Sorry for the off-topic thread during this time when there is actually football news. And yes, the intention of it is to brow-beat, which may get some of you "triggered."
Some on this board are under the mistaken impression that people cannot recognize a comment as both funny and offensive. This is false.
When a person offers a critique about, I don't know, Hollywood trying to feminize past films by raising the absurd possibility of resurrecting Deliverance with women and dildos, that is a comment that can be seen as both funny and offensive. It doesn't have to be funny or offensive. Some may laugh. Some may be offended. Some may laugh, in part or in whole, because it is offensive. Anyone who says it must be funny or offensive is under the illusion of a false dichotomy.
Personally, I think it's both. That said, I don't really have a problem with anyone who doesn't find it funny. Perhaps they take themselves too seriously, and that is an unfortunate and gloomy way to go through life, but who am I to tell another how to live?
I do have an issue with someone who cannot even recognize such a comment as offensive. The reason why is that such a person cannot even understand why Hollywood might have such an agenda in the first place, regardless of whether this person thinks it misguided. This is a problem because it is a failure of comprehension, of intellectual curiosity, and not merely a failure of empathy. The person who cannot even see why a comment might be offensive is behaving like a dolt, and dolts are worthy of criticism.
On the other hand, if one can recognize the comment as offensive but says it anyway because he thinks the underlying principle or idea misguided, it should come as no surprise that he may be accused by people who do not find the comment funny of being insensitive. What we have here is a failure of empathy. More empathy in the world would do us a lot of good, I agree. But again, if someone, like me, finds the comment both funny and insensitive, it is perfectly consistent for me to conclude that it's not my business to tell insensitive people to be more sensitive.
In fact, I like a world that has insensitive people. It makes life a lot more interesting. If insensitive people bother me, I simply avoid them. I don't tell them how to live.
The point is: someone can point out that a comment is offensive without being "triggered" themselves. In fact, some seem to be so "triggered" by the possibility of finding offense in others that they themselves can become quite offended when they believe others are triggered. That's ironic, and irony, ironically enough, is a particularly subtle kind of comedy.
Those people who already know there exists a class of comments that can be both funny and offensive, or those of a similar class, e.g., those that are true and offensive (of which this thread is an example), do not need a lesson in "real world" sensitivity training.
Some on this board are under the mistaken impression that people cannot recognize a comment as both funny and offensive. This is false.
When a person offers a critique about, I don't know, Hollywood trying to feminize past films by raising the absurd possibility of resurrecting Deliverance with women and dildos, that is a comment that can be seen as both funny and offensive. It doesn't have to be funny or offensive. Some may laugh. Some may be offended. Some may laugh, in part or in whole, because it is offensive. Anyone who says it must be funny or offensive is under the illusion of a false dichotomy.
Personally, I think it's both. That said, I don't really have a problem with anyone who doesn't find it funny. Perhaps they take themselves too seriously, and that is an unfortunate and gloomy way to go through life, but who am I to tell another how to live?
I do have an issue with someone who cannot even recognize such a comment as offensive. The reason why is that such a person cannot even understand why Hollywood might have such an agenda in the first place, regardless of whether this person thinks it misguided. This is a problem because it is a failure of comprehension, of intellectual curiosity, and not merely a failure of empathy. The person who cannot even see why a comment might be offensive is behaving like a dolt, and dolts are worthy of criticism.
On the other hand, if one can recognize the comment as offensive but says it anyway because he thinks the underlying principle or idea misguided, it should come as no surprise that he may be accused by people who do not find the comment funny of being insensitive. What we have here is a failure of empathy. More empathy in the world would do us a lot of good, I agree. But again, if someone, like me, finds the comment both funny and insensitive, it is perfectly consistent for me to conclude that it's not my business to tell insensitive people to be more sensitive.
In fact, I like a world that has insensitive people. It makes life a lot more interesting. If insensitive people bother me, I simply avoid them. I don't tell them how to live.
The point is: someone can point out that a comment is offensive without being "triggered" themselves. In fact, some seem to be so "triggered" by the possibility of finding offense in others that they themselves can become quite offended when they believe others are triggered. That's ironic, and irony, ironically enough, is a particularly subtle kind of comedy.
Those people who already know there exists a class of comments that can be both funny and offensive, or those of a similar class, e.g., those that are true and offensive (of which this thread is an example), do not need a lesson in "real world" sensitivity training.
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