FWIW, I think the whole discourse around politically correct speech, particularly the word retarded, ends up being more detrimental to progressive/liberal causes than the direct problems political correctness aims to solve. like I don't say it in my personal conversations, but https://twitter.com/benjifckinliker/status/1260691862358077440

others' high-and-mighty approach to regulating what others say is a particularly good way of gathering resistance to a noble cause in a society that disproportionately values free speech and thought. it seems to me this is a very easy way to Target the progressive movement as a

whole by misrepresenting it as an attack on fundamental freedoms and trivial things, and the effort put forth into cancel culture could be much more efficiently spent on correcting institutional problems that can actually make tangible differences in peoples' lives. of course,

this assumes that the whole idea of politically correct speech doesn't have benefits that outweigh the downsides; political correctness in an intention to inform others in an educational manner instead of dictating personal righteousness is example of something that's exempt from

this argument. it is important to inform others of why their speech may be harmful and to judge them if they continue to do use it, but to project personal self-righteousness onto a well-intentioned person for a power trip is less justified than their language imo.