Reply #82: I think it is best to avoid using words that may unnecessarily cause offense

[Douglas Carpenter]

There are lots of words that might very well cause offense, that in and of themselves are likely to cause offense and serve little or no useful purpose in making ones point.

For example, some might think referring to African-Americans as "colored" is not pejorative in itself. In the somewhat distant past it was considered a perfectly acceptable way of referring to African-Americans and the word is still used in some parts of the world to describe people with mixed African ancestry. But in the United States the term is generally not appreciated by African-Americans. So therefore, it is only reasonable to stick to terms such as black or African-American and avoid using the word colored for the simple reason that it may very well cause offense and serve no useful purpose.

Another example is the term, Islamo-fascist to describe extremist, fundamentalist Muslims. Some might feel that the term, "Islamo-fascist" describes a particular type of extremist person of Islamic persuasion and is not intended as an attack on all Muslims. Nonetheless, most Muslims do find the phrase offensive - because it tends to be used by Westerners with an agenda that most Muslims find hostile and it can sound in Muslim ears as if one is calling Muslims in general fascist.

So, if the word, "holocaust" causes offense among many Jewish people who may feel that the word minimizes the true horror of THE Holocaust, it is simple enough - not to use it.

Other than that one criticism, I think Representative Alan Grayson has been doing a wonderful service of standing up and fighting back. I really did love his description of the Republicans in Congress as "a bunch of foot-dragging, knuckle-dragging Neanderthals". Who could possibly take offense at that?