Hate Speech

The way other people use the English language annoys all of us, doesn't it? Here's a few thing's I've noticed bothering me lately.

Racism

Can we not stop using the term racism as a catch all when discussing issues as diverse as culture, nationality, and religion? We already have perfectly serviceable non-specific terms, like bigotry, discrimination, and prejudice, so why not use them?

Feminism

When the fuck did feminism come to be defined as hatred and discrimination toward men? Where the fuck did misandry get to? Come back misandry, your services are required!

Homophobia

The term phobia usually implies that someone has an irrational fear of something—a pathological condition that requires understanding and treatment rather than rejection and ridicule. Now, I understand that there are some people who genuinely feel threatened and/or uncomfortable around homosexuals, and in these cases, I would say that homophobia is indeed the word you want to use; but most of the time, what we're talking about is people with hateful or discriminatory points of view. To draw a parallel, when we talk about people who are uncontrollably afraid of men, we use the word androphobia, but when we talk about people who think men should be treated as lesser beings, we use the term misandry (or feminism, apparently). Now, that's not to say that those two things don't go hand in hand, but at least we have two separate terms with unique and (reasonably) unambiguous meanings that allow us to be clear on exactly what it is we're talking about. So, can we not come up with a better term for discrimination against gays? And if we can't, can we not just call people with those beliefs bigots? … or maybe just cunts?

As an extra annoyance, it seems like people these days are tacking the phobia suffix onto every form of discrimination they possibly can: biphobia, transphobia, islamophobia, atheophobia (I shit you not). … Come to think of it though, islmophobia might actually be appropriate in a lot of cases, considering how much of the discrimination that Muslims cop seems to be rooted in genuine (if misguided) fear; but come on, are people seriously afraid of atheists?