Imagine two friends are out shopping. We will call them Alex and Jamie. Jamie's finger gets slammed in the door. Jamie screams and curses to express the extreme pain. Now imagine Alex says, "I bet if I did that, it wouldn't even hurt. You need to toughen up because that wouldn't hurt me", or worse, "Well, my finger doesn't hurt so there's no reason for you to be screaming like that." Clearly, that would be an insensitive and outright insane thing to say.

Now, let's switch the scene. Jamie is an African-American girl and her friend Alex is white. They go to a Halloween party, and they see a white student with his face painted black so he can be dressed up as a black man. Jamie says that she is really offended by his use of black-face, and Alex says, "Well, honestly if I were you, I wouldn't be offended." This is not seen as an insensitive and outright insane thing to say, but it is virtually the same exact concept.

You do not have the right to tell someone what is "allowed" to offend them anymore than you should be "allowed" to tell them what physically hurts them. Why do you have that power? I mean, seriously, how self-important do you have to be to believe that the scale of "offensive" and "non-offensive" finds a balancing point right where your beliefs lie? Why do you believe that you have the right to determine what can offend somebody?

Gay people have the right to be offended when you say that grade on your paper is "so gay", because you are using a core part of who he or she is to describe something negative. Black people have the right to be offended by the N-word because it has always been used as a racial slur used by white people to degrade black people. When you're using offensive language, people have the right to be offended.

And of course, you legally and constitutionally have every right to offend people. If you just want to go to town using racist, homophobic, transphobic, sexist or any other kind of offensive and derogatory language, yes, the first amendment won't stop you. But why don't you stop yourself?

You say "words can't hurt or be offensive" or "toughen up", but when a word is used to actively and persistently degrade people over centuries, it becomes more than just a word. The N-word isn't just a word to some black people. It is the discrimination of black people dating back to and beyond slavery. "Gay" or "tranny" isn't just a word to a lot of homosexual or transgender people. It is what many were called before they were taunted, beaten or even killed for being who they are. Taunting a peaceful Muslim person can strike fear in their soul because "terrorist" is the name so many innocent Muslim people have been called before being killed simply for "looking like" extremists.

Of course, not all minorities are offended by "politically incorrect" language, and this article is not my attempt at making it seem like minorities are fragile and must be protected from offensive language. I hope it does not come off like that. Being able to say "words can't hurt!" is a privilege because those words have never been used to oppress you or justify violence against you. Having that privilege does not make you better and, ultimately, does not exempt you from being a decent and respectful person. Remember, just because something doesn't offend you personally does not mean it is not offensive.

As I mentioned in the sub-headline, I, the author, am white and trying to use my privilege for good. However, if you are a minority I mentioned and feel I didn't do a good job representing you, please accept my sincerest apology and feel free to comment below on how I could improve. I am always looking for more knowledge and my goal, first and foremost, was to not offend anybody.