We already do this with some slurs, right? We can start enforcing these words, too.
Not calling anyone out, I’ve been guilty of it too. And we don’t have to do it all at once. Like, we can start with these:
Ableist words and alternatives.
Stupid, R€tarded, Idiot(ic), Cretin, or Moron(ic): People say this to imply something, or someone isn't intelligent or worth their time, but the words refer to people with intellectual disabilities. Instead, say that a situation or person is frustrating, ignorant, dense, unpleasant, cheesy, or awful.
Dumb: This word refers to a person who doesn't speak verbally, but people often use it to mean that something or someone isn't intelligent or wise. It's listed separately from stupid and its synonyms because it references a physical disability instead of an intellectual one. Try using any of the non-ableist synonyms like irritating or uncool.
Crazy, Nuts, Mad, Psycho, or Insane: "Wow, that's crazy!" may not seem like a harmful statement, but if you think about someone with a mental health condition hearing that statement, it's easy to realize that it is. So instead of using one of those words, try outrageous, bananas, bizarre, amazing, intense, extreme, overwhelming, or wild.
one possible argument: stigmatizing people with low intelligence is bad and we probably shouldn't do that with any language. An analogy: to discourage body-shaming, we would punish/ban/etc all body-shaming rhetoric, which would wipe out most uses of the word "fat" even though it's not shockingly offensive by itself.
I am an enlightened centrist and will comply with whatever the site rules are. I want to use less of this kind of language personally.
Yeah but then it's a matter of a conceptual framework being banned rather than language, which is outside the scope of the OP and the article.
it's a nonsense liberal article, I think we should address the grain of truth from it if we're gonna talk about it at all
Hence my also mentioning the OP, which does specify "language" and talk about word lists.