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Are we too easily offended these days?

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Rembrandt

Banned
eh. sometimes. most of the time, though, people say this when they mean they're hearing some other opinion that goes against theirs that they've never heard before and they feel like people are getting easily offended because the offensive material isn't targeting them. i will say that there are cases of people getting offended for no reason, but that's not new. they're just more vocal and able to reach a wider crowd of people thanks to the internet.
 
This section of Neogaf has some of the most easily offended posters I have ever seen on the internet. It is cursed with a small but significantly loud coterie of over sensitive wall flowers who cannot stand to read an opposing view point and will do all they can to get posters they don't like banned. I cannot count the number of times I've seen these idiots dog piling and avatar quoting posters in their desperate and juvenile attempts to signal mods that someone has posted an opinion they don't like and don't have the ability to counter. They have been a curse on this forum. They are not interested in debating or examining a subject. They are only interested in point scoring at it's most facile level and being seen to be right.

I thought it was just me thinking this. I remember some guy getting banned in a Ted 2 preview thread for saying something was funny, then being asked why he thought it was funny by some other guy. After a few what I thought was civil replies he got banned. Some OT threads feel like a mine field nowadays.

As been stated before, I don't think people are offended more, they just have a louder "voice" to express their feelings nowadays.
 

Forkball

Member
More people have a medium to connect with the public, and thus any minute controversy can easily explode. You have major news outlets and people across the world arguing about it. Remember that whole kimono controversy? Like five college students said wearing a kimono was bad and it became a huge international story. Lines were drawn in the sand. This was a hill people were willing to die on: whether or not white people can wear kimonos. People argued incessantly about it for a few days and now no one even remembers it.

Or remember that story about a woman who took a picture of her flipping the bird at Arlington Cemetery? Pretty tasteless yeah, but then people decided to take the next logical step: ruining this woman's life. Since she did it on a work trip, AH HA! She can get fired! So someone made a Facebook group solely dedicated to getting a woman they have never met fired because she did something dumb and tacky one time at work. The guy who created the page even said he would take it down after she got fired. One day he posted a message like, "Morning everyone. What's the word in the streets?" The word in the streets? You're trying to get a random woman fired, you aren't some underground resistance trying to overthrow the generalissimo. Let the company decide what to do.

I don't think it's a matter of getting offended or not getting offended. I mean if you feel like something is causing a negative affect on society, you are more than welcome to air your grievance or strive towards change. But people need to pick their battles. Some things really just aren't worth it.

On the plus side, I did find this subreddit yesterday and it's amazing: https://www.reddit.com/r/BestOfOutrageCulture/

"Make no mistake, we are literally fighting to save the world from an international alliance targeting the most fundamental human rights."
Guess what this person is mad about. It starts with a G.
 

Sianos

Member
This section of Neogaf has some of the most easily offended posters I have ever seen on the internet. It is cursed with a small but significantly loud coterie of over sensitive wall flowers who cannot stand to read an opposing view point and will do all they can to get posters they don't like banned. I cannot count the number of times I've seen these idiots dog piling and avatar quoting posters in their desperate and juvenile attempts to signal mods that someone has posted an opinion they don't like and don't have the ability to counter. They have been a curse on this forum. They are not interested in debating or examining a subject. They are only interested in point scoring at it's most facile level and being seen to be right.
I recall writing a very detailed post in response to you rather aggressively accusing someone of "enabling reprehensible behavior" yesterday (encouraging someone to write to their congress person because they were upset, for reference) and you never replying.

I do hope you continue adding people to your ignore list, because then maybe you won't miss the more finely constructed posts - in fact I recommend this to all the people in that gun control thread who were so offended by a few snarky comments that they ignored a wealth of moderate gun control legislation suggestions. Even when I specifically point to many examples of these detailed posts, very few people ever in turn respond to them.

Not saying that the people who offend you with their satirical comments are in the right, but please don't ignore a wealth of serious discussion because a few people made sharp jokes.
 

Ray Wonder

Founder of the Wounded Tagless Children
I'm not offended by almost anything.

Talk about my mom though and we will get rough boi.
 

Piers

Member
I try to keep my degree of sensitivity level-headed. That is, a lot of it is really just psychological blockades from high school bullying.
Like Yahtzee's humour is fairly crass and sarcastic — typical of British humour, which rubs me the wrong way occasionally but I enjoy it all the same.
 

manueldelalas

Time Traveler
I'very Trump talk about us being too politically correct. I've heard that comedians avoid college campuses because the stadents get way too offended. Internet outrage happens weekly. Are we just too thin skinned these days?
This thread is the classic example of trying to justify racism, sexism and homophobia. No OP, we are not too easily offended, we are rightfully offended.

