I think the whole thing started back when a group of our hairy ancestors ran into a troupe of baboons or chimpanzees. Each group noted certain physical differences in the other, and they (we) all started chattering and screeching aggressively at each other.

I've also heard it said that using an epithet (label) on someone is our reptile brain directing us to angrily hurl a spear. Instead, we call the person who offends our sensibilities a "redneck" or a "socialist" or a "fascist" or a "liberal"—or that most dreaded of all such labels, a "fascist liberal."

(In the field of political science, what does "fascist liberal" mean? Isn't that an oxymoron? It's certainly some kind of moron. . . .)

Don Firth