I want to make it perfectly clear that the intention behind writing this is not to make light of anyone's physical differences.  There are plenty of little people in the world who have achieved more with their life than I have with mine despite their stature.  I'm writing this to point out a perfect example of how overly sensitive many of us have become.

Over the years, I've adapted my vocabulary to omit words that are hurtful to certain groups of people.  There are words I used freely when I was in middle school in 1986 that I would never use now; however, some things go beyond political correctness into "you gotta be kidding me?" territory.  To me, this is one of those things.

Amazon patented a new device to "toss" inventory into packaging in their warehouse.  One of the items illustrated in their patent description was a "dwarf figurine".  I assume they qualified the word figurine with "dwarf" to indicate that it was small.  Perhaps using the word miniature would have avoided some controversy with the Little People of America, but the damage has been done.  According to them, the word "dwarf" should never be used in a sentence with "tossing" as the practice of "dwarf tossing" objectifies and dehumanizes people with unusually small stature.

What do you think?  Poor choice of words, or just another case of overly sensitive people?

 

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