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The Real Reason We Need to Stop Trying to Protect Everyone’s Feelings

16 points by Jerry2 11y ago

nine_k 11y ago
tl;dr: Censorship of "being offended" is as bad as that of a tyrannical government.
- smt88 11y ago
  As a response to your summary of the article and not you directly: absolutely fucking not. In most of these instances, people are exercising their freedom of speech to shame people who are exercising their own. In many cases, it's students or parents publicly shaming a college. That is absolutely not at all the kind of censorship of a tyrannical government. Private institutions caving to pressure from consumers or the media is what happens when everyone can speak freely. Some people have more power, and they use it to make sure that minority speech is ridiculed. Tyranny isn't misuse of market power or the press, it's misuse of government and the law. When we see the US government telling people they can't teach novels about Nazis at universities, then someone can cry foul.
  - techdragon 11y ago
    A valid point... But what about the many historical examples of the kinds of problems caused by "Tragedy of the Commons", "Tyranny of the Masses" etc. Not government tyranny but causing arguably just as much damage to society. Best example off the top of my head is the "post emancipation pre civil rights period". The simple premise that "lots of people" can be just as tyrannical as a government is hard to argue against. There are lots of small examples where "the oppressed" have a much easier path to "freedom", from homeowners associations, to religious groups, to various community organisations and groups. Governments hardly have a monopoly on Tyranny. Tldr- this issue is complicated, super short summaries are not a good idea for this topic ;-)
  - nine_k 11y ago
    When people shame other people for their views, it's perfectly OK. When people stop other people from speaking their mind, up to the practice of limiting free speech to designated corners of institutions allegedly devoted to higher education, it's something seriously different. The key difference lies in the use of the (administrative) power.

16 points by Jerry2 11y ago

nine_k 11y ago

tl;dr: Censorship of "being offended" is as bad as that of a tyrannical government.

smt88 11y ago
As a response to your summary of the article and not you directly: absolutely fucking not. In most of these instances, people are exercising their freedom of speech to shame people who are exercising their own. In many cases, it's students or parents publicly shaming a college. That is absolutely not at all the kind of censorship of a tyrannical government. Private institutions caving to pressure from consumers or the media is what happens when everyone can speak freely. Some people have more power, and they use it to make sure that minority speech is ridiculed. Tyranny isn't misuse of market power or the press, it's misuse of government and the law. When we see the US government telling people they can't teach novels about Nazis at universities, then someone can cry foul.
- techdragon 11y ago
  A valid point... But what about the many historical examples of the kinds of problems caused by "Tragedy of the Commons", "Tyranny of the Masses" etc. Not government tyranny but causing arguably just as much damage to society. Best example off the top of my head is the "post emancipation pre civil rights period". The simple premise that "lots of people" can be just as tyrannical as a government is hard to argue against. There are lots of small examples where "the oppressed" have a much easier path to "freedom", from homeowners associations, to religious groups, to various community organisations and groups. Governments hardly have a monopoly on Tyranny. Tldr- this issue is complicated, super short summaries are not a good idea for this topic ;-)
- nine_k 11y ago
  When people shame other people for their views, it's perfectly OK. When people stop other people from speaking their mind, up to the practice of limiting free speech to designated corners of institutions allegedly devoted to higher education, it's something seriously different. The key difference lies in the use of the (administrative) power.