Slur Words In John Mcwhoter's Politics And The English Language

Slur words are words of oppression; they have held the power to objectify, humiliate and deny rights to undeserving individuals of minority groups for much too long. They are tools used by oppressors against their victims, and they carry out the exact functions they expect them to. Slurs objectify, humiliate, degrade and shame. Recently, attempts have been made to shed slurs of their power. Many conflicting beliefs surrounding the proper handling of slur words exist. I personally believe that the best way to shed these derogatory terms of their power is to reclaim their use. In order to do so, however, one must understand how these words came into focus in the first place.
In his ¬article, ‘Euphemize This’, John McWhoter explores the world …show more content…
He writes about the fact that although people should know better, we imitate foul usage of language and drag words that originally had an innocent meaning through the mud. “But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought”, he writes. Slurs did not come into being as derogatory. They were found and utilized by those who wished to further racial propaganda and retain white, cisgender, heterosexual, male power. Slur words target those who, by society’s standards, are weaker. They attempt to beat them down, and keep them quiet. We must realize that language is alive, and it is powerful. We can either allow words to become deeply cemented in our history and oppress us, or we can take control of them.
Rather than fear slurs, we must reclaim them. However, it is important to understand that one’s jurisdiction to reclaim a slur falls under their immediate association to the group the word oppresses. If a person is called a “tranny”, for example, and they are not trans-sexual, then that is not a word they can reclaim. If it is not actively used against someone, and it does not deny their right to anything based on their identity, then it is not a slur towards