Right wing. Extremist. Bigot. Illegals. Woke. DEI. Snowflake. Liberal. Wetback. Herd immunity. Participants in a discussion last week threw out words that have been weaponized, sound bites that replace intellectual discourse and increase political divisions.

More than 30 people participated in the conversation hosted by Braver Angels’ Billie Donegan and city councilmember Robert Zuluaga.

“Look at how you respond to those words,” Donegan said. “Have you laughed at a dig at someone? Are you contributing to polarization?”

The two acknowledge that they are political opposites; she leans left, he leans right, adding that he is a graduate of Charis Bible College.

“Billie is passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion,” Zuluaga said. “I struggle with that; to me they are pejorative words.”

Because the two have talked, hiked, and had coffee together, they offer the come-together moments as examples of what Braver Angels has been trying to accomplish. The conversations are held in the Woodland Park library in partnership with Braver Angels.

After the introductions, the participants split into groups, each discussing the same set of questions about various aspects of weaponizing words.

“When someone says, ‘herd immunity,’ for instance, the words are an identity, a label,” said a participant. “The words are dog whistles.”

“Using weaponized words takes humanity out of it; the words are an automatic characteristic,” said another.

This same group had various reactions to the word “illegals” in defining immigrants.

“That hits hard,” said a participant who moved to the city from Texas. “One of my daughter’s friends was deported.”

Another participant from Texas said many immigrants were called “wetbacks,” who, he said, were using the federal WIC (Women Infants Children) to feed their children.

This group mostly agreed that the word “Christian” can be weaponized because it has now come to be associated with Republicans only.

“You can be a Christian and a Democrat,” said the woman from Texas.

To the word “woke” one participant chose to consider the word a compliment.

On the topic of abortion, the woman from Texas said that she is against the strict rules on the issue in her home state while another responded that 63% of women in the U.S. believe that abortion should be legal.

Another felt that there may be medical issues with the (pregnant) mother that can influence the decision to seek an abortion.

People in another group were concerned about the effect of Charis Bible College on the city.

“I’ve been here 30 years and it’s just in the last few years that the town has gone crazy,” said one participant while another responded, “There is a sadness, anger, all stages of grief.”

A woman in the group defended Charis and Andrew Wommack Ministries.

“I have known Andrew Wommack for 30 years and his words on a video have been taken out of context, the meanings misconstrued,” she said, while not identifying the video. “We want to improve the economy.”

The woman challenged the group to get to know Wommack before making judgement calls while a responder said she sees people leaving town in disgust.

“I can’t believe this is happening in Teller County,” she said. “People don’t feel safe here, physically and emotionally.”

Donegan went for a positive note. “What do we agree on?” she said.

Rather than weaponized words, the group focused on words that define goals such as health, growth, safety, and civility in discourse.