I agree with Hornsby's assertion that slurs end up meaningless and have difficulties fitting in to theories of truth. I can definitely see where a speaker's desire not to align themselves with the connotations of a word would deny the use of the word entirely, as it seems to color everything near it. Also, due to the hidden emotional subtext it is difficult to actually evaluate the accuracy of a slur when there is a neutral counterpart that better serves the conversation.
I disagree with an assertion Hornsby lays out about removing the negative connotations of words by using them. I think Hornsby herself disagreed with this assertion, saying that those who are 'taking the words back' (to use modern phrasing) are doing so explicitly and it could not happen if they didn't consciously disavow the negative meaning of the words while using them. This is complicated in the last few years with some groups trying to take back words without being so explicit in their disavowing, while still using the words.
Question 1: Is the use of slurs really an ethical question, in that we don't want to spread around these particular emotional connotations and give them more strength?
Question 2: Where do slurs fit in the scheme of implication? Are they general?
Yeah It's hard for me to believe that slurs are an ethical question, in that I don't see how you can avoid them in some capacity as all ideologies have derogatory words to some extent. It seems that slurs of 2116 are invisible to us right now, e.g., just as the n- word was tolerable and invisible, i.e., wasn't considered offensive, to users 100-200 years ago. I feel like terms like 'liberal' and 'terrorist' could also be considered slurs or derogatory terms, since they are both used to express disdain often with a corresponding gesture. Similar to how the romans called Christians 'atheists' to show contempt, or likewise, how those Christians called Thomas Jefferson an atheist when he was running for the presidency (funny how terms can change hands like that). You could say its ethical to not 'gesture' inappropriately when using a term, but it seems that eventually that term could become tainted by other people's actions, such as 'Mexican' could become tainted.
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