If you’re offended by any word in any language, it’s probably because your parents were unfit to raise a child. They were too stupid. They should have been neutered. Because all it is is a sound you can make with your mouth. It’s not a weakness that you have naturally. When you come out of that pink ugly hole onto this planet, you’re nothing but a gooey, shrinking, wrinkled ball of weakness. That’s all you are: you’re weak, you’re nothing but weak, and your parents look at that, and they think: “Not weak enough. We can make this thing even weaker by training it to react poorly to different sounds that you can make with your mouth.”
Even taking many of this quote’s assumptions for granted, I’d question whether it’s always a bad thing to be weak. Some weaknesses can be strategic—for example, building failure modes into your designs allows them to fail gracefully rather than causing a catastrophe. In this case, I think that being offended by certain words can sometimes have utility because that offense can be used productively in a few different ways.
Offense can motivate people to try harder in their struggles against injustice.
Offense can be useful for persuading other people of a viewpoint.
Offense can cause people to act in ways that are costly but deter others from doing certain things.
The reason I make this point is because I feel that when Stanhope uses the word “weak” what he really means is “coming from a worldview I dislike”. I’d be highly surprised if Stanhope was unoffendable himself, if he didn’t care about other people’s words or thoughts at all. Indeed, in this quote he actually seems to be offended that other people get offended, in a lovely display of hypocrisy.
-- Doug Stanhope
Even taking many of this quote’s assumptions for granted, I’d question whether it’s always a bad thing to be weak. Some weaknesses can be strategic—for example, building failure modes into your designs allows them to fail gracefully rather than causing a catastrophe. In this case, I think that being offended by certain words can sometimes have utility because that offense can be used productively in a few different ways.
Offense can motivate people to try harder in their struggles against injustice.
Offense can be useful for persuading other people of a viewpoint.
Offense can cause people to act in ways that are costly but deter others from doing certain things.
The reason I make this point is because I feel that when Stanhope uses the word “weak” what he really means is “coming from a worldview I dislike”. I’d be highly surprised if Stanhope was unoffendable himself, if he didn’t care about other people’s words or thoughts at all. Indeed, in this quote he actually seems to be offended that other people get offended, in a lovely display of hypocrisy.