this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2026
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Objective analysis is possible but limited also, promise I'll get to the point
Is the word PRIMARILY designed to do harm?
Is it INTENDED to do so?
Is the word designed at its INCEPTION to separate a group because they are less then or do harm? Or primarily simply designating a socially constructed separation that wasn't there before and is useful in some new way to the cultural zeitgeist?
And of course, what is its most common use cases in day to day living in the larger world not just the niche one it was formed or used by?
So for example, if I call you a retard, TODAY, its probably meant to hurt and/or make you less then me, not to designate a social construct of separation that was useful or that we needed at a DIFFERENT time (the development of mental health fields and medical diagnosis of intelligence and physical capability)
If we no longer use retarded to designate medical separation of intellect because we didnt yet understand and now only use it for hurting people then it changes its designation from a word that CAN or COULD be used to hurt, to a drastically different word that mostly just used as an insult and as it was created to separate a group as less then and not just witness them as people, effects a marginalized group of people and is considered a bad use or even a slur but we would have to generally accept it as such for it to become designated as a slur
The general person (or layman) still defined its designation and we could always go back (as with all words) its a MASSIVE group made yet totally individual group consensus and its one of the most communal aspects of all human society (its federated you could say haha)
Trigger warning for harsh language used to drive in my good points
CIS, COULD become a slur once the idea it represents becomes so common knowledge that it is no longer a useful term but the separation it represented can still be weaponized (as it sometimes is today but not often enough to constitute its slur designation) But we are decades off that. Were still in the "you hurt my feels by noting a separation I didn't like" cowardly weaponised marginalization by people with weaponized victim complexs competing with the larger group. Ones who leverage language use and the general "feeling" of marginalization to try and establish dominance and to push forward their goals and desires in a society that doesn't in practice, consider them any kind of special authority on social issues as Ive pointed out (even if they think they are for whatever god complex, special individualism bullshit they believe in)
As stated previously, Its complicated, and not for the witless wonders to take bites out of without knowing its above their pay
Thanks for the comment, helped my avenue of thought