if it makes you sleep better at night
We use them daily. Often even without thinking about it. Many times we use them innocently. But just as often the epithets we use give a name to our hate.
Not necessarily derogatory, epithets can act simply to describe something or someone. In this function they are surely useful. Yet how often do we fall into the trap of using them in a disparaging manner? Far too often I would assert.
They come in all shapes and sizes: some blatantly derogatory, others simply descriptive. For example liberal and conservative can simply describe the general socio-political mindset of an individual. Christian, Jewish, Agnostic, and Atheist (just to name a few) should serve only to very briefly summarize one's belief system. But these seemingly innocuous epithets are often amongst the most frequently used to bludgeon another.
How many times have we heard or read about "Christians" and how screwed up they are? Or the same about "Atheists"? And I know I have been guilty of using both liberal and conservative with the intent to injure. Why are we so swift to use epithets in this manner? I have a theory.
It makes our hate easier to swallow.
By labeling each other with scornful little names we conveniently reduce them to less than human. No longer are they on even footing with us. Suddenly it is okay to hate them because, after all, they are Christian (or Atheist, or liberal, or conservative, or on and on and on). Those who choose to have children are unintelligent, selfish "breeders", so we can mock them all we want. Supporters of the war on terror are "neo-cons", while those who oppose it are nothing better than "loony liberals". It goes down nice and smooth, coated in a tasty little epithet.
Well, I have news for you. Hate is hate is hate. Call it what you want. Call me what you want. Call each other what you want. It doesn't change the fact that, when disdaining each other, we fertilize the soil for the seeds of hate we have planted. Are we prepared for the fruit that will come from that hate? I doubt it.