Using "retard", etc.

[Molly]

[Prezbucky]

They're free to voice their disapproval... but really only the über-PC crowd here will go along with it.

In my opinion, we'd be well served to grow thicker skins -- that is, to not go apeshit every time someone says something we don't like. Deal with it and move on.
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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Prezbucky]

I may have seemed a bit harsh there. The meaning, the impact, the effect of any external stimulus is judged by our perception, our cognitive lens. Some overreact, some underreact, and nobody can define the line between the two.

If someone calls me a Capitalist pig, maybe I'll get angry... but I'd like to think I'd count to ten and remember this youngster's mantra:

"Sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me."

The philosophy of that axiom keeps most of us from flying off the deep end when we encounter negative words or phrases aimed at us.

We laugh it off -- "Haha, very funny!"

Or we give a giant fake thumbs-up signal and walk away, turn off the radio or TV, toss the newspaper or magazine in the trash, click off the URL, etc.

We are the gatekeepers of all we see, hear, smell and feel.
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.