I think we simply have differing definitions of what a slur actually is:

An extremely offensive and socially unacceptable term targeted at a group of people (such as an ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc.).

I contend that I have targeted no one and therefore have not used a slur

The vast majority of people are mature enough and intelligent enough to be capable of telling the basic ass difference between when a word is targeted towards them and when it is being used as nothing more than a simple word. Especially when that word is only ever used in reference to an animal literally incapable of even comprehending our social structure, let alone be offended by it. If you are offended by a word that is neither directed at you nor even contextually relevant to you, then you alone are choosing to bring that harm to yourself. It is not my responsibility or anyone else’s to protect you from your own immaturity and choices.

Being scared to say certain words just because in some contexts it is used to harm is fucking stupid and it does not solve a single, real problem. It creates a bunch of problems by annihilating productive conversations and distracting from real issues, such as when the word is actually weaponized and used to harm. I will die on my much more logical hill that I have NEVER used any of these scary words to cause any harm other than the harm that people like you invent to feel like you are fighting some injustice in the world. Grow the fuck up and put your energy toward solving legitimate problems like actual racism, or our disintegrating climate, or our rapidly diminishing civil rights, or maybe anything other than trying to policing the use of a word whose meaning will literally change in the next few years anyway.

They aren’t likely to have any strong feelings on the matter

Yes, that’s exactly what it implies, which is why it us such a good descriptor. I happen to be one of those people often considered ‘retarded’. I understand from first hand experience what its like to be on the receiving end of the word used in hatred and fear. I also understand that it is just a word that when used in certain contexts can mean nothing more than a simple and innocuous “deer be really dumb”. I am not the one struggling to understand what my language implies, I am simply choosing to ignore that specific social rule because my experience in life has led me to believe it to be fucking stupid. There exists a land in which things are not constantly blown out of proportion by over-reactivity and blind offendedness where real conversation (and humor) can occur, this is clearly not that land.

Free speech does actually mean anyone can “articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction.” Look I can post Wikipedia links too, yay! Only the last bit pertains exclusively to governments. I am not advocating for universal tolerance and you do not have to tolerate anything anyone says, ever. But, that doesn’t also mean you or anyone else gets to have any say in the language that any other person uses to communicate their ideas or feelings. If that were not true then free speech would simply not exist.

Then stop using that word. It is directly harmful to some people.

No one is being directly harmed because no one can be directly harmed as the word has never once been directed at anyone (except deer) in this entire thread. Something which could be easily known if the comments still existed to give context to this whole situation. Words and language are not like physical objects in that they can not cause harm via accident. They can only ever have the meaning we give them and the impact that we choose to allow them to have on us, never anything more. Absolutely no one has been harmed here that did not, themselves, choose to be harmed.