Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.
Society is becoming degenerative due in part by its sensitivities to words or expressions. It is not to say that it should be socially acceptable to say negative words carelessly about, but I think some of the sensitivity towards the words should be reduced.
To be offended by one's word choices, especially when not used within a context specifically directed at and intended to hurt people, is asinine. Remove the feeling from the word itself and add it instead to a specific context with which the word is used.
Too many people are having to be ever vigilant against what they say for fear of offending someone. This fear leads to anxiety. This anxiety leads to anger. This anger, you guessed it, leads to the dark side and the continued use of words in a hurtful manner. When one word becomes taboo, another is made to be hurtful. Thus grows exponentially, the language taboo lexicon.
NOTE: I do not mean to offend anyone or take away from anyone's personal pain. I myself have been bullied most of pre-adult life. I have been called retarded ( that one hurts the most) among other names. I am an English-speaking Canadian that grew up in Quebec, a primarily French-speaking population. I was chased around, beat up, had guns in my face, etc etc only because I was an English-speaking person. I went to the largest English-speaking high school in Quebec, where I was then bullied by English-speaking people too. I know the pain of being called names and such. NOTE2: It has taken many years and much contemplation of humility to begin to remove the stigma that all French people are bad. Only bad people are bad. And even those, society created them.
I pose this question to you... if violence begets violence, anger begets anger, and hate begets hate, where does the cycle stop?
Be not hateful towards the word itself, but hateful when inappropriately and intentionally used to hurt another. Else one day we will have no words left to say.
Society is becoming degenerative due in part by its sensitivities to words or expressions. It is not to say that it should be socially acceptable to say negative words carelessly about, but I think some of the sensitivity towards the words should be reduced.
To be offended by one's word choices, especially when not used within a context specifically directed at and intended to hurt people, is asinine. Remove the feeling from the word itself and add it instead to a specific context with which the word is used.
Too many people are having to be ever vigilant against what they say for fear of offending someone. This fear leads to anxiety. This anxiety leads to anger. This anger, you guessed it, leads to the dark side and the continued use of words in a hurtful manner. When one word becomes taboo, another is made to be hurtful. Thus grows exponentially, the language taboo lexicon.
NOTE: I do not mean to offend anyone or take away from anyone's personal pain. I myself have been bullied most of pre-adult life. I have been called retarded ( that one hurts the most) among other names. I am an English-speaking Canadian that grew up in Quebec, a primarily French-speaking population. I was chased around, beat up, had guns in my face, etc etc only because I was an English-speaking person. I went to the largest English-speaking high school in Quebec, where I was then bullied by English-speaking people too. I know the pain of being called names and such. NOTE2: It has taken many years and much contemplation of humility to begin to remove the stigma that all French people are bad. Only bad people are bad. And even those, society created them.
I pose this question to you... if violence begets violence, anger begets anger, and hate begets hate, where does the cycle stop?
Be not hateful towards the word itself, but hateful when inappropriately and intentionally used to hurt another. Else one day we will have no words left to say.
Last edited:
