to politely request people stop using the word 'moron'

[opionated]

it was a medical term

As I said. Disingenuous.

"RepealMay25th in the example I described it is possible someone could be arrested for hate crime"

"I would hope not."

It happens. It happened in a local town recently. Someone decided they would use that word and similar about a person with a learning disability. That someone ended up with a fine ( and a shitload of grief from other people as is the way things go in small towns).

As I said. Disingenuous.

Exposing the mile-wide contradictions in your logic is far from disingenuous. I can see how it might be annoying, though

Ond rwy'n hoffi moron!

But I like carrots!

zzzzz - So do you use racial slurs WhalesOfYore?

As a matter of fact I don't. Shocking, right? But I do believe that no speech other than direct threats of physical violence should carry the sanction of law / dismissal from employment / other disproportionate penalties.

Do you feel the same way about speech towards children?

So no sanction at work for calling a co worker a nigger then?

I can’t stop saying idiot. That’s my favourite word when preceded by fucking

In discussing social interactions it is generally assumed that we are referring to those occurring between adults. Children should be treated more sensitively than adults because they are not yet full participants in society.

So you can call an adult a nigger but not a child?

But why don’t you use racial slurs? Is it purely because you fear legal repercussions?

No, it's because I (a) very rarely feel any racial animus, and (b) would be far too polite to express any if I ever did feel it.

You seem to have a hard time distinguishing between an individual and society as a whole.

What about vulnerable adults? Those who can't answer back.

Nope, I’m interested in your opinion as an individual, your impressions on how society could, should or does operate, not so much.

Well, I'm much more interested in society, but have also given you my individual opinion, for what it's worth.

So if somebody did have “racial animus” it would be OK for them to express it by calling a co worker a nigger?

So no sanction at work for calling a co worker a nigger then?

What about vulnerable adults? Those who can't answer back.

Those are both fair and very difficult questions.

In the first case, that is such an extreme insult that one could potentially see a case for the employer becoming involved. However, a preferable outcome would be for the insult's recipient to use their own freedom of speech to communicate what a cunt the other person is being!

The second case is clearer in a sense, because a legally incompetent adult has a similar status to that of a child, and so should be treated similarly.

At least you can't say I'm not tackling the hard cases head on! Ingenuously, one might say.

Is it not ok to call (eg) Trump a moron then?

How do the people who are offended by this feel about the use of 'idiot'?

Synonyms for 'moron'
are these also to be avoided ?
half-wit.
idiot.
ignoramus.
imbecile.
jerk.
knucklehead.
lame-brain.
lightweight.
what about f*wit ?

And since I've answered your hard questions, how about you answer one of mine?

Let's say a man complains that feminist "class analysis" of men as a gender, in particular in regard to the crimes they commit, is an extremely sexist generalization that is deeply upsetting to him personally. Would you stop discussing the topic in order to be nice and so as to stop upsetting him?

eejit covers most of the same behaviours most people are referring to when using the word moron. (But eejit isn’t sting enough for the likes of Trump.............so.....

"Would you stop discussing the topic in order to be nice and so as to stop upsetting him?"

No. Because he is misunderstanding class analysis. Incidentally, you didn't answer the hard question. You just agreed that it was hard. And suggested that a person being called a nigger should sink to the level of the person using the slur in response.......

As only a couple of people have pointed out, moron did not originate as a medical term. It was a pre-existing word, coming from the Ancient Greek for foolish/stupid, which was appropriated for use in a medical scale which also included the word 'idiot', which was also a pre-existing word. I don't actually understand why people call for the retirement of moron, but not idiot when in fact their status and history is exactly the same.