please empty your brain below
This is a fascinating post - I've been thinking a lot about this lately too. What is really interesting is the special language developing around being offended which doesn't say or mean anything, but sort of hedges one's bets just in case. So, when people aren't really sure if something is racist, sexist or whatever - or when they're not sure if they're supposed to be offended or not, they'll say it's "problematic" and sort of