4 ms·

<<If doing X instead of Y costs me nothing, yet doing Y causes someone else to suffer, why should I continue to do Y?>> This an oversimplification of something

by eggy 4y ago

<<If doing X instead of Y costs me nothing, yet doing Y causes someone else to suffer, why should I continue to do Y?>> This an oversimplification of something more complex and critical. Because the more you keep trying to avoid hurting or offending others as your first thought or action, you interrupt flow of thought and living. It becomes increasingly harder if the offending word list grows each day. What was X is now Y. Too much effort to pre-filter everything all the time. If someone is offended I try to adjust my word or action choices, but only after, prophylactically, not pro-actively, which can lead to overthinking day-to-day living. That is not to say that I haven't put my foot in my mouth as the words left my mouth, but slips happen.

082349872349872 4y ago
It should be no surprise that I take the same approach, and have not met anyone offended by a sincere restatement. (for that matter, my reading of the original FA was that it also was compatible with this forgiveness-over-permission strategy) That said, unless one lives one's life with elbows permanently out, there are really not so many Y's as to be intellectually taxing. Even Gen. Robert E. Lee, whom I suppose very few would accuse of being woke, recommended that gentlemen avoid Y. > What was X is now Y. When in Rome, tempora mutantur.
- eggy 4y ago
  Somewhat. It's ironic you quote tempora mutantur, which is classical and mores and ways changed much more slowly then. The issue now is that a loud minority of people are demanding for the majority to comply. The Minority Rule, where a very small minority by being loud and inflexible, can win and have the flexible majority bend to their demands. This is evident in how far right and far left minorities have achieved more sway than more moderates of each party, or more innocuous, why almost all milk has the U or UD symbol to signify it is a kosher dairy product. I am flexible, but not complacent in accepting all changes especially in today's culture. Drinking Kosher milk is not forbidden, and poses me no harm or inconvenience. My company asking me to choose pronouns for my email seems a bit out of place, and I miss nuts on my flights even though people with nut allergies are the minority.
  - 082349872349872 4y ago
    I am not sure choosing pronouns can be ascribed to "minority" rule; consider that back in 2019, 52% of surveyed Americans indicated they were somewhat or very comfortable using a gender-neutral pronoun to refer to someone if asked to do so: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/09/05/gender-neutral-pronouns/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/09/05/gender-neut... (I miss the days when one could, without ID, walk out of the gate, across the tarmac, and up the ramp into a plane like it was a more expensive bus. But I'm not going to fool myself that times haven't changed, or waste mental bandwidth trying to bring those times back.)
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - eggy 4y ago
      My reference to choosing pronouns was an objection to my company making it policy, not whether I am personally comfortable with using whatever pronoun someone wants to be called. Two different scenarios with different meaning and consequences. As far as your poll goes, it had only 79% respondents, 10,682 to be exact. I would say most people in this culture would respond with what they are being told is the socially acceptable response when being asked by a pollster, not what they really think - the silent majority of the exhausted to quote someone I forget at the moment. I grew up in the 70s in NYC, and there were the FALN bombings and skyjackings in the US at the time. Still OJ Simpson ran to the gate! Do you miss not having to take off your shoes? Do you really think this is a valid thing to ask people to do in the name of their personal safety because one guy tried unsuccessfully to light his show in the bathroom? Meanwhile, your laptop goes through a scanner that simply shows a dense square that should be your battery, but could be anything they would not pick up anyway? I don't waste mental bandwidth trying to bring things back, but to halt the progression of unfounded ideas being turned into social and public policy unnecessarily curbing my liberties under the guise of the good and making the world less open for my children. What do you spend your bandwidth on?
      - claytongulick 4y ago

by eggy 4y ago

082349872349872 4y ago

It should be no surprise that I take the same approach, and have not met anyone offended by a sincere restatement. (for that matter, my reading of the original FA was that it also was compatible with this forgiveness-over-permission strategy) That said, unless one lives one's life with elbows permanently out, there are really not so many Y's as to be intellectually taxing. Even Gen. Robert E. Lee, whom I suppose very few would accuse of being woke, recommended that gentlemen avoid Y. > What was X is now Y. When in Rome, tempora mutantur.

eggy 4y ago
Somewhat. It's ironic you quote tempora mutantur, which is classical and mores and ways changed much more slowly then. The issue now is that a loud minority of people are demanding for the majority to comply. The Minority Rule, where a very small minority by being loud and inflexible, can win and have the flexible majority bend to their demands. This is evident in how far right and far left minorities have achieved more sway than more moderates of each party, or more innocuous, why almost all milk has the U or UD symbol to signify it is a kosher dairy product. I am flexible, but not complacent in accepting all changes especially in today's culture. Drinking Kosher milk is not forbidden, and poses me no harm or inconvenience. My company asking me to choose pronouns for my email seems a bit out of place, and I miss nuts on my flights even though people with nut allergies are the minority.
- 082349872349872 4y ago
  I am not sure choosing pronouns can be ascribed to "minority" rule; consider that back in 2019, 52% of surveyed Americans indicated they were somewhat or very comfortable using a gender-neutral pronoun to refer to someone if asked to do so: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/09/05/gender-neutral-pronouns/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/09/05/gender-neut... (I miss the days when one could, without ID, walk out of the gate, across the tarmac, and up the ramp into a plane like it was a more expensive bus. But I'm not going to fool myself that times haven't changed, or waste mental bandwidth trying to bring those times back.)
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - eggy 4y ago
    My reference to choosing pronouns was an objection to my company making it policy, not whether I am personally comfortable with using whatever pronoun someone wants to be called. Two different scenarios with different meaning and consequences. As far as your poll goes, it had only 79% respondents, 10,682 to be exact. I would say most people in this culture would respond with what they are being told is the socially acceptable response when being asked by a pollster, not what they really think - the silent majority of the exhausted to quote someone I forget at the moment. I grew up in the 70s in NYC, and there were the FALN bombings and skyjackings in the US at the time. Still OJ Simpson ran to the gate! Do you miss not having to take off your shoes? Do you really think this is a valid thing to ask people to do in the name of their personal safety because one guy tried unsuccessfully to light his show in the bathroom? Meanwhile, your laptop goes through a scanner that simply shows a dense square that should be your battery, but could be anything they would not pick up anyway? I don't waste mental bandwidth trying to bring things back, but to halt the progression of unfounded ideas being turned into social and public policy unnecessarily curbing my liberties under the guise of the good and making the world less open for my children. What do you spend your bandwidth on?
    - claytongulick 4y ago