You know, you’re right. It doesn’t matter how words are used, only the etymology matters.
That’s why it’s ok to refer to black people as negros. After all, “negro” is the Spanish word for “black”, so “negros” just means “blacks”. And the n-word is just an English version of negro after all.
The meaning of words is defined by how they’re used. Antisemitic has never been used to refer to anything but hating Jews akin to how the n-word has been used as an insult instead of a neutral descriptor.
You cannot use the n-word as a neutral descriptor, nor can you use the term antisemitism to describe hatred of non-Jewish ethnicities.
???
You know, you’re right. It doesn’t matter how words are used, only the etymology matters.
That’s why it’s ok to refer to black people as negros. After all, “negro” is the Spanish word for “black”, so “negros” just means “blacks”. And the n-word is just an English version of negro after all.
That was exceptionally dumb.
What I am saying is:
The meaning of words is defined by how they’re used. Antisemitic has never been used to refer to anything but hating Jews akin to how the n-word has been used as an insult instead of a neutral descriptor.
You cannot use the n-word as a neutral descriptor, nor can you use the term antisemitism to describe hatred of non-Jewish ethnicities.
You just said that words are described by how people use them.
So I’ll use that word like any other the way I prefer, and by doing that I’ll shape its meaning.
See why it sounded dumb now?