5 ms·

> Do we want to be in a society where only things deemed non-offensive are protected? Well, offensive to whom? There's obviously "Nigger"... But wait. It's off

by kefka 9y ago

> Do we want to be in a society where only things deemed non-offensive are protected? Well, offensive to whom? There's obviously "Nigger"... But wait. It's offensive if a white person calls a black person that. But many a time, blacks will call each other that to 'own' the word and reclaim its power. So we have an immediate example of an offensive word that isn't offensive in many cases. Or in recent years, simply asking "Are you a man or woman?" is offensive if they pull the 'not gender binary'-card. Yeah, we can ignore the fact that you either have sperm or eggs, or genetic anomalies that have interesting medical conditions.. But the question in certain groups is "Offensive". Then there's the last group of people who are, what I call, professional victims. I've not seen a conservative one of these yet. They primarily are in the extremist liberal camps, and the smallest innocuous things will set them off in tirades. To them, everything they don't do is "Offensive". And this "Offensiveness" changes as per person. I usually treat these people by ignoring them. You cannot win. (An example of one of them is demanding to have others use some pronoun like hir or zir or zem. And they will get angry if you ask, don't ask, use a different one around other people or... ) Edit: I try for a variant of the Robustness Principle. Unless someone is intentionally mocking me, if they get some term wrong or use no longer "politically correct" terminology, I try to look past that for their underlying idea.

msie 9y ago
I've not seen a conservative one of these yet. Ive seen plenty of them. They rail against any sign of diversity as an attack on their white, heterosexual normalcy. Check out the forums on IGN. They are outraged by the sight of a penis in a tv show (American Gods) or a person of colour cast in a leading role.
- kefka 9y ago
  Well, point made. I've seen a bit of these types, but usually they wore iron cross rings, or white robes (KKK). Even some of the more extremist Christians I know haven't acted quite like that. Yes their preference is very much against homosexuality and more liberal policies of "Do what you want as long as you don't harm others", but I haven't seem them go out of their way like the extremist liberal ones do. I've even been screamed at by some extremist liberal woman because I (a male <shudder>) dared to walk through a door and hold the door open for her, err, hir, err, "it". And note, even if you can't see it, am a bisexual male.
  - sanderjd 9y ago
    Your comments here are ironic because while claiming to have only ever witnessed "professional victims" on the progressive side, you're displaying the conservative version of the same thing. You don't recognize that's what it is, you just think you have legitimate complaints about how you've been treated due to your identity. That's exactly what the people on the other side think as well.
    - yebyen 9y ago
      I think you just said that anyone who was ever "victimized" by a professional victim is, themselves, a professional victim. I want to believe that's not what you're saying, but I'm having a hard time parsing something different out of your comment.
      - kefka 9y ago
        Yeah. I spent about 20 minutes mulling over how to respond, and instead opted not to. But yes, you hit it in 1. Maybe the conservatives have their own. Pretty sure they do. Ive seem some kicking and screaming with Christianity, but even in Indiana, apathy with regards to religion seems to be taking more of a hold. And there's that Starbucks cup thing.. I'm 100% sure that was social media "fake news". I never saw anyone in real life actually complaining about that, other than for a week or 2, it was bandied around everywhere. Then again, the ones who've consistently yelled and screamed and flailed around are the special snowflake extremist liberal SJWs over perceived and non-existent slights. And yes, I'm a liberal complaining about how extremists are ruining liberalism, because what they want freedom for you to comply with them.
      - sanderjd 9y ago
        What you're missing is that I don't think that there is such a thing as a "professional victim". I think it is just a term some people use to delegitimize any slights perceived by the "other side".
        yebyen 9y ago
dragonwriter 9y ago
> Or in recent years, simply asking "Are you a man or woman?" is offensive if they pull the 'not gender binary'-card Outside of very narrow circumstances where it's actually relevant, asking someone's gender identity or sex is likely to be offensive even without a forced binary choice and even if they don't subscribe to a non-binary identity, simply because it implies that they are going to be judged on that rather than their ideas or actions (or by how their ideas or actions fit your perception of sex/gender roles rather than the merits of the ideas/actions on their own.)
magicalist 9y ago
> Then there's the last group of people who are, what I call, professional victims. I've not seen a conservative one of these yet heh. The "War on Christmas" sprang to mind without even thinking about it. I mean, a large number of people spent Christmas 2015 offended by the color a cup wasn't.
thereare5lights 9y ago
> Then there's the last group of people who are, what I call, professional victims. I've not seen a conservative one of these yet. Boy, you live in some bubble don't you. There are so many examples, it boggles the mind that you haven't seen them.
dragonwriter 9y ago
> Then there's the last group of people who are, what I call, professional victims. I've not seen a conservative one of these yet. Really? Because I seem to not be able to take a step without tripping over the mainstream conservative Christians whining about the persecution of "people of faith" everytime the government fails to sufficiently privilege their religious viewpoint in public policy, or some private actor fails to acknowledge their preferred religious holiday in standard commercial greetings, or... Among numerous other conservative examples.
gamblor956 9y ago
Then there's the last group of people who are, what I call, professional victims. I've not seen a conservative one of these yet. They primarily are in the extremist liberal camps, and the smallest innocuous things will set them off in tirades. Donald Trump. Professional victim since 1946. Far-right conservative since at least 2008. Recently threatened to cut off relations with several of our closest allies because the elected leader didn't congratulate him quickly enough after November 8th. Has claimed since his inauguration that (a) Democrats, (b) Republicans, (c) the government, and (d) the Media are out to get him, despite being part of each of these groups during the last few years.

