You’ve perfectly described the mechanism, but drawn the wrong conclusion. The power isn’t ‘given’ by individuals being sensitive; it’s inherited from the word’s historical use as a tool of oppression and violence. That weight is a social fact, not a personal choice.

To use an analogy: a gun is a real weapon because it causes physical harm. A slur is a social weapon because it invokes that history to cause psychological and social harm. The harm is no less real to its targets.

Your argument ultimately suggests that the targets of historical violence should also bear the burden of dismantling the tools used against them, while the rest of us do nothing. I fundamentally disagree with that premise. We have reached an impasse, and I see no value communicating / explaining this premise to you any further.

Classic crypto fascist comment. Post hog

It’s not in any individual’s power to take that away though. And even if that personal choice were meaningfully possible, you’d put that on thousands of people suffering harassment rather than the few doing it?

That’s just handing public spaces over to oppressors.

You may have heard the line about the nazi bar.