I wasn't really thinking about this situation in my post. I think that in a romantic relationship it is your fault if you allow someone to abuse you verbally. Who else would I blame if I allowed my wife to run me down constantly and do nothing about it? You can always walk away. If they prevent you from walking away, then you have a completely different situation.
I think it's worse in family situations where a parent or sibling is verbally abusing another family member. It's harder to get away, especially if the person is under legal age. But even then, you do have the option of walking away. There are organizations to help you escape. I'm not saying it's easy....just that it's possible.
But in general matters (which is what I was thinking of), I could care less if someone called me a spic or tried to run me down verbally. Say what you will, it will not injure me. If you lie about me or try to wreck my reputation, then we have a different situation. Again, there are legal things you can do. But as for name calling and that kind of crap....(again, what I was thinking of in my response), who cares? A person's foul words don't reflect on you but on themselves.
Primo, why would that be a different situation, than someone calling you a spic, by calling you a derogatory name, they are trying to ruin your reputation, or at least, trying to make you look bad to whomever is near and within ear shot.....which is the motives of most, it seems, who try to verbally slay a stranger, someone they've not known, or even met. Their babble is lies, pejorative speech, stuff only their small mind has conceived, which they then use in hopes that others will form their same negative opinions of their target.
I agree with most of what you said, and I also think that we can protect a lot of people, children specifically, from this type of abuse by raising them with a strong sense of self. By supporting them, by constantly telling them they are perfect as they are, and by talking openly with them about most things, especially how and why people act as they do and how to react to such behaviors. It is commonly known within psychology, that pejorative speech is often used as a form of deflection, and is projection behavior. Those who spew hate, are usually unhappy within themselves, blame others, are ignorant to their own behaviors, and justify their actions by pointing out their same behavior in others.
Most people raised with self respect, to have confidence, to be loving and accepting of others, will be protected from the abuses of such people, and other catalysts such as drugs, alcohol, etc. In most cases, love and understanding can heal a lot, and protect us from a lot
Most people who are grounded, who've been raised with a strong sense of themselves, who are confident people, aren't affected by another persons negative opinion of them, which is what most hate speech is, a negative opinion derived to make someone/or many, look bad to others or to change that persons personal perception of themselves.
