What if we just, as a society, accepted racism as a valid expression? Not literal truth but metaphorical and figurative. Could we do that and avoid offending everybody? Because, as you say, it would help us do humor. And humor is important.
Remember when references substituted for humor? I think the same thing happened for moralness or something. The symbol became accepted as being as real as the actual thing. Which is completely psychotic of course.
Yes, I get the concept of damage. The point is the difference here. Because I'm comparing the derangement of the two. The damage is not really relevant to that. It's the fact that there's derangement that matters.