I agree with your take on intent mattering and I'm of a similar age. I suppose some of the backlash is to remove plausible deniability of dog whistling, but it'

I agree with your take on intent mattering and I'm of a similar age. I suppose some of the backlash is to remove plausible deniability of dog whistling, but it's gone further than I think is reasonable. Besides, an honest person will apologise unreservedly when called out on accidental usage, whereas a dog whistling racist will tend to backtrack and mumble excuses. Anyway, you can still say a lot of harmful stuff without using a specific word if you want. I don't see the point. > I recall hearing about a young popular YouTuber about a year or so ago who was accused of being racist simply for singing along to the lyrics of a popular rap song. Oh it gets sillier than that. "The rapper invited the woman, who identified herself only as "Delaney", to sing M.A.A.D City during his set at the Hangout Festival in Alabama. But Kendrick stopped her after she repeatedly used the N-word - which is heard multiple times in his song. As the crowd reacted angrily, Kendrick told her: "You gotta bleep one single word." https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-44209141 https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-44209141