Just because in the past people didn't fight for their rights, it doesn't mean that with opinions like this we can continue to overlook the rampant bad taste jokes every time.

Fucking Trump, and everyone voting for him is a fucking bigot, condoning his shameful acts, he is not going to tell us how to be correct or incorrect.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I think news agencies don't really care as long as theyre reporting on something. The thing is, American media and people in general love degrading what's going on. President Obama could be scratching an itch on his back and some people would think something negative about it. The next criminal is the profile of the person you're going to be suspicious about. Us as gamers all had the Sandy Hook vibe because the kid played games and parents and authorities looked at us yet again.

There's a lot to it. People online take a small news story from another state or something caught on their smart phones and they think it's an epidemic. There might be some real truth to that, but sometimes it's just stacked on to the other problems going on in their own state. How many times can you become tricked by the sociological imagination before you wonder if you're getting brainwashed or not?

When I was in healthcare it seemed like the people teaching the material and the people getting paid would automatically assume something was wrong because that's what they feel is healthy or that's what people would find beneficial for their paycheck.

Then you have people who don't know life in any other way except what they're use to. They take anything different as being offensive. I'm guilty of doing this, but in America it's so easy to find someone who disagrees. You can look at something in multiple ways and you can also call something something else without having logical information attached to it.

Our society has problems with violence and for a while all you hear about is how bad the media is. That is movies, video games, etc, etc, everyone shouldn't do anything besides focus on the problems. Then you have obesity as a problem and you blame people who sit all the time and the media they're enjoying. You have people doing one thing because they think there's one solution to everything.

I can totally see why we have become so offended. It's like the idea of beta males. You're saying a guy who can't get a lot of women is some sorta label for a mass murderer? You're offending a shy guy perhaps? The news media loves their ridiculous list, but they also cater to the stereotypical family and the political lunchbox. You could not get offended. You're forced to listen to every single opinion and they think it's beneficial to us. Anything in life is going to offend someone because none of us are really equal. We only see what we have and what we don't. Outside of that we complain.
 

Ray Wonder

Founder of the Wounded Tagless Children
your mom is the loveliest woman I've ever met

That's it.

Internet+fight+how+i+imagine+internet+fights_b9d573_4868330.gif
 
Yeah I do think sometimes outrage culture has enabled people to read deeper into something that isn't there.

I've read articles about why the new Jurassic Park movie is sexist drivel and we should all avoid it. Give me a break.
 
It is cursed with a small but significantly loud coterie of over sensitive wall flowers who cannot stand to read an opposing view point and will do all they can to get posters they don't like banned.

The last time I posted in a thread about gun control I actually put 8 people on my ignore list.

Other people are over sensitive and cannot stand opposing views. But you putting people on ignore is somehow different.
 

Drinkel

Member
No definitely not. Some reactions can be counterproductive though. Human communication is complicated. If you offend someone out of ignorance you can just say your sorry, no need to be annoyed by that.
 

Oersted

Member
It is interesting to see that we see constantly "being offended" reduced to PC-"culture".

We had just recently a mobbing campaign called Gamergate, where people were deeply offended by the sheer thought of feminism could have some influence.
 
Oh hell yeah. We're way to easily offended and we take things way to personally. There are plenty of things I disagree with, but I remain calm and detached, because frankly an emotional reaction is a weak reaction.

Different ideologies will always clash and the idea that we shouldnt debate, criticize or satarise the merits of those ideologies in case someone gets offended is both ludicrous and dangerous. Progress is not made by being docile.

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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.

You guess?
 

Miles X

Member
XB1 pre 180 should tell you this. If I saw that much passion put into something worth fighting for the world would be a far better place.
 

params7

Banned
I wonder if its possible to fight for lgbt, women rights while still being able to enjoy the old humor of stereotypes of genders and accept games like Bayonetta or where women aren't always portrayed non-sexually.

Is it possible to say you're for social justice, yet not be pissed beyond measure at a scientist for wearing a sexy girl t-shirt?
 

marrec

Banned
In general I think we react to the offense differently than we would have in the past, mostly because of the real shit you can get into because some over-zealous band of internet vigilantes decides they're going to ruin your life because you were a jerk one time. That's the worst of it really thanks to some other poster (I forget who) I've come to believe that this kind of asshattery is an emergent property of the Internet itself.

In real life, no one really gives two shits about how offended you are if you can't talk to them like they're a human being. A lot of the people who have helped nurture this vigilante culture think they can't be asked to empathize with any other human beings.

I can't really relate.

I've digressed. No, I don't think we're too easily offended because there is nothing wrong with being offended. I think people are too easily assholes in response to being offended.

