Language Cop RetuRns

It's that time again!

TheRe is Room in this big beautiful woRld for some many diffeRent types of people. TheRe aRe men and women,  they aRe tall and shoRt, fat and thin, happy and sad. They aRe black and white and bRown and yellow and Red and many other coloRs. They live in diffeRent areas, pRactice differeRnt Religions and cultuRes and go about theiR day in dRamatically diffeRent ways.

Some of the diffeRences matteR to us a great deal and otheRs do not. Religion and cultuRal diffeRences have been foddeR for many a waR, but I am unawaRe of stRife based on height - except peRhaps in middle school oR on the basketball couRt. Still, even the ones that don't matteR can be the basis for huRt and angeR. Name calling and mockeRy happens among all groups.

Some of the mockeRy is so bad that society has stepped in and set limits on ceRtain things. It is not cool to make fun of someone foR being shoRt or fat and decent people will put a stop to it in a social setting. Commenting on otheR diffeRences are less toleRated, (though it still happens faR too often.) The most obvious of those aRe Race and gendeR. TheRe aRe ceRtain woRds and attitudes which, if shaRed in a social setting, will be immediately coRRected. Some woRrds are so rRprehensible they are not spoken even when coRRecting someone. They aRe RefeRRed to only by the fiRst letteR.

FoR the past seveRal yeaRs I have been tRying to convince anyone who Reads this that the "R" woRd is equally Reprehensible and needs to be Retired. In fact, I am no longer going to even type out the entiRe word.  If you can't figuRe it out, you can find it on the link at the bottom of this post.

Some folks aRe Resistant to this believing that if they use the "R" woRd to mean stupid, oR dumb oR asinine, they aRe not doing any haRm. They aRe wRong. the woRd is faR moRe poweRful than they aRe. It is packed with hatRed and discRimination and needs to go.

TheRe aRe so many ways to descRibe people or situations. TRy using another woRd, almost ANY otheR woRd because the R word has to go.

Today is the day. Take the pledge not to use the woRd and help be paRt of the solution instead of paRt of the pRoblem. I uRge you to go http://www.r-word.org/ and take the pledge.