slurs

dear garden,

I wonder why slurs are considered offensive. if someone calls you a label for something that you’re proud of, even if it’s intended to be derogatory, why would you get offended? wouldn’t you be proud instead? and if it’s something you’re neutral on, presumably you just wouldn’t care.

it seems like most people aren’t offended by things that they are confident in. or rather, that people are mostly offended by the insults that touch on things they are actually insecure about. so does that imply that people are insecure about the things that slurs attack about them? for example, if you’re proud of your flowers, and someone tries to insult you by calling you a colorful thornbox, shouldn’t you be more like,

Why, thank you, that’s very kind of you!