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[exmachina64]

I think half of gaf just got PSTD from reading this. Monster!

Pacific standard time disorder...?

 

[Brakke]

Social skills are something that we're going to constantly develop through our lives, and we're going to fail or offend people sometimes. As long as we don't take that as a cue to double down, and recognize that it's not an indelible mark on our character, it's really not a big deal.

I mean like... Internet crusades suggest that sometimes it is a really big deal, however you respond.

 

[dity]

All I've noticed is that if you point out something might have been shitty to say, you'll get a slew of individuals spouting "triggered", "r u mad?", "SJWs" and the like.

Its a shame racist, misogynistic and homophobic humor has fallen out of favor.

Oh yes, such a shame. What a tragedy.

Spoiler

/s

 

[MGrant]

Pacific standard time disorder...?

Don't judge. Having to wait until it's midnight on the West coast for a steam game to unlock is the most offensive thing I've ever had to endure.

 

[umop_3pisdn]

I mean like... Internet crusades suggest that sometimes it is a really big deal, however you respond.

That's true, I think nuanced thinking is hard for people, myself included sometimes.

 

[Relativ9]

I mean like... Internet crusades suggest that sometimes it is a really big deal, however you respond.

Not just on the Internet, there were riots and killings in the streets all over the middle east and Africa because some dude in Denmark made a squibble none of the people rioting ever would've seen if it hadn't been blown way out of proportion.

 

[devilhawk]

So people shouldn't be offended by things that you don't care about?

I think you missed what I was replying to.

 

[JinjoUnchained]

It depends on the intent behind the statement. I'm cool If a comedian is doing racially themed humor, but it's clear they're not racist and merely pushing boundaries. Amy Schumer and Sarah Silverman come to mind.

 

[Griss]

The bad comes with the good. For every piece of social media that rightfully calls out shitty behavior, there's another that tries to stir up controversy because there's a market in it now (see what happened to Shaun King when Breitbart discovered he had white parents).

I feel like what should be good, common-sense values, like accepting and protecting others' cultures, bodies, sexualities, and gender identities have turned into a new kind of purity test for our generation. The tumblr and twitter crowd, and I know I'm generalizing, often seek to ruin peoples' lives over perceived inadequacies in tolerance or acceptance. Sometimes it's justified, as in cases of police murder or sexual discrimination, but other times it seems like some real effort was put into unearthing someone's shitty comments from years ago, comments that they may not even condone anymore, in order to use it against them today.

So yeah. People are a little touchy these days, but worse, people have learned how to turn admiration for tolerance into both a product and a weapon, and it doesn't always hit the right target.

Pretty much exactly how I see it.

It's the 'offence as a product' shit that really bothers me. There are blogs out there with certain click quotas these days, and writers trawling twitter thinking 'Shit, this is... hmm this c-list celebrity's tweet is a little questionable here. Maybe I dress this up and I get some hits. If I get lucky it blows up.' And to 'sell' it, they have to act super offended in the article itself.

Even when the original comment picked upon really is a poor one, it still bothers me. Why is 'idiot says stupid thing' ever something that needs to be brought to our attention? Why are there people who think that reading/writing about this shit all day makes sense? Can't stand it, and largely try to avoid it.

This, at least, is certain. Shit is so obnoxious. Getting offended that other people are offended is so silly.

Being pissed off and being offended are clearly different things. The latter requires some kind of insult or slur to be at the heart of it, the other doesn't. No one gets offended at offence culture, they get pissed off.

 

[Darksol]

People used to be able to say froggy shit without being called out on it.
Now, people who say froggy shit get called out on it and don't know how to deal with it.
Sucks for them!

Was that an ethnic slur against the people of France?

Spoiler

 

[Surface of Me]

Yes and no. No in the sense that people who didnt really have a voice in the past now do and can call others out on terrible shit they say. Yes in the sense that people see stuff like that, dont want to be seen in the same group as the people saying terrible shit and take it too far.

 

[jorma]

Pacific standard time disorder...?

Dyslectic-shaming isn't nice!

 

[Timedog]

Fuck this vague bullshit. Anyone that says this crap should quantify where exactly the line is between too easily offended and justifiably offended.

 

[Gastone]

Simple answer: Absolutely.

I say offensive shit all the time, and half of the time i do it just to trigger a response from people i know will go apeshit over what i'm about to say. It's a form of entertainment, if you will. I'm an asshole, i guess.

Still, i do honestly believe that people do get offended of really silly shit these days.

For example, a parent walks into McDonalds and orders a happy meal for his/her 5 year old child. The McD clerk asks "For a boy or a girl?" (because the color of toy will be either pink or blue, or a princess figure instead of a knight figure). The parent then snaps and launches a verbal tirade towards the clerk about how McD is enforcing gender stereotypes by forcing a choice of color, or a certain type of toy onto his/her child. The parent then takes to twitter, FB, whathaveyou, and manages to create a storm around this.

