There is never an appropriate time to toss around hateful slurs, harmful stereotypes, or violent rhetoric to anyone, regardless of whether or not they are part of a racial, financial, religious, or sexual majority. 

Yes, bigotry, much to your anger, is all inclusive. slurs are all inclusive. Racism can happen to anyone and anyone can be racist. The definition of “racism” does not mean “institutionalized racism”, which is the term one would use to describe a member of a social majority oppressing someone of another race. pure and simple racism and institutionalized racism are not the same thing. Sexism, much like racism, is an all inclusive term that is separate from it’s institutionalized counterpart.

So now that we have that out of the way. 

Using language like breeders, crackers, whitey, cis scum, etc, or talking about people in a generalized fashion is inappropriate. Why? Because it’s hateful and prejudice. Because it serves no purpose. 

Perhaps you or somebody you know suffers from institutionalized hatred of some kind. That does not give you the free pass to be hateful yourself. When you are talking about equality and respect, the concept doesn’t exist simply to tip the scales in the other direction. The idea shouldn’t be “well there are people in the world that are trying to harm me, so I am going to harm others around me and use my own oppression as an excuse to be hateful”. Why? It’s counter productive. It defies the very nature of fighting for equality in the first place. It defies that idea that all people are entitled to be respected and not subjected to bigotry to hate. Yes, perhaps your hatred is directed towards a group of people who might never face adversity towards something about them they can’t control, but that doesn’t justify doing it. 

Venting your frustrations is valid. Attacking an entire group/race/religion/sex/etc is not. It makes YOU the antagonizer, and frankly, it makes it much harder for you to reach the people that matter most, because who the fuck is going to listen to someone talk about their personal victimization if they are spouting slurs and displaying their own prejudices. Who is going to listen to someone who says hating X group is wrong, but acting hateful towards X group is totally okay and justified? You can’t stand for equality if it isn’t something that you yourself actually value or care about. Respecting everybody means EVERYBODY. 

And look. I see people saying “well calling someone “whitey” or saying “cis scum” is no big deal, because those people don’t have to live with feeling marginalized in real life, and I don’t really give a fuck about hurting the dumb (insert majority here’s tiny little feelings. I’M BEING OPPRESSED HERE!)

All I have to say is congratulations on being a dick. Hateful or violent language directed at an entire group of people may not by anything close to living in fear or feeling marginalized. Heck, it isn’t even in the same ballpark, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay to do. That doesn’t mean that it still doesn’t result in bitterness, hurt feelings, and general negativity. That doesn’t mean that a person isn’t looking at that statement and not seeing hostility directed at them specifically due to factors they can’t control. You don’t use that language to promote positivity, acceptance, or any good message of any kind. The SOLE PURPOSE of it’s use is to discriminate and stereotype, and you don’t need to be a transgendered black lesbian in a wheelchair to be hurt by words or feel that somebody is victimizing you with them. You don’t need to be a cis white straight male to harbor hateful, horrible, discriminatory, and unacceptable views on another group. 

Hell….some of that language I see upsets me even when I don’t even belong to the groups they are directed towards. When I see language and rhetoric that is hateful, no matter who is saying that, it tells me a lot about a person. It tells me that they are so low and petty that they believe that they have the right to spew hatred without fear of consequence. hatred against whites, blacks, hispanics, homosexuals, straights, trans* folk, people with disabilities, etc makes me cringe. Despite being an identifiable member of many minority groups and experiencing oppression firsthand on my own terms, I have learned that lashing out against innocent people for what bad people have done to you only causes more hate. More resentment. More distrust. 

As someone who truly does believe in love and equality for all, as someone who believes that all people deserve to be respected and treated fairly, and that people should be judged by their individual personalities, it puts me off. If you think that bigotry in any context is excusable because of your own suffering, you are truly blind to what prejudice and hatred really are. You are no better than the people you hate. 

Everyone has the right to be hurt and vent their frustrations. Nobody has the right to be a hateful, bigoted asshole.