by kefka 9y ago

msie 9y ago

I've not seen a conservative one of these yet. Ive seen plenty of them. They rail against any sign of diversity as an attack on their white, heterosexual normalcy. Check out the forums on IGN. They are outraged by the sight of a penis in a tv show (American Gods) or a person of colour cast in a leading role.

kefka 9y ago
Well, point made. I've seen a bit of these types, but usually they wore iron cross rings, or white robes (KKK). Even some of the more extremist Christians I know haven't acted quite like that. Yes their preference is very much against homosexuality and more liberal policies of "Do what you want as long as you don't harm others", but I haven't seem them go out of their way like the extremist liberal ones do. I've even been screamed at by some extremist liberal woman because I (a male <shudder>) dared to walk through a door and hold the door open for her, err, hir, err, "it". And note, even if you can't see it, am a bisexual male.
- sanderjd 9y ago
  Your comments here are ironic because while claiming to have only ever witnessed "professional victims" on the progressive side, you're displaying the conservative version of the same thing. You don't recognize that's what it is, you just think you have legitimate complaints about how you've been treated due to your identity. That's exactly what the people on the other side think as well.
  - yebyen 9y ago
    I think you just said that anyone who was ever "victimized" by a professional victim is, themselves, a professional victim. I want to believe that's not what you're saying, but I'm having a hard time parsing something different out of your comment.
    - kefka 9y ago
      Yeah. I spent about 20 minutes mulling over how to respond, and instead opted not to. But yes, you hit it in 1. Maybe the conservatives have their own. Pretty sure they do. Ive seem some kicking and screaming with Christianity, but even in Indiana, apathy with regards to religion seems to be taking more of a hold. And there's that Starbucks cup thing.. I'm 100% sure that was social media "fake news". I never saw anyone in real life actually complaining about that, other than for a week or 2, it was bandied around everywhere. Then again, the ones who've consistently yelled and screamed and flailed around are the special snowflake extremist liberal SJWs over perceived and non-existent slights. And yes, I'm a liberal complaining about how extremists are ruining liberalism, because what they want freedom for you to comply with them.
    - sanderjd 9y ago
      What you're missing is that I don't think that there is such a thing as a "professional victim". I think it is just a term some people use to delegitimize any slights perceived by the "other side".
      - yebyen 9y ago

dragonwriter 9y ago

> Or in recent years, simply asking "Are you a man or woman?" is offensive if they pull the 'not gender binary'-card Outside of very narrow circumstances where it's actually relevant, asking someone's gender identity or sex is likely to be offensive even without a forced binary choice and even if they don't subscribe to a non-binary identity, simply because it implies that they are going to be judged on that rather than their ideas or actions (or by how their ideas or actions fit your perception of sex/gender roles rather than the merits of the ideas/actions on their own.)

magicalist 9y ago

> Then there's the last group of people who are, what I call, professional victims. I've not seen a conservative one of these yet heh. The "War on Christmas" sprang to mind without even thinking about it. I mean, a large number of people spent Christmas 2015 offended by the color a cup wasn't.

thereare5lights 9y ago

> Then there's the last group of people who are, what I call, professional victims. I've not seen a conservative one of these yet. Boy, you live in some bubble don't you. There are so many examples, it boggles the mind that you haven't seen them.

dragonwriter 9y ago

> Then there's the last group of people who are, what I call, professional victims. I've not seen a conservative one of these yet. Really? Because I seem to not be able to take a step without tripping over the mainstream conservative Christians whining about the persecution of "people of faith" everytime the government fails to sufficiently privilege their religious viewpoint in public policy, or some private actor fails to acknowledge their preferred religious holiday in standard commercial greetings, or... Among numerous other conservative examples.

gamblor956 9y ago

Then there's the last group of people who are, what I call, professional victims. I've not seen a conservative one of these yet. They primarily are in the extremist liberal camps, and the smallest innocuous things will set them off in tirades. Donald Trump. Professional victim since 1946. Far-right conservative since at least 2008. Recently threatened to cut off relations with several of our closest allies because the elected leader didn't congratulate him quickly enough after November 8th. Has claimed since his inauguration that (a) Democrats, (b) Republicans, (c) the government, and (d) the Media are out to get him, despite being part of each of these groups during the last few years.