Now, i know the above example is pretty serious for some, while for others, it's a non issue, like me. And i think that's the way it should be. What a boring world it would be if everyone got offended by the same things

 

[Not Spaceghost]

I met some one that got really mad that I was interested in learning how to speak Chinese because they thought it was cultural appropriation.

 

[exmachina64]

Don't judge. Having to wait until it's midnight on the West coast for a steam game to unlock is the most offensive thing I've ever had to endure.

I share in that affliction.

 

[Relativ9]

Fuck this vague bullshit. Anyone that says this crap should quantify where exactly the line is between too easily offended and justifiably offended.

Okey; never. The very concept of taking offense is useless. Disagree and calmly argue your (hopefully) superior point or go one step further and satirise your opponent. Having an emotional reaction accomplishes nothing other than weekening your arguing position.

 

[Amalthea]

People are too easily offended these days; people who want to say offensive things but can't take the negative reactions afterwards, to be specific.

 

[MGrant]

I met some one that got really mad that I was interested in learning how to speak Chinese because they thought it was cultural appropriation.

An isolated phenomenon in today's twentysomething culture, but still one that we need to find a way to address. It's only a matter of time before we come full circle and start chiding people for "privilege-shaming" or "rich-shaming" or some shit like that.

 

[A Link to the Past]

I met some one that got really mad that I was interested in learning how to speak Chinese because they thought it was cultural appropriation.

I guess I can see where that comes from, unless the purpose was to improve job skills or integrate with a Chinese community better. The idea being that learning another language for non-practical reasons is more of a hobby. I will agree that for innocuous stuff like this, people shouldn't really get mad.

 

[-Ryn]

I met some one that got really mad that I was interested in learning how to speak Chinese because they thought it was cultural appropriation.

That person is an idiot

 

[Shuggananas]

What kind of question is this OP ??

 

[Massive Duck. C.M.]

Okey; never. The very concept of taking offense is useless. Disagree and calmly argue your (hopefully) superior point or go one step further and satirise your opponent. Having an emotional reaction accomplishes nothing other than weekening your arguing position.

There's this weird idea some people have that everything is a debate, when really sometimes a person is just wrong and should be told as much. It's not always the burden of the person being shat on to teach the ignorant.

 

[EVOL 100%]

Two minds on this.

It's pretty great that people casually throwing out worda like faggot, tranny and instances of casual racism/sexism being called out on their bullshit.

But then there's stuff like the whole Colbert debacle where people simply couldn't understand satire and wail about racism towards Asians, when in fact it was supposed to show the absurdity of having a team called the Redskins.

So yeah

 

[dity]

People are too easily offended these days; people who want to say offensive things but can't take the negative reactions afterwards, to be specific.

I've been told to "go die" and a lot of other fairly yucky things by others for pointing out an out-of-line comment someone made in a video, so I'd tend to agree with this.

 

[dreamcastmaster]

Offended? "I can get some likes and shares out of this! Maybe, just maybe it will go viral and just think how many new followers I could get!"

Keyboard activists do exactly fuck all when confronted with an offensive situation in the real world except rush to post about it online.

Exhibit A that topic here last month titled "The most Racist thing that's ever happened to me"

 

[Trey]

Okey; never. The very concept of taking offense is useless. Disagree and calmly argue your (hopefully) superior point or go one step further and satirise your opponent. Having an emotional reaction accomplishes nothing other than weekening your arguing position.

It's pretty useful. A significant pillar of communication and an achor of social interaction.

 

[industrian]

I would imagine that when it comes to a lot of younger people, they're raised in sheltered environments with no conflicts or exposure to "real life". So basically when they encounter "real life" and the conflicts within it (normally at college) they panic, want everything to be like it was back when they were home schooled and/or educated in an environment where they were always right or always the winner, and basically throw out the "I'm offended" card in order to try to change things to their liking.

The internet is also an echo chamber for controversy and "me too!" mentalities, so if the soup of the day is to be outraged at some shit, then a lot of people will jump on that bandwagon in order to try to get noticed and to feel important.

 

[Zaptruder]

There's this weird idea some people have that everything is a debate, when really sometimes a person is just wrong and should be told as much. It's not always the burden of the person being shat on to teach the ignorant.

How does one come to know when one is wrong and one is right?

It's easy to presume one is always right... but that is not what a wise man does.

Just walk away if they can't be taught - their ignorance isn't a reflection on you, and you shouldn't want to act in ignorance out of anger.

Best move I've found to win over people that are on the edge - people that you know can be concientious but have slipped in the moment is to say something like: "Hey... I know you don't mean that, because you're better than that."

It's a charitable interpretation of action, and it gives the person a moment to step back without further antagonizing the situation, further polarizing and dividing. But it still serves to remind them what they're saying/doing is the wrong thing to do.

