5 ms·

> More and more we live in a culture where people think it's their right to feel offended for anyone saying anything that makes them fell that way to just be sh

by GVIrish 10y ago

> More and more we live in a culture where people think it's their right to feel offended for anyone saying anything that makes them fell that way to just be shut up by someone (some faculty department for instance). Um, it is someone's right to feel offended, you can't control how anyone else feels. Now others can determine whether someone taking offense at something is reasonable in the situation, but people have the right to feel whatever they feel. Now sometimes it becomes problematic when people who feel offended attempt to shut down discourse, that much is true. > It is becoming basically a Politically Correct culture of censorship and we keep seeing opinion texts (just like this one) that appeal to that censorship like if it was a good thing. I don't see it as more and more people becoming jerks, I see it as more and more people becoming thin skinned. Or maybe there are whole groups of people who had to accept unkind behavior in the past in silence, who now are demanding better treatment. Women in the workplace have had to (and still do) put up with all manner of misogynist nonsense and more women and men are saying this is no longer acceptable. To that, some will complain that things are becoming too 'PC' but the fact is that poor behavior that was tolerated in the past is no longer tolerated. Same deal with race. A few decades ago it was ok to refer to a grown black man as, "boy" in any context. It was okay to disparage other races openly at home, at work, in public, now it largely isn't. Some will cry 'Censorship!' or whatever but the fact is that social norms of decency are relegating those attitudes to history. The people complaining are the ones who refuse to accept that those attitudes belong in the past.

deleted 10y ago
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Noseshine 10y ago
> Um, it is someone's right to feel offended Well, doesn't that mean then other people have the right to say whatever they want even if others feel offended? Which means we don't need to have this discussion and just accept both the offended and the assholes. This argument seems to me to lead nowhere, unless you say being offended is okay, offending is not. Which I would find quite disturbing, not just because Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (Turkey) would vehemently agree but because it seems wrong to me.
- GVIrish 10y ago
  No, it just means that you can't control how something will be received and that sometimes people are going to have an negative emotional response to something benign or well-intended. Now, whether someone should change their behavior to suit the sensibilities of the offended is the question. The answer to that question is basically what social norms are. It's a moving target that evolves over time and across segments of society, so there's no foolproof way to always know where the line is. But as long as someone cares to understand, learn from, and empathize with other people more often than not they'll have an idea of what is appropriate and inappropriate. The asshole is the person who either doesn't care, or chooses not to understand or take stock of the reactions of others, and as such is waaayyy over the line for decency. > This argument seems to me to lead nowhere, unless you say being offended is okay, offending is not. Which I would find quite disturbing, not just because Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (Turkey) would vehemently agree but because it seems wrong to me. In the case of Turkey and some other parts of the world, we're getting into the territory of the government punishing people with dissenting opinions or criticisms. My take would be that someone has the right to feel offended, but the government should not be in the business of punishing the offender when it comes to speech, political views, etc. So someone can express utter disgust with the AKP and call Erdoğan a dictator in waiting, which would offend many of his supporters, but that shouldn't result in punishment/imprisonment.
  - Noseshine 10y ago
    Since you feel you had to reply with > Um, it is someone's right to feel offended,... it certainly shows that you dispute the right of the person to say what he had to say - so my point stands. If you accepted his right as well you would not have felt it necessary to make that statement. As I said, > Which means we don't need to have this discussion and just accept both the > offended and the assholes. > This argument seems to me to lead nowhere... I see you arguing for one side's right to speak their mind only. Either you see their right as more important, or your post is completely unnecessary and you could just have let everybody say whatever they felt like.
    - 10y ago

by GVIrish 10y ago

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

Noseshine 10y ago

> Um, it is someone's right to feel offended Well, doesn't that mean then other people have the right to say whatever they want even if others feel offended? Which means we don't need to have this discussion and just accept both the offended and the assholes. This argument seems to me to lead nowhere, unless you say being offended is okay, offending is not. Which I would find quite disturbing, not just because Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (Turkey) would vehemently agree but because it seems wrong to me.

GVIrish 10y ago
No, it just means that you can't control how something will be received and that sometimes people are going to have an negative emotional response to something benign or well-intended. Now, whether someone should change their behavior to suit the sensibilities of the offended is the question. The answer to that question is basically what social norms are. It's a moving target that evolves over time and across segments of society, so there's no foolproof way to always know where the line is. But as long as someone cares to understand, learn from, and empathize with other people more often than not they'll have an idea of what is appropriate and inappropriate. The asshole is the person who either doesn't care, or chooses not to understand or take stock of the reactions of others, and as such is waaayyy over the line for decency. > This argument seems to me to lead nowhere, unless you say being offended is okay, offending is not. Which I would find quite disturbing, not just because Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (Turkey) would vehemently agree but because it seems wrong to me. In the case of Turkey and some other parts of the world, we're getting into the territory of the government punishing people with dissenting opinions or criticisms. My take would be that someone has the right to feel offended, but the government should not be in the business of punishing the offender when it comes to speech, political views, etc. So someone can express utter disgust with the AKP and call Erdoğan a dictator in waiting, which would offend many of his supporters, but that shouldn't result in punishment/imprisonment.
- Noseshine 10y ago
  Since you feel you had to reply with > Um, it is someone's right to feel offended,... it certainly shows that you dispute the right of the person to say what he had to say - so my point stands. If you accepted his right as well you would not have felt it necessary to make that statement. As I said, > Which means we don't need to have this discussion and just accept both the > offended and the assholes. > This argument seems to me to lead nowhere... I see you arguing for one side's right to speak their mind only. Either you see their right as more important, or your post is completely unnecessary and you could just have let everybody say whatever they felt like.
  - 10y ago