You see, if we all stop being so offended at everything and just laugh at the idea then it doesn't matter anymore. It becomes non-offensive and useless as a weapon against others.
This is certainly true, though I still agree with JG that it depends on the context - who's saying it, who they're saying it to, the context of the sentence and the tone in which it is said.
Take "queer", for example. It was never used to connote homosexuals, but then when it starts to become derogatory and widely used, the "homosexual community" adopted it and wore it like a badge. Gay Pride and all that. It's no longer a weapon.
Still, I see gay intellectuals are in no rush to adopt "F_ggot theory".
