The Victorians got so sex-obsessed by trying to repress sexual expression that eventually the word “leg” became taboo, and chair legs had to be covered up with doilies. Each banned expression about marginalized groups creates a similar sensitivity to the expressions that are left, which leads to more banned expressions and so on. Because blackface in minstrel shows contributed heavily to the dehumanization of African-Americans, it is equally wrong for White performers to wear black face while portraying one of Shakespeare’s noblest, most courageous tragic heroes. Next we infer that we must condemn a Canadian prime minister for wearing black make-up while costumed as a mythological South Asian prince, or that a blond five year old girl can’t wear face paint when costumed as Moana for Halloween. This tendency, which I call “Trigger-Creep”, is an inescapable fact of human psychology. Our minds are what Andy Clark calls associative engines, and if left unchecked, they will find ways of relating everything to everything else. More on this here: https://teedrockwell.medium.com/the-fall-and-rise-of-forbidden-language-bb0a27152b09