Ooh lots or replies here.. so mine isn't really needed... lol but I'll give it anyway :P See I think the premise of this question is all wrong.. and it's a mistake that is all too common.. it misleads people I feel.. The thing is.. it is NOT and never was about protecting sensitive people.. it's about ensuring those who have less ability to defend themselves, such as the disabled, the minorities etc. etc.. don't have to endure daily harassment and denigration of THEIR rights...
And you know what.. it NEVER ever IS the case that those who go on about free speech mean talking to equals.. they only ever pick on those. You don't get a XYZ insulting another XYZ cos second XYZ would be able to punch first XYZ in their big-mouthed chops..
Offending sensitive people.. easy.. but let's not mistake that for abuse.
BTW. please believe I am as respectful as hell to those who deserve it.. but to bullying whatsits I am more than capable of verbally smacking them in the mouth aka I am not shy of saying what I think.. ooh and guess what.. I often find that when I do.. those bullies, those who insult and abuse others seem to get VERY sensitive all of a sudden :P
I think offending sensitive people is like a necessary evil to protect free speech. It might appear like bullying or trolling but if the sensitivity mob win it means we move into a dictatorship where thoughts can’t be put into words. I don’t see how that will benefit anyone except people that want to silence truth.
Well we all live within our limitations.. you see it your way... I see it entirely differently..(LOL tht's my more mature prioritising at work there :P) All I can say is that I am more than happy to stand up to the bullies and *insert rude word of choice* and I can more than give back as good as I receive.. and indeed. in real life.. even better...
I just find it real funny that those who want to insult others and belittle those less able to defend themselves get real sensitive when people stand up to them..
I do think that there is also a real difference between telling the truth.. we can ALL do that.. and we do have freedom.. it's when we get insulting, nasty, and abusive that we find ourselves in trouble.. Simple answer is.. say wht you think but just make sure you say it without belittling others :)
PS I do think too that a lot of this sensationalist backlash stuff about feminism and freedom of speech is just that.. sensationalist.. and often fostered by those least equipped intellectually to understand that actually we have free speech, and women are still by no means even close to true equality and really aren't a threat to men.
Outside of making direct threats? It should all be allowed or it doesn't exist.
Anyone that has any standards and principles is going to eventually offend someone with their opinions. That's not their problem.
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at December 29, 2017 8:17 PM MST
I prefer to avoid the language of prejudice. I believe all humans are intrinsically equal in basic needs and have the legal and moral right to be treated equally as citizens, including the need to be treated with respect.
No one likes to be unjustly dumped into preconceived categories just because of something they were born to be through genes and parental circumstances.
I have a problem with the term "politically correct." It's an oxymoron. In a democracy, the politician usually says whatever market research says will get the most votes, irrespective of whether it represents the party's true intentions. On the basis of Trump's popularity prior to his election, that would mean that, at that time, racism and sexism had become politically correct among republicans!
Unfortunately, the lowest common denominators of societal mores change very slowly. Take the history of the American civil rights movement. Once it was legal to enslave, buy, sell, chain, cage, starve, torture, rape and murder blacks, and legal to deny them their language and beliefs, and steal their children. Surely the vast majority would now agree that this was evil. What is needed now is for whites to realise the generational legacies of trauma, and how those wounds are extremely difficult to heal. Therapy is too costly for most people. The healing needs to occur in different ways. And one way is to ensure that people can feel safe, and expect that they will be treated with equality and fairness in all matters. And that includes the basic politeness that one offers to any and every person.
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at December 31, 2017 11:36 AM MST
The second one, if it is a genuinely, heart-felt desire to make others feel special and wanted and loved. You cannot go wrong with that gift that keeps on giving.
Guess I'm not too sensitive but a lot of what I read on AM does disturb as well as offend me cause it makes me realize that people resent me, are envious of me, and hate me. Which I know anyway but still is not happy to have it driven home day after day after day. But they have the right to post it so I have to live with it if I am to continue on here.
When I was young jokes made about peoples' ethnicity, race, occupation, interests, even the kind of cars they drove - were common currency and accepted as such. But it was a matter of taste and politeness, at least among those of us brought up to value such things, that they belonged in the private realm and not in front of those who might be offended. Because you respected others enough you would know when to use them and when to withhold use. Becoming close personally to people of different ethnicity, race, occupation, etc. you might tease each other back and forth with them and that was OK because it was understood that you valued and respected one another, something that seems so often missing these days. Now its like OK if you don't agree with us entirely then you don't exist to us and maybe you don't even deserve to live. Has really become so much a matter of "us" and "them' - "them" being everyone who is not "us". Which is too bad because by such a system of thinking you create a series of divided society rather than a uniform one and what goes for some people doesn't go for everybody depending on your thinking.
Adaydreambeliever 