Otherwise, if they're so ignorant that you can't debate them, you can't bring them back over the edge... what's the point in wasting time escalating the antagonism?

 

[Massive Duck. C.M.]

How does one come to know when one is wrong and one is right?

It's easy to presume one is always right... but that is not what a wise man does.

People have access to information; they should use it.

 

[A Link to the Past]

Offended? "I can get some likes and shares out of this! Maybe, just maybe it will go viral and just think how many new followers I could get!"

Keyboard activists do exactly fuck all when confronted with an offensive situation in the real world except rush to post about it online.

Exhibit A that topic here last month titled "The most Racist thing that's ever happened to me"

Assuming that's true - that "keyboard activists" do fuck all IRL - is that supposed to have meaning in a society where it's shown that most people won't do fuck all IRL? Like, for a person who might be worried about getting particularly negative reactions over a public response to someone's offensive statement or hearing someone say something offensive, should they feel like weirdo losers for posting about it online instead? It's not as simple as making a public spectacle.

 

[Tornado Condor]

Yep. Just go to the gaming section and look at the streets fighter threads where they introduce a new female character. Boobs and ass sure offend some people around here.

 

[Gnome]

Painting everything with a broad brush and ignoring context and nuance, it's times when people do this and get offended at something they didn't bother to understand who are the problem.


It is essentially the loud and ignorant, regardless of being liberal or conservative, that get on my nerves.

 

[Zaptruder]

People have access to information; they should use it.

Access to information doesn't mean much if one doesn't have the wherewithal or understanding to realize that they lack that information and can and should search it out.

And that sort of problem is compounded when one believes in the correctness of their own position without a mechanism that forces them to occasionally revisit it.

 

[Hip Hop]

Yep. Just go to the gaming section and look at the streets fighter threads where they introduce a new female character. Boobs and ass sure offend some people around here.

The outrage culture is getting out of hand.

 

[Deleted member 1235]

Its a shame racist, misogynistic and homophobic humor has fallen out of favor.

its more of a shame that just about everything is labelled as such, even when it isnt.

it seems a lot worse online than in real life though.

I think it used to be possible to tease others (and be teased) good naturedly about their sexuality race, religion or sex, but there is a lot less thinking about the intention behind words these days and a lot more tumblr revenge from idiots

 

[Massive Duck. C.M.]

Access to information doesn't mean much if one doesn't have the wherewithal or understanding to realize that they lack that information and can and should search it out.

And that sort of problem is compounded when one believes in the correctness of their own position without a mechanism that forces them to occasionally revisit it.

So you feel the burden of educating the ignorant lies with those affected, and the ignorant are absolved of educating themselves because they may not have the interest or intelligence to do so?

I'm sure you have some specific forms of ignorance in mind, but sometimes people just want to swat flies, not lure them

 

[Lazyslob]

id say yes, but its... really mostly on the internet. ive never seen any of this outrage stuff in my personal at all and this is coming from someone who talks shit on people constantly in my daily life. but it makes sense that its really the internet where it would take place

 

[Surface of Me]

Yep. Just go to the gaming section and look at the streets fighter threads where they introduce a new female character. Boobs and ass sure offend some people around here.

Some games having tits and ass isn't a problem, it is a problem when the overwhelming majority do and thats all their female characters are. I dont think the solution is pushing game devs to change their characters via outrage, the root problem is the lack of women in game development. Which is a problem in general in STEM, if we fix that then gradually you'll see games who have female characters as more than just tits and ass.

 

[HolyCheck]

Yep, we're just a bunch of whiny babies now. You tell a broad to stay in her lane and keep focus on the housekeeping and all of a sudden she goes on a rain about "misogyny" or some shit. You tell the negroes that if they just don't do anything then the police won't hurt them, but then they pull some "police brutality" shit out of their ass.

I just miss the good old days where a man could say what was on his mind and everyone would just deal with it. But everything changed when the Outrage Nation attacked.

Yeh mate, that's what this is about.

He's clearly not talking about obvious racism and sexism, but emotional.

 

[A Link to the Past]

its more of a shame that just about everything is labelled as such, even when it isnt.

it seems a lot worse online than in real life though.

I think it used to be possible to tease others (and be teased) good naturedly about their sexuality race, religion or sex, but there is a lot less thinking about the intention behind words these days and a lot more tumblr revenge from idiots

Here's the thing though, and I won't deny that people take certain things and overreact but

Every time society deems certain humour as being offensive for racist, sexist, homophobic, etc., the response is always "it's a shame humour is being labelled as such even when it isn't."

Yes, it's important to be able to read into the subtext of humour, but really, a lot of the humour that gets called out is justifiably offensive.

 

[Citadelofmythoughts]

No, I just think that people are now realizing they don't have to put up with other people's shit.