Don't be an asshole.
 

sensui-tomo

Member
Not quite sure, I think I see more people getting into heated arguments more and more lately and to the point where i've contemplated in making a thread and knowing that it would run foul so quick with arguments that i decided to wait a bit until my curiosity gets the better of me for that thread (not offensive but its subject is very touchy and could offend/make someone mad
Asking about how attraction works with some other details

I wonder if its possible to fight for lgbt, women rights while still being able to enjoy the old humor of stereotypes of genders and accept games like Bayonetta or where women aren't always portrayed non-sexually.

Is it possible to say you're for social justice, yet not be pissed beyond measure at a scientist for wearing a sexy girl t-shirt?
You mean " I like lewd/sorta pervy stuff but i'm 100% for everyone to be treated equally?" Yeah thats what I'm all about and I dont think there isnt anything wrong with that as long as you can realize that not everyone likes humor( aka WHY IS IT FUNNY? question will get thrown at ya) and not get put down when people call the sexy/funny stuff "shitty or whatever"
 
I wonder if its possible to fight for lgbt, women rights while still being able to enjoy the old humor of stereotypes of genders and accept games like Bayonetta or where women aren't always portrayed non-sexually.

Is it possible to say you're for social justice, yet not be pissed beyond measure at a scientist for wearing a sexy girl t-shirt?

Look up "sex-positive feminism".
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I read this the other day and it's kinda how I feel,

Nowadays men often feel that their private lives are a series of traps. They sense that within their everyday worlds, they cannot overcome their troubles, and in this feeling, they are often quite correct: What ordinary men are directly aware of and what they try to do are bounded by the private orbits in which they live; their visions and their powers are limited to the close-up scenes of job, family, neighborhood; in other milieux, they move vicariously and remain spectators. And the more aware they become, however vaguely, of ambitions and of threats which transcend their immediate locales, the more trapped they seem to feel.

It is written by C Wright Mills

I may have sounded a bit on a rant, but I like a lot of people get fed up and feel powerless to some extent. It feels like a series of traps in a world so offended by everything that is going on.
 

Condom

Member
Yes. There is no such thing as sarcasm these days without explicitly stating that you're being sarcastic.
Isn't understanding sarcasm a sign of intelligence?

Maybe there are just too many lazy uninformed people joining the discussion these days, go back to yar caves ya plebs!
 
Isn't the act of putting someone on "ignore", not wanting to be offended in itself? I noticed how people who participate in alleged "outrage culture" are characterized as effectively "shutting down discussion". Is that not what putting people on "ignore" is doing as well? Seems oddly similar.
You can't exactly discuss anything with babies. I don't see how you correlate ignoring someone with not wanting to be offended? I ignore someone because I think they're either an idiot, an emotional baby, or usually a combination of both.
 

Kinyou

Member
Other people are over sensitive and cannot stand opposing views. But you putting people on ignore is somehow different.

Going by his posts it seems more like he puts people on ignore who aren't interested in a discussion and not because they have an opposing view
 

dity

Member
Isn't understanding sarcasm a sign of intelligence?

Maybe there are just too many lazy uninformed people joining the discussion these days, go back to yar caves ya plebs!
Can only speak for myself, but my ability to see unmarked sarcasm depends a lot on my mood. My mood changes how I read things.

I'll go back to my cave now.
 

WedgeX

Banned
I thought Kareem Abdul Jabbar's writing on political correctness while discussing the differences between Trump and Sanders was particularly insightful.

Kareem Adbul Jabbar via the Washington Post said:
Trump’s rationale for avoiding Kelly’s debate question – that neither he nor America has time for “political correctness” – taps into a popular boogeyman. The term “political correctness” is so general that to most people it simply means a discomfort with changing times and attitudes, an attack on the traditions of how we were raised. (It’s an emotional challenge every generation has had to go through.) What it really means is nothing more than sensitizing people to the fact that some old-fashioned words, attitudes and actions may be harmful or insulting to others. Naturally, people are angry about that because it makes them feel stupid or mean when they really aren’t. But when times change, we need to change with them in areas that strengthen our society.

It’s no longer “politically correct” to call African Americans “coloreds.” Or to pat a woman on the butt at work and say, “Nice job, honey.” Or to ask people their religion during a job interview. Or to deny a woman a job because she’s not attractive enough to you. Or to assume a person’s opinion is worth less because she is elderly. Or that physically challenged individuals shouldn’t have easy access to buildings. If you don’t have time for political correctness, you don’t have time to be the caretaker of our rights under the Constitution.
 
You can't exactly discuss anything with babies. I don't see how you correlate ignoring someone with not wanting to be offended? I ignore someone because I think they're either an idiot, an emotional baby, or usually a combination of both.

If you put someone ignore, it means that they post things you don't like.
And that's exactly what he did. He chose to filter certain opposing viewpoints (even if they are childish or bad) because he didn't like those posts.
 
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