Are you offended?
Is it just me, or does it seem that you can't go anywhere without someone getting offended at virtually anything you say. Is there a point at which political correctness and consideration of people's feelings has gone too far? Should we be ultimately held responsible for people being offended ?
No. People, like today's "Social Justice Warriors," are just losing it over PC. Mainly it is liberals, who want to force everyone to agree with them, or shut up and not say their opinion. Gone are the days where people can have good debates. Now it's just, "You're racist!" or "You're a bigot." The idea is to demonize people who don't agree with you, so the masses will jump on the band wagon. They get brainwashed. Today's millennials in college are just pathetic. There's a meme that sums them up: It's a double picture, one on top, and the other on the bottom. The top is of soldiers in WWII and it says something about 18 year olds heading into battle. The bottom is either a weirdo with rainbow colored hair, or a crying baby, and it says something about today's 18 year olds getting their panties up in a bunch and needing a safe space. No, we should not be held responsible for people being offended, unless we want to purposely hurt their feelings. If we're just saying what we believe, they should not get offended by that. They should deal.
"Mainly, it is liberals?" What is your source that states that? Other than yourself.
Google it. It's stated in countless articles, and on line. Many books have been written about it.
Deflection doesn't help your case. What am I supposed to "Google"? I'm an old person, what phrase should I Google?
Check out "Silencing: How the Left is Killing Free Speech" on Amazon, along with "Bullies" by Ben Shapiro. They're books.
Interesting things to google - weighted heavily one way. Have you any sources without an obvious bias either way?
It's not so much a matter of bias as it is common sense and reality. Shapiro is spot on. He knows what he is talking about.
Refer to “How to Make a Social Justice Warrior” by William Shetterly for the history of SJWs. They are essentially authoritarian leftists, much to the dismay of liberal liberals.
I've always been against political correctness. Then republicans started using the anti PC as a way of justifying hate, bigotry, and discrimination. While I still don't support always being PC, I also figured out most people these days who don't support it, don't because they actually ARE "bigots" or "racists" or homophobic. None of them admit it, but they show it regularly!
Gone are the days of keeping the worst of the worst in our homes. When I was growing up I knew several of my friend's parents were racists, but the majority of them kept that hush hush. These days none of us are hush hush about anything which gave permission somehow to be openly anti anything not like us!
You've proved my point exactly. It's easier to label someone racist or bigot than to even try to understand their viewpoint. I think you should try to understand that disagreeing does not mean "I hate," or "I'm better than."
Actually YOU are the reason I put those words in " since u brought up in your answer. Disagreeing doesn't mean hate, but name calling, belittling, and denying rights does not equal disagreeing it equals being a "bigot" or "racist.
Being mean spirited in general does not make one a bigot or racist. I know someone who is just mean but has not preference as to who he is mean to.
I agree Eric. Reminds me of a saying I've always found funny "I don't discriminate, I hate everyone" But there is a big difference when that meanness is directed at one group of people.
Interesting concept. I grew up back when there was no PC. I played ball. My sport buddies were all races normal in the Southwestern USA at the time. Nigger, Spic, Wetback, Wapp, Injun, Kraut, and Whitey were all used. I was adopted - Bastard. So....
U just made a perfect example of why PC isn't always bad. Those words were/are wrong in many ways. I was called a mutt, bean, and wetback as a kid. I hated it and was bullied bc my dad was hispanic. No diff in a bully kid doing it and an adult.
You can disagree with something and view it as wrong without hating it or being mean. People don't want to hear the truth. Bigot and racist are used too lightly these days.
But words did not and to this day do not effect our love for each other --- or maybe they did in a good way, as my FB shows. Strong ties were built by interaction. Between friends all manner of speech is acceptable. We were not of this now world.
You're right loli, but there is crossing that line and MANY ppl do then claim they are anti PC! I see it here on HP all the time. Name calling entire groups of ppl is not mature and IS hate. ED, between friends is the key, it is no longer.
You have rights. Your feelings do not. You do not have a right to be comfortable. You do not have a right not to be offended.
Longer answer:
This is the end result of the self-esteem movement. No one is allowed to feel sad, it is thought harmful for someone to be disappointed, your feelings are more important than traditional rules and real life.
The end result is a generation that thinks that their comfort and pleasure trump everything else, including:
* hurt feelings trump freedom of speech, so they see it as right to attack people for using words they think have negative emotional connotations and organize hate mobs to try to cost someone their job for expressing a politically incorrect opinion or using poor word choice.
* those who disagree with you aren't debating but labeled as hating, delegitimizing them while smearing them as irrational evil people
* the existence of whole groups gathered to discuss opposing views is like a Satanic cult would be seen 50 years ago, so SJWs enter these gatherings, shout people down, threaten violence, pull fire alarms, in the case of Trump's Chicago rally, actually attacked cops in the name of protecting various politically protected groups
* the person with the most intense feelings gets the heckler veto, encouraging irrationality and temper tantrums instead of reasoned debate
* when the loudest outraged person is considered the most moral, even the level headed act that way to gain the right to suppress others
* giving the most outraged or upset person the veto means enabling the paranoid and perpetually outraged, people who would otherwise be told to calm down or get out
My standard opinion is that you do not have the right to not be offended. Ultimately, the person who is offended is responsible for the way they perceive other people's comments and actions, and not the person doing the offending - whether intentional or not. It's just like the people who don't seem to understand that while they do have free speech (in the USA anyway) that does not mean that they have the right to say whatever they want without consequences. If someone chooses to exercise their right to free speech, they are ultimately responsible for dealing with any potential consequences that exercising that right entails. The same goes for the "offended". A lot of times people think that saying "I'm offended" puts the responsibility on the person they're talking to to stop saying whatever they're saying. It just doesn't work that way.
