I remember the whole incident regarding you. People read into things from their own perspective and that unfortunately is a dangerous thing because people can say one thing and be perceived in another way.

I didn't see any hurtful things said in your original post that would have hurt somebody, but I have never had personal experiences or ties to the "label" that was causing the insult. I took it as the joke you intended. HOWEVER, if you replaced the offending word with another that I'm particuarly sensitive to, my view of it being a joke would have been clouded by my sensitivity to the insult. Am I making ANY sense here? For example, I am heavy. I am VERY sensitive about it. If someone posted a sarcastic line about "Fatsoes", I might really be offended and hurt, and won't at all see the joke. Thats' unfortunately the biases we humans carry - consciously or not.

I *try* to give everyone the benefit of the doubt in what they're saying. I really do feel that people have good intentions on what they're posting (well, until someone gets insulted, then the gloves come off ) I honestly thnk its a matter of people trying to post their opinions, but not being thoughtful in their wording. We really need to be sensitive to the reality that there are people from all over the world on here. From all age groups, from all races, and all different economic situations. All we need to do is respect our differences and take the time to edit our posts before we hit Submit Reply then a whole lot of hurt feelings can be avoided.