And as was previously mentioned, this isn't an in-game term. It's just a term occasionally used by the fanbase. Hard to phase it out when it hasn't even been phased in to begin with.
The term is used extensively by the fanbase, not occasionally. I haven't seen a single challenge thread that doesn't use it. Phasing it out simply means ceasing its use and replacing it with another term.
What does seem difficult is recognizing the subtle perpetuation of ethnocentricity. When the HM carrier is perceived as a burden or undesirable, and that pokemon is then referred to as a slave, the intention is ethnocentric, and the behavior (the physical labeling) is ethnocentric.
To be clear, ethnocentric means that certain rights are not extended to all groups, but only a certain 'in-group'. In this case, the slave is not a respected member of the team in the same way that the others are. It's only there because it has to be.
Pokemon being HM slaves are just Pokemon who are used solely to carry the HMs that are of less value in battle. You could say that they're more important than others because without them it'd be nigh impossible to pass certain parts of the game without their help and a lv.100 charizard could do nothing about it. It's not like you're gonna start whipping your Pokemon just because you call them an HM slave.
That's a good distinction, between being useful in battle, and being useful in traveling like cathy and Introvert mentioned.
Eh, honestly I'm completely fine with the term HM slave. Every civilization has had slaves at one point and without them it's arguable that America's economy never would've taken off without the cheap source of revenue and it'd still be a British colony. Undermining their influence is just as bad as throwing huge pity parties for them, imo.
That's true! Many thanks are in order. Even if the slaves didn't volunteer for the work, it was their hands that grew the nation.
tl;dr While I do see where you're coming from, changing the name just because it has negative connotations is a bit over-the-top just to make yourself feel more politically correct.
Ooh, looking for my hot button, maybe? Heheh. My main goal is to at least make the usage of the term slave a conscious act. I will repeat that I'm not up in arms about this, getting angry about the injustices done to digital signals and LCD screens.
What I'm interested in, and concerned about to some degree, is the intentionality of the words we use, or lack thereof. It seems clear and evident to me that there is an unconscious, subtle, meaning to what seems on the surface to be a convienient and logical term.
I'm going to take this to an unnecessary extreme just to make my point a little clearer. To call the HM carrier a slave is to think of it as a worthless piece of crap. We should call it the Jesus pokemon instead because it sacrifices itself for the good of all.