Quote:
Originally Posted by Calgaryborn
It is up to me to decide. It is my vocabulary. There is still free speech(limited) in this country. Consideration of others is a factor but, there are other considerations as well: Is the person being unreasonably sensitive? Is the person making the request to change the subject? Is the word truly offensive? Do I want to offend them? Ect.
Personally I think the motivation for changing the word is political. The leadership wants the title "First Nation" because that is the basis of their legal arguments. That is why the average Indian you run into has no problem with the title and will use it themselves.
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I don't think Jiri was saying you don't have "the right" to use whatever word you want. You also have the right to call people by whatever epithet you choose, no matter how much it may offend them.
It's just that continuing to use a term when someone has asked you to call them something else just isn't nice--or respectful. You have every right to be mean and disrespectful, if that's the path you choose. But you don't get to decide if the term is offensive to somebody else. If you choose to continue using it after that someone has asked you to use another--then I guess you've made your decision about where you fall on the "nice" and "respectful" continuum.