In the same vain, you have to understand the extreme differences in culture. In America, people just honestly don't know what connotations come with the word "gypsy", which is why it's so culturally ignored as a type of racial slur. In such a way, is America perpetuating racism? Or are they merely living by their own cultural norms that should in no way implant any type of racist tendencies into the people that speak the word? And when they hear that "gypsy" is actually a racist term, but continue to use it, are they furthering the dehumanization, or merely co-opting the word to mean something totally different? It's a fine line, and I don't think it's so black and white.

It's like the difference between "oriental" and "Asian". In America, at least, one of those terms is considered indecent. But why? Oriental merely means "of the east". And certainly one can say you're lumping in many different races of people into the term "eastern", but what of "Asian"? It's just a different name for the same thing. You're still ignoring the fact that the Japanese and the Chinese have a troubled, bloody history between one another and lumping them in together. Russia is a part of Asia, and yet we don't call Russians "Asians". Why? Because they don't look the part.