stinkychops said:
By misunderstandings do you mean to say, a social issue that does not exist? Perhaps the very fact that so many people believe in it is reason enough to discuss it, even in a hypothetical situation.
Discussing it compounds the misunderstanding thanks to the power of echo chambers.
It's like "political correctness is out of control!" threads.
See, political correctness isn't a real social movement. It's a manufactured strawman. At best, you could say it's taken on a life of its own. But even that life is horribly overstated.
So, when people talk about political correctness like it's actually a movement with rules and leaders and a concrete agenda, they compound their misunderstanding of political correctness.
They post examples of political correctness -- a mixture of self-servingly political satire from the 90s taken out of context, rumors some talk radio guy made up, and stories of real school administrators and minor public officials doing stupid stuff because they misunderstand what political correctness is, too.
Everyone walks away having gotten a bit off their chest. But they also walk away with a reinforced belief that political correctness is a real social movement. And so it goes.
Which is why I think it's important to
challenge the assumption rather than just accept it.
-- Alex