And I have noticed some people here think being offended is, without exception, A Bad Thing. But I also noticed that there isn’t consensus on this point. So the question of whether or not it is irrational remains open. I would concede that it’s useful to avoid being offended as much as possible, but there are obviously limits to this.
A comrade agrees. Generally, I’m not quite certain where I stand myself, but quite certain that the mean (pardon the pun) LW reaction to people signaling “offense” is arrogant, privileged and sanctimonous—not to mention treating “offense” as a one-place word, etc.
I’ve never liked the word “privilege” to describe this problem, but there is definitely something to this. Compare the modal reaction on Lesswrong between someone saying something plausibly offensive about women or blacks to the modal reaction to, Omega forfend, someone suggesting that autistic people might actually be inferior in some ways to neurotypical individuals.
It appears to matter quite a bit whose ox is getting gored.
A comrade agrees. Generally, I’m not quite certain where I stand myself, but quite certain that the mean (pardon the pun) LW reaction to people signaling “offense” is arrogant, privileged and sanctimonous—not to mention treating “offense” as a one-place word, etc.
I’ve never liked the word “privilege” to describe this problem, but there is definitely something to this. Compare the modal reaction on Lesswrong between someone saying something plausibly offensive about women or blacks to the modal reaction to, Omega forfend, someone suggesting that autistic people might actually be inferior in some ways to neurotypical individuals.
It appears to matter quite a bit whose ox is getting gored.