Nigger

Belladonna has some friends who are computer savvy. One of them whipped up a private version of Zoom and hosts it on his own server.

Then, "the guys" hang out, just like they were at the bar and talk "guy talk".

Sometimes, Bella drops in.

A couple of the guys are fond of dropping the word "nigger". Bella, who happens to be African-American, informed them that:

A.) Using that word is a stupid habit to get into
B.) She personally finds it offensive. She understands if it occasionally slips out (like an F-bomb after hitting a thumb with a hammer) but she would like them to try to tone it down.

The rationalizing was highly energized and almost comical.

For instance, one of the offenders said "It should not matter to you what words I use if I am not directly addressing you."

Another tack was "Words are just arbitrary sounds and have no intrinsic meaning."

For a lack of more interesting material to post about...I intend to address both of those excuses.

...I am not directly addressing you
I worked in one factory where we had a new hire (eighteen months) who was already labeled "Hi Potential". She was being groomed as she was given a "palette" of supervisory assignments to give her a broad background.

She had gone to the right schools. Her dad was a big-shot somewhere in the corporation. She carried herself well and spoke well. To recap, she was "bulletproof" by virtue of gender, education, family and having impressed local management.

While standing talking to a second person about an employee who had gone on sick-leave, Jan said "We will just have to hire another 'trained monkey'."

A third person was walking behind Jan at the time and overheard that one sentence.

Jan was given a choice: Quit the corporation or restart her career at another factory in the corporation.

BAM! Just. Like. That.

Context did not matter. It was a simple job. It did not require an Industrial Athlete Superstar to do the job.

It did not matter that she was not talking to the third person who walked behind her, out of her sight.

It did not matter that she wasn't referring to race or that she, herself, was bulletproof.

She was wrong.

Words are just arbitrary sounds and have no intrinsic meaning
Why not say words are arbitrary?

Then contracts have no meaning. You can squat in your apartment and not have to pay rent. Of course, the landlord can also evict you in spite of the contract you signed.

If words are arbtirary, then so are the words "One-hundred dollar bill"

The only value words have is the fact that their meanings are generally agree upon. If words are arbitrary, then you would babble your own made-up language and expect other people to understand you. So much easier than actually increasing your vocabulary beyond monosyllabic grunts.

Stupid
The reason it is stupid to use any hot-button word like "Nigger" or "Cunt" in any capacity is that we are so accustomed to communicating "virtually" that we completely tune out our "meat-space" environment.

We visualize the people we are communicating with.

Suppose one of Bella's friends got a call just before lunch from the other N-word using buddy. I doubt that his professional colleagues or his boss will be favorably impressed when "Sure Nigger! Lunch. Great idea." falls out of his mouth without a thought.