I was told as a child "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me".
Clearly that is not entirely true but it has stood the test of time as good basic advice.
Free speech must include the right to offend.
As regards the 'n word' which no human tongue may utter - yet alone direct at anyone - it always strikes me as ridiculous.
it is just a word. And there are many nasty words . I have seen plenty of modern videos where black people address each other by this endearing epithet, indeed they seem to use it lightly in the same way as I might say 'mate' . It seems that like beauty it is in the eye of the beholder. Indeed I dislike the term 'white trash based on just the colour of skin. Can we ban that? Where do we end ?
Using language to deliberately stir up racial hatred or threaten some ones life is a criminal offence and so it should be.
There should be no can on words but there should be personal restraint by people and a yearning to be more civilized than becoming animals provoking each other for the fun of it. Like children testing limits. There needs to come a time for children to become adults.
I was told as a child "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me".
Clearly that is not entirely true but it has stood the test of time as good basic advice.
Free speech must include the right to offend.
As regards the 'n word' which no human tongue may utter - yet alone direct at anyone - it always strikes me as ridiculous.
it is just a word. And there are many nasty words . I have seen plenty of modern videos where black people address each other by this endearing epithet, indeed they seem to use it lightly in the same way as I might say 'mate' . It seems that like beauty it is in the eye of the beholder. Indeed I dislike the term 'white trash based on just the colour of skin. Can we ban that? Where do we end ?
Using language to deliberately stir up racial hatred or threaten some ones life is a criminal offence and so it should be.
There should be no can on words but there should be personal restraint by people and a yearning to be more civilized than becoming animals provoking each other for the fun of it. Like children testing limits. There needs to come a time for children to become adults.