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Calling a black person a monkey is a lot worse. If I call one of my beer drinking buddies a fatass, it might hurt his feeling for all of 2 minutes. If I call one of my beer drinking buddies a fatass in front of an overweight woman, she is probably going to go home and cry and hate me forever there after. Same insult, but different standards apply. Not fair really, but the World will never be perfectly fair. Different standards for different folks.
I agree with the point you're making though that political discourse should not be about insulting those with conflicting views. I've been guilty of it at times, but I know it isn't the right answer. When liberals do it, I'm not particularly bothered. Throwing around petty and hateful insults in a political debate reflects more poorly on the one doing the insulting than anyone else.