"Can't you take a joke", "Grow a thicker skin" etc. Are phrases assholes use to justify their behavior.

 

[dity]

I think it used to be possible to tease others (and be teased) good naturedly about their sexuality race, religion or sex, but there is a lot less thinking about the intention behind words these days and a lot more tumblr revenge from idiots

Or maybe people just put up with it before because they'd be chastised for having a problem with whatever was said.

 

[Surface of Me]

Here's the thing though, and I won't deny that people take certain things and overreact but

Every time society deems certain humour as being offensive for racist, sexist, homophobic, etc., the response is always "it's a shame humour is being labelled as such even when it isn't."

Yes, it's important to be able to read into the subtext of humour, but really, a lot of the humour that gets called out is justifiably offensive.

I dont really agree with this, if you dont really understand humor then it is very easy to misinterpret it. Look at Charlie Hebdo, the Colbert example in this thread, or the commercial Sarah Silverman did to point out how ridiculous the wage gap is. People didnt understand it and just saw it as an attack on a certain group. People say comedy is easy, but it really isn't. Fart jokes are easy, high level comedy and satire are not.

 

[A Link to the Past]

I dont really agree with this, if you dont really understand humor then it is very easy to misinterpret it. Look at Charlie Hebdo, the Colbert example in this thread, or the commercial Sarah Silverman did to point out how ridiculous the wage gap is. People didnt understand it and just saw it as an attack on a certain group. People say comedy is easy, but it really isn't. Fart jokes are easy, high level comedy and satire are not.

I don't think you read my post correctly. I specified twice that it's important to look into the subtext of things and that people sometimes overreact. Citing examples of people overreacting to things is not a very good rebuttal to a post saying that people overreact to things.

 

[dreamcastmaster]

Assuming that's true - that "keyboard activists" do fuck all IRL - is that supposed to have meaning in a society where it's shown that most people won't do fuck all IRL? Like, for a person who might be worried about getting particularly negative reactions over a public response to someone's offensive statement or hearing someone say something offensive, should they feel like weirdo losers for posting about it online instead? It's not as simple as making a public spectacle.

And here we have the first example of what I expected. Overly defensive, dismissive and using phrases and intention I never alluded too "weirdo losers"

"It's not as simple as making ab public spectacle" proving my point that this type of response is sadly predictable and they really won't do anything IRL... . Now I either have to get drawn into an argument with this poster becuse I've used his post as an example or le him have the last word thinking he's "won". I'm not going to respond to him as that's not the point I was making.

 

[Surface of Me]

I don't think you read my post correctly. I specified twice that it's important to look into the subtext of things and that people sometimes overreact. Citing examples of people overreacting to things is not a very good rebuttal to a post saying that people overreact to things.

I was mainly replying to your last statement about most of the time comedy is called out it is done deservingly so. Maybe I just don't pay enough attention to the outrage, but the majority of the time I see people calling comedy out it is because they are misinterpreting the message.

 

[tkscz]

Are we? Not really. The only reason we're taking notice to people being easily offended is because the internet. I mean, there are people on GAF who think Three Amigos and Blazing Saddles go too far to ever be made in Hollywood in this day and age, while there were a lot of black people who watched Ted 2 and not only took no offense to the scene with the black woman, but thought it was funny.

So no, we are no more thinned skinned then we use to be, we just have the internet for groups of easily offended people to join together to make it look like we are.

 

[Averon]

Pretty much exactly how I see it.

It's the 'offence as a product' shit that really bothers me. There are blogs out there with certain click quotas these days, and writers trawling twitter thinking 'Shit, this is... hmm this c-list celebrity's tweet is a little questionable here. Maybe I dress this up and I get some hits. If I get lucky it blows up.' And to 'sell' it, they have to act super offended in the article itself.

Even when the original comment picked upon really is a poor one, it still bothers me. Why is 'idiot says stupid thing' ever something that needs to be brought to our attention? Why are there people who think that reading/writing about this shit all day makes sense? Can't stand it, and largely try to avoid it.

Agreed. I really, really, hate it when some blog or website looking to get clicks purposely misconstrue some tweet or post to mean more than it is, totally ignoring the context of the tweet or post, to incite some reaction. As you say, it has become standard operation procedure in some circles to repeatedly do this to boost their page views.

 

[Lazyslob]

No, I just think that people are now realizing they don't have to put up with other people's shit.

"Can't you take a joke", "Grow a thicker skin" etc. Are phrases assholes use to justify their behavior.

yeah people dont have to put up with other peoples shit and they can be offended all they want but it doesnt make them the authority in what people can say or do.

people like to throw around the default "people who say bad shit are now getting called out on it!" when its really not like that at all. the thing everyone seems to completely look over is context. in some peoples eyes satire is the same as just flat out bigotry