Its just words
A world, where a baby came shackled to the world and grew old trying to break it. That's when these words were conceived.
Before electricity, the world had only words. However simple they were on paper, these words are known to be very harmless. People who lean on freedom of speech asked, " How can these words cause any distress in a person, if they can't get physically hurt by it?" In a way, it does make sense, the last thing in the world people should be worried about are words. But the first thing people worry about when they open their eyes are words. People in general go out of their way to look for a place of comfort, solace. These places are always different, but they do provide comfort to the human soul through the arrangement of complimentary words.
Words that tell people that they are fine, beautiful, amazing, the goal is to establish self confidence. People often rely on others to have comfort in their body, mind. In short, the words do carry meaning, they carry a lot of things. Amongst them is hate.
You don't have to look further to find derogatory words for marginalized groups of people. The words here cause an immense amount of pain and discomfort to the people who lived through it. But the value of those words, however cruel they were in the past, now seem to have turned the other cheek. As now people use these words to spread a sense of comradery. Which is quite amazing, as people found a way to use the word for weakness as strength of unity.
The hunting past
The word doesn't carry any harm, and people should freely say it without any fear. But any sensible person who understands the hate behind the derogatory word and how it was used to demean a large group of people for centuries, would never think about using it.
Seeing the derogatory words through hilarity makes sense, as people who suffered from the word have to find some sort of amusement to lessen the damage of the word, and the imprint it has on the world. But seeing it used through the mouth of the oppressor, feels wrong.
The word is innocent, as it was created out of thin air like every other thing in the world but the derogatory, racist words were crafted with a particular vision in mind. The vision was to spread inequality in the world. Flip the pages of history you will find countless examples of horrific events that happened after the derogatory words used. Anything following the word will never end with a happy ending.
Devalue the weight of the word
Millions of people lost their dignity, inner self, physical body, soul, family and more after the oppressor used the word for one last time. It is very awful to use the word to show comradery to a group of people who you have no connection to. As the people who have used and are still using the word are lessening the pain behind the word.
Making the word known helped but it definitely diminished the weight of the word and the scar it left in the hearts of people who had to endure the pain for decades. When people use hate-filled words, it is seen as an act of comradery. As people don't want to associate the past to the word, which can be seen as a way of moving forward but in other sense it negates the true meaning behind the word.
As history flips a new page, the changes done to the meaning of the word creates a giant hole in the world. As people now associate the derogatory word with something good, which is a perfect way to eradicate history behind the word and what one group of people has done to another.
The future of word
By eradicating the history behind a word might not erase the viciousness of the past but it will make the reminder of the cruelty less visible on the surface. While the phase moving on does suggest moving from the past , removing every symbol of the days gone by will make the severity of oppression forgotten in the eyes of the majority.
The derogatory word always has been a reminder of the cruelty of one group of people inflicted on another. It always going to represent the authority the oppressor had over the fringe minority. It also conveys the all the murder, brutal beatings, killings, sexual assault happened for or under the derogatory word. The words always going to signify the living of certain group of people in a choice less world.
The people who came up with those words had choice unlike the babies conceived under the name of slavery. The eyes can only see but my mind.camt even imagine those flesh had to endure in those dark times on earth. I wonder what the future holds for any of us, but as long as we are aware of the mistakes, peace will prevail.
