So, perhaps this a good place to ask this, as I've been wondering some quite some time...
When did the narrative around gypsies change so sharply in the West? Specifically, the United States?
I was born in the 90s, and growing up the word "gypsy" was pretty... Standard? Like it was just a word that would be freely said in songs, media, movies, etc. It held no negative or positive connotation, it was like saying someone was a "Catholic" or someone was "Hispanic." It was a word used to describe a group of people, particularly rovers or nomads. Heck, one of my favorite folk songs is an Irish ballad called the Gypsy Rover about a noble woman falling in love with a wanderer. It was played at my wedding.
Recently, though, I've noticed that saying this word aloud is being treated with the same gravity as "nigger" or "kike" and I genuinely don't get it. In the U.S., there around 1 million Roma, so we are talking not even half a percentage point of the U.S. population. Not even that, the U.S., and many of these people who are so vehemently against this "slur" have no connection or association to gypsies, lived with or around gypsies, have historical connections to gypsies, etc.
For me it's a touch different. I am U.S. born but my family is entirely Slav immigrants, so I grew up on stories of gypsies coming to villages and stealing everything that isn't nailed down. And these are from aunts, uncles, and family from all over my home country. Talks with older Slav immigrants from neighboring countries yields similar recounts.
So where the fuck did this crusade against the word "gypsy" start? At least with words like "faggot," and "retard" you can at least follow natural societal trends to explain why these words became unacceptable. We are more aware of mental disabilities. Homosexuality is more popular and mainstream than 20 years ago, etc.
I understand the short answer is virtue signalling and brainrot from hyperprogressives pushing bullshit on Twitter, but it really feels like somebody flipped a switch and suddenly the word "gypsy" became unacceptable over night. Like I said it last week over a conversation at a game store and I was told if I said it again I would be asked to leave the premises, and was then given a weird look if I asked the individual if they'd every physically met or spoken to someone who identifies as a "gypsy." And I was simply told "You can't say that, it's offensive."
Who started this crusade and how did it get so mainstream? I'd wager most people in the States will go their whole lives without meeting more than a half-dozen of these people.
I don't get it.
