General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Re Wypipo and Divisiveness [View all]drmeow
(5,017 posts)"tending to cause disagreement or hostility between people" - Dictionary.com
"Creating disunity or dissension (partisan and contentious quarreling)" - Miriam Webster online
While the root may be divide, the term does not necessarily mean to cause division. This makes questions 1 and 2 difficult to answer.
Regarding question 3, no it has not changed my view, perspective, or behavior. I still believe that I experience tremendous privilege, I still acknowledge that I do not do enough to counter that privilege, I still acknowledge that I struggle with unconscious bias, and I still believe that there is an inordinate amount of racism in this country and we should all be working to change that even though I don't think I completely do my part.
On the other hand, while the use of the term most likely stems from "you are talking about race in a way that makes me uncomfortable" for some people and even somewhat for me (however, did does not take the term Wypipo to make me feel shame about the treatment of minorities in this country), the continued use of the term on a partisan forum when members of the forum have expressed discomfort with it does appear to me to cause disagreement, hostility, disunity, and dissension. As such, I accept the assertion that the use of the term is divisive based on the definitions of divisive I posted above.