Religion
In reply to the discussion: Question, I don't know if any gods exist or not, therefore I don't believe any do, what am I? [View all]MellowDem
(5,018 posts)for example, I call people who oppose gay marriage "bigots". This offends them. Yet, I don't retract what I said because they are offended. It's an honest assessment. Indeed, I call the current Pope a bigot, homophobic, and a misogynist. This is an honest assessment based on his own statements and confirmed belief system. Yet many people on DU are offended, but their offense is not logical, it's emotional. They like certain things about this particular Pope, or they were raised Catholic, etc. etc. that bias them so much that they cannot take honest criticism of the Pope on any subject very well. They'll even say it's rude. I've seen posts deleted based on irrational grounds by offended DUers, so it's something to keep in mind.
You didn't stop saying "gypped" because the target group was offended, you stopped saying "gypped" because you gained new information about its origins that lead you to believe that its use was justifiably offensive. That makes sense, that's a good way to go about it.