In case you missed it, the President's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel used the word "retarded" in an insulting fashion in a meeting at the White House, and some are calling for his resignation/replacement. (See this link)

I won't get into the politics of it, although I do admit, I am in favor of him being sacked.

But this brings back to the forefront the unfortunate language that we utilize that is offensive. I personally have been struggling to remove such jargon from my own tongue, and its definitely not easy.

People justify using such words by:
1. claiming they don't mean it in an offensive fashion
2. claim they are using it in a commonly used acceptable fashion
3. refer to themselves or their colleagues

Words such as retarded or the n word are offensive. period. It really doesn't matter if you are using them in a non offensive or supposedly acceptable (either culturally, socially or otherwise) fashion.

Bias and racism are intolerable. Why then do we allow ourselves to use terms which offend?