Well, another cowardly attack...

[lumberjack_jeff]

4. I avoided that thread, but I do try to be consistent.

Slurs are often defended by some variation on this theme "What? You're defending Cheney? After all the stupid shit he's done, calling him retarded/gay/a pussy is an understatement"

They never can seem to get their heads around the issue that this isn't about Cheney.

At risk of understatement, I'm not at all a fan of the mean girls club, or their tactics. But I didn't like the thread in question because it's illustrative of the point in my second paragraph.

One of the things that I appreciate about DU is the fact that after I and others expressed how hurtful "retarded" is when used as a slur, people generally stopped doing it. Therefore, I feel some obligation to reciprocate, even on behalf of people who have called me every sexist slur their limited vocabularies can summon.

Dick Cheney is a cowardly, pigeonhearted, pusillanimous, shrinking, scared, weak, worthless, yellow, fainthearted, diffident, base, cowering, gutless, spineless, timid hypocrite.

If I've offended anyone who actually has had a heart transplant from a pigeon, I'm happy to change my post because there are still plenty of synonyms.

I'm not sympathetic to the idea that a term must be offensive to *everyone* in a community before it should be avoided. And yes, I'd apply the same standard to "dick" and "prick"