Offinsiveness and You

[ShindoL Shill]

You hear a lot about these groups who, sometimes logically, say 'remove that, its offensive to x group of people!'
but do these groups of people ever say 'can you remove that, its pretty offensive to us.'
not that i know of.

So the question i ask is: do you get offended by the content that people believe will offend whatever group/religion/whatever you're a part of? for example, if an episode of a tv show made a slightly sexist joke about your gender/sexuality that got people in an uproar, do you think "they should burn for that joke because its so sexist!" or "haha that was funny."

 

[ReservoirAngel]

Nope. I have the unfortunate situation of my particular minority group being represented by GLAAD who are probably the most whiney, over-sensitive bitches ever. They get up in arms over every use of anything that could be considered homophobic whereas me? I just don't care. I can take any gay jokes or slurs with good humour and have been known to say that kind of crap myself at times.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Everyone has their own personal threshold for taking offense. Sometimes because they're thin-skinned. Other times because their life experiences has made certain subjects a lot more traumatic for them personally than it might be for someone else. Someone who spent their entire childhood being molested, for example, might not find rape jokes as hilarious as someone else.

For myself...there isn't any particular religion, sexuality or ideology I subscribe to that is the constant butt of jokes, so I can't really answer your question. There are some subjects I'm utterly humorless about, though. Not because funny jokes about them are impossible, simply because they're too personal for me to remain objective about.

 

[Michael Hirst]

I hate it when people use "That offends me" as some kind of shield against something, it doesn't invoke any actual rights in most cases, it's just a bland statement with no weight behind it. Obviously if someone did something completely racist then sure get on their case about it but if someone says "This game has bad language, that offends me" well okay fuck off then.

There's also a clear line between someone making a joke out of something and being blatantly offensive/malicious that people need to get to grips with. If you're a minority and want to be treat as equal being made a joke of is a big step, I've never known a group of friends who don't crack jokes at or about each other

 

[CrashBang]

I guess I'm fairly lucky to be a straight, white British man with a university degree, parents who are still happily married and other dull aspects of genericness. All I have to worry about is offending others but I've got gay friends and I've got black friends and they're all very apathetic towards anything that may be deemed offensive to their minority. A lot of people aren't as sensitive as they used to be, in my experience.

 

[Thaluikhain]

You hear a lot about these groups who, sometimes logically, say 'remove that, its offensive to x group of people!'
but do these groups of people ever say 'can you remove that, its pretty offensive to us.'
not that i know of.

Hey? You mean people cry foul at things they think will offend others, but not thing that offend them? Because that's really, really not the way it seems to work. Admittedly, people do stand up for others they feel are being discriminated against, but they tend to be more passionate about defending themselves.

So the question i ask is: do you get offended by the content that people believe will offend whatever group/religion/whatever you're a part of? for example, if an episode of a tv show made a slightly sexist joke about your gender/sexuality that got people in an uproar, do you think "they should burn for that joke because its so sexist!" or "haha that was funny."

Not that much. I have the advantage of being set pretty firmly in the default group that runs the world and gets to oppress everyone else. [small]Which means it took me a while to admit that other people were being oppressed...this system designed to look after people like me does a great job looking after people like me, what are they all complaining about?[/small]

On the other hand, I'm not religious, and I'm sick of people shoving their religions down my throat and into my nation's politics.

 

[Rawne1980]

I personally don't care.

If something is funny then it's funny. If someone finds it offensive then thats their problem not mine.

Why would I bother about something that doesn't offend me?

Not that much offends me anyway .... except that really strong smell in fish markets. Love fish, love it fresh from the fish markets but that smell offends my nose.

One of my friends is gay. We got rat arsed pissed on his birthday and decided to sing Puff the Magic Dragon as a special birthday song.

He thought it was highly amusing, mainly because the 5 of us singing can't sing for shit. However. Some stupid woman decided to take it upon herself to tell us we were offending our friend despite the fact he was rolling round on the floor (quite literally) laughing.

She got quite upset when 6 people shouted "fuck off you daft tart".

Wish people would keep their noses out of other folks business, especially when it's neither needed or wanted.

 

[tzimize]

You hear a lot about these groups who, sometimes logically, say 'remove that, its offensive to x group of people!'
but do these groups of people ever say 'can you remove that, its pretty offensive to us.'
not that i know of.