In answering this question we step back. We examine what we do that is offensive. And we try to correct that so as not to be offensive. My mere Christian and doctoral position is offensive to a brother of mine. I cannot change that. My bi-racial marriage and half breed son are offensive to some. I cannot change that. My preaching of the Gospel of Love is offensive to some outside the box fundamentalists. I could change that but will not.
I choose to react to what my wife says. No - I am compelled to do so. That is my choice. Does she offend me sometimes? Yes. Why is that relevant? Because we get offended by everything not in our predisposed view of the world.
I have 3 adult children with 7 college degrees between them raised close to our Mexican border. They were offended by my terms of "wetback" and "spic" until they met my good buddies of Mexican origin.
Am I a big old fat Gringo? Of course I am but I am simpatico. I was born illegitimate. In my day of birth that was a curse. I am proud of that to this day as a bastard. Am I gringo, hispanic, Black Irish, Injun or pure mutt? Stories abound. Am I offended by any reference? Nope.
I am only offended by how people treat each other. And I really get offended. As I grew up with indigenous peoples and cowboy's children, spitting on someone was acceptable reason for a fight and fight we did. My seven broken noses attest. Dirty language not so much. Call my mom a whore or bitch and the fight is on. Very few fighting words and we all know them.
I am offended by the whacks that burnt my American flag and screamed viva Mexico last night. Call me stupid but I sometimes get offended by actions.
MF, Nigger, WAPP, Spic, Gook (my family), Injun, are just words to me. If I just offended you by using those words, grow up.
If we act in love we are neither offended nor offend.
I think respect others ,If you like or not like their point of view .you have rights others also have rights,you have feelings ,others also have feelings.
I agree that many people now are getting offended over any and everything. You practically can't speak your mind or voice your own opinion without offending someone somewhere. The whole idea of being politically correct is based on not wanting to offend someone or hurt their feelings, but trying to be politically correct can be very damaging to people and society. For example if a politician uses one word that is not the "correct" word for something, he/she is thrown under the bus and called things such as insensitive, racist, rude, etc. Another more extreme example of how political correctness is ruining the American society is that police officers and military members are actually being killed due to someone trying to be politically correct. Recent studies show that many police are now hesitant to act in a dangerous situation because the media and other people can potentially call their actions politically incorrect, which can cost them not only their reputation but their job, and depending on the situation their life. For military members being politically correct has changed how our military fights. Rules of engagement have been changed to please the media and those offended by words. Trying to be politically correct has put lives at danger because their actions would be criticized by the media, so no we should no be responsible for those who get offended. Many of the people who claim to be offended are usually doing so in order to gain publicity or even monetary benefits from someone else's use of words. It is disgusting and shows how corrupt and weak people have become.
Your question is open-ended. That is to say, the matter can only be judged on a case-by-case basis. Here is one issue, and only one, for an example.
Do Indigenous Americans have the right to be offended by professional football and baseball teams that have certain kinds of names: The Atlanta "Braves," or the Washington "Redskins"?
I would say YES. The terms caricature and trivialize the indigenous and their struggle. I don't think such a thing falls into the category of what you call, in your question, "someone getting offended at virtually anything you say."
As a man, I think it would be offensive behavior, on my part, to use the "B-word," in reference to a woman. Yet I do not feel offended when women use it among themselves---they have earned that right, if you know what I mean. People are always taking insults and turning them around for their own use.
I don't think white people should use the "N-word," because of its history. But, on the other hand, people of African descent have earned the right to use it.
I don't think heterosexual people should use terms like the "Q-word," for example for gays; but, once again, the LGBT community have earned the right to use that turned-around insult.
What a divisive concept. A can say it because of his race. B cannot say it because of his race/gender/orientation. My son is a half breed. Can folk of either race call him out? I am illegitimate can another bastard call me out? Work this through.
I was talking about what people do. One of the things people have done for a long, long time is take a word, that is used as an insult against them---and then, instead of fleeing from it wholesale, they apply it to themselves, as a kind of defiance.
Incorporation by familiarity. The problem is that that makes cliques and insider outsider stuff. We see it in religious zealots making acceptance conditional on adaptation to group think. I am just saying it is interesting. Offensive?
Most black people feel that they've taken the N word and made it their own. Gave their own meaning to it. But not all feel that way. Others (and I) feel it is derogatory no matter who says it. Same with the other words you mentioned.
I agree with you. It seems like everywhere I go (on the Internet) recently people are arguing over things that should be able to be discussed and resolved civilly. It appears people are quicker to react and jump to conclusions without even taking the time to consider the other's point of view. It begs the question..are we becoming more argumentative as a society? It is impossible to say, in general,who should be held responsible if someone is offended. Every case has to be judged individually. Very little offends me and I seem to be taking on a mediator role almost everywhere I go. I am beginning to think I am the odd one out. I think some people are professional offendees though (if that is such a word.."victims" doesn't really fit)
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