I don't like or use offensive or "racially-sensitive" language myself - I never have. Spent many years trying to offset and eliminate what my own kids (most unfortunately) learned at school and in the playgrounds. BUt I refuse to waste energy keeping tabs on my speech 24/7, never letting some innocent word like "black" (?) slip out, in case someone might take offense!
I figure if people insist on being offended when obviously no offense was intended, if they have a habit of overlooking the context of my words in their zeal to point a PC finger, well - that's their problem. Not mine.
A couple questions:
As a little kid, I'd learned the rhyme Peace mentioned this way: "Eeeny meeny miney mo, catch a FARMER by the toe ..." I ask you, is "Farmer" any less bigoted than the "N" word? Is my version more acceptable because it makes no reference to the color of the farmer's skin?
I think not! Maybe a more enlightened version would be "Catch a folkie by the toe"? :-)
Another question: I'm sitting here at my computer, "invisible". Most of you don't know me from a hole in the ground, can only guess whether my skin might be red, pink, brown, yellow, white, black or purple with lime-green polka-dots. If I were to post something like "oh please don't keep me in the DARK!" or "after all that hassle yesterday my mood was pretty BLACK", or even dared to quote a few lines from "Cotton Fields" (CCR) or "Ole Black Joe" or "Nobody Knows De Trouble I Seen" - would certain sensitive PC souls be lining up to find out what colour my own skin might be before they decided to take offense and accuse me of bigotry?
I'm into peace and freedom for all, no matter what colour they are or social background they hail from. This includes developing enough peace of mind and self-assurance that I don't take offence where obviously none was intended, and practicing freedom of speech for all.