So the question i ask is: do you get offended by the content that people believe will offend whatever group/religion/whatever you're a part of? for example, if an episode of a tv show made a slightly sexist joke about your gender/sexuality that got people in an uproar, do you think "they should burn for that joke because its so sexist!" or "haha that was funny."

I'm not sure if anything really offends me. A lot of stuff annoy me though.

Telling a rude (negative) story about someone in their funeral...I'm not sure I would be offended, I would just be annoyed at the persons lack of social skills.

Offensive...People are so god damn touchy. Like this crap thats being blown out of proportion with Dead island and the feminist whore comment. Who cares?!? Its not like the game is a serious Master assignment on being politically correct?? Get over yourselves people.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

I tend to not give a shit about political correctness. It's a very loose concept and most people just use it to try and control things that they personally don't like.

Personally i don't give a fuck if something is funny and i can get the joke i will laugh regardless of it's nature.

 

[intheweeds]

Nope. I have the unfortunate situation of my particular minority group being represented by GLAAD who are probably the most whiney, over-sensitive bitches ever. They get up in arms over every use of anything that could be considered homophobic whereas me? I just don't care. I can take any gay jokes or slurs with good humour and have been known to say that kind of crap myself at times.

Haha this for me too!

It does make me kind of happy that I'm not the one who has to say it. If someone who is not in my minority group stands up for my minority group it is a positive thing. It implies a breaking down of the us vs. them mentality that permits prejudice in the first place. It makes me happy to see it. Sure it doesn't affect me tremendously, I am a secure person, but I have gotten real lesbian hate mail (the very real and evil hate filled slur kind) in my inbox on this very site. For instance this gem:

"Lesbians are all whores, whoreslutcunts, inferior human beings, fuck you."

This is in my inbox right now. This is the message in its entirety. Someone hates lesbians(and me for being one) enough that they took time out of their day to create a puppet account just to make sure i knew they hated me. This hurts no matter how secure you are.

The fact that there are people who are do NOT agree with this makes me happy. Simply because there are people who do hate me for being gay. You never know what people are thinking unless they say so. It is hard not to become angry in the face of this kind of thing and seeing first hand that most people do not agree makes me feel better about myself and the world.

Edit: The reason i think people get up in arms over the 'all in fun' kind of slur, is because you never know what is going on behind it. Some people really still do hate certain minorities and being 'all in fun' is one way in which they get away with it. It's fine if it really is just a joke, but you have no way of knowing if that person really has some kind of deep seeded feelings that make the joke 'half-true' to them.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

This is in my inbox right now. This is the message in its entirety. Someone hates lesbians(and me for being one) enough that they took time out of their day to create a puppet account just to make sure i knew they hated me. This hurts no matter how secure you are.

If it makes you feel better, I remember the individual who was trolling that thread with a puppet account (undoubtedly the same person who sent you that message), and I'm 95% certain the issue with that particular idiot is not that he "hates lesbians" but that he enjoys trolling. He's trying to upset you by pushing your buttons. I know the difference might seem insubstantial, but it changes the intent from "hate crime waiting to happen" to "astonishing nuisance".

 

[SckizoBoy]

And here we go. Take 'er away, Steve!


I don't really get offended when it comes to 'groups'. When people take the piss out of Christianity, I still laugh despite being a Christian. However, there is such a thing as taking it too far so... *shrug* context, as per usual.

 

[intheweeds]

This is in my inbox right now. This is the message in its entirety. Someone hates lesbians(and me for being one) enough that they took time out of their day to create a puppet account just to make sure i knew they hated me. This hurts no matter how secure you are.

If it makes you feel better, I remember the individual who was trolling that thread with a puppet account (undoubtedly the same person who sent you that message), and I'm 95% certain the issue with that particular idiot is not that he "hates lesbians" but that he enjoys trolling. He's trying to upset you by pushing your buttons. I know the difference might seem insubstantial, but it changes the intent from "hate crime waiting to happen" to "astonishing nuisance".

Oh it absolutely is stupid and that's why i never mentioned it or did anything about it or replied to him. Even in the thread i completely ignored his idiocy. Said person is obviously a tremendous idiot on a number of important levels.

