why sticks and stones break bones, but why should words hurt?
You might already understand this point, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

Because we're social animals and most people don't have the ability to simply ignore harsh/insulting/whatever words directed at us.

It may well be possible to develop the ability to ignore such words, but if it is, that's an ability that would take a fair bit of time to develop, so is out of the reach of most people right at the present moment.

I'm asking because when someone says they are offended by someone else's words, it's because the use of that word makes their daily normal life more difficult to live in a direct material sense. That's the measure being defined when someone says "I'm offended". It's a matter of material conditions.

Slurs are used by people who have structural power in society, directed at those who do not. It's punching down, not punching across or up. That's what is meant by taking offense to someone's words.

Forgive me If I question whether or not a man, which is quite a privileged identity, is truly being punched down upon from someone more powerful by the word "creepshot".