>>734732you're half-right, basically the coolest thing you can be in the eyes of the normie is a tolerant person who still uses slurs (see eminem, tarantino). most people don't like actual bigotry (obviously this varies depending on the groups being targeted, but few people will admit to liking bigotry "in the abstract") but they also don't like social policing because they believe this is a matter where they should be allowed to police themselves. no one likes being told that they're not allowed to use a word, especially when they feel it carries the implication that by wanting to use that word, they are bigots – when they likely don't see themselves as bigots.
it gets annoying with dog-whistles because the whole point of dog-whistles is to make you look like a nut for questioning them to people who don't know what they are. and to the credit of /pol/tards they've been able to manipulate this masterfully in some cases such as turning the "OK" sign into a 'white power" dog-whistle. because they know "progressives" always care more about "being right" in their own terms than actually sounding persuasive and reasonable to people around them, so while you're out there screeching that the OK sign is racist because you know in your mind that the /pol/tards have, factually, conspired to use it as a racist dog-whistle, the average person thinks you're an obnoxious nutcase who's calling everything racist.