I only bring it up now to illustrate a point. Even if he is just a troll, there is a big difference between trolling in a mac vs. PC fan boy thread, and a personal message to someone. In the thread, he is a troll, but what trolling purpose does a private message serve? He was getting plenty of troll satisfaction from others in the thread. I let them handle it. Regardless of intent it exists and that sucks and only serves to remind that these people exist. Coming from someone who does have to endure these things sometimes, trolling or not, it's nice to hear outcry from other people. It reminds you that people really do care about it.

The fact is unfortunately this type of thing makes being gay devastating emotionally to many people. It is a weight to bear for some. Some are not as strong as others. Some even internalize it and hate themselves for being gay their whole lives even if they don't show it. This is actually more common than I think anyone wants to believe.

Maybe that is immature of me, or i'm just a sensitive tree-hugger, I don't know, but it is what it is.

Edit: A lot of this reply isn't specifically directed at your post, more I just got on a rambling thought roll!

 

[staika]

Well being a straight white male there really isn't a lot that you can say that is politically incorrect to me that could offend me in any way. The only thing that people can say politically incorrect stuff about me is the fact that I am a christian, but you really can't offend me that way I just get a little sad and disappointed and then I go listen to Christian metal and then everything is all good with me.

 

[zehydra]

Depends on the "joke". A lot of time racist jokes only reinforce hate for that particular race. They often reduce people to their race, or (sexist jokes) reduce men/women to their gender/gender roles, and nothing else.

 

[orangeban]

Well, I really, really try not to make any jokes that could be offensive because it's not worth offending people for a joke that'll probably suck anyway. I think that's a pretty good view to take on stuff like that.

 

[Bobic]

I actually quite enjoy the jokes made at my (white British) expense. I love watching people (usually American shows, the main example that sits in my head is Family Guy's British American football team) write us off as a bunch of posh, hoighty toighty, gentlemen.

Deep down I wish Britain really were such a hilarious caricature. Much more interesting.

Edit: I should add that, were I not in the privileged majority, I might be more sensitive and easy to offend.

 

[intheweeds]

Well being a straight white male there really isn't a lot that you can say that is politically incorrect to me that could offend me in any way. The only thing that people can say politically incorrect stuff about me is the fact that I am a christian, but you really can't offend me that way I just get a little sad and disappointed and then I go listen to Christian metal and everything is all good with me.

AH! All the threads are melting together for me!

What if I was a militant extremist man hater and i said you were a chauvinistic pig because all men are? That should offend you. I think everyone can be offended by words given context.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Coming from someone who does have to endure these things sometimes, trolling or not, it's nice to hear outcry from other people. It reminds you that people really do care about it.

The fact is unfortunately this type of thing makes being gay devastating emotionally to many people. It is a weight to bear for some. Some are not as strong as others. Some even internalize it and hate themselves for being gay their whole lives even if they don't show it. This is actually more common than I think anyone wants to believe.

Maybe that is immature of me, or i'm just a sensitive tree-hugger, I don't know, but it is what it is.

No no, believe me, I get it. I have all the admiration in the world for anyone with enough courage to endure this type of bullshit by coming out. I certainly didn't mean to imply it should be water off a duck's back, or that he wasn't being a colossal prick. I thought it might have been heartening, though, to think that he might not necessarily have been an anti-lesbian douchebag in particular, and more of just a general irritant to society. In that respect, we're all in it together! He's as annoying to me as he is to you! We stand united in our mutual hate and irritation.

 

[intheweeds]

Coming from someone who does have to endure these things sometimes, trolling or not, it's nice to hear outcry from other people. It reminds you that people really do care about it.

The fact is unfortunately this type of thing makes being gay devastating emotionally to many people. It is a weight to bear for some. Some are not as strong as others. Some even internalize it and hate themselves for being gay their whole lives even if they don't show it. This is actually more common than I think anyone wants to believe.

Maybe that is immature of me, or i'm just a sensitive tree-hugger, I don't know, but it is what it is.

No no, believe me, I get it. I have all the admiration in the world for anyone with enough courage to endure this type of bullshit by coming out. I certainly didn't mean to imply it should be water off a duck's back, or that he wasn't being a colossal prick. I thought it might have been heartening, though, to think that he might not necessarily have been an anti-lesbian douchebag in particular, and more of just a general irritant to society. In that respect, we're all in it together! He's as annoying to me as he is to you! We stand united in our mutual hate and irritation.

Understood completely. I hope you got my edit on that post saying that most of that reply wasn't directed at you, but merely a continued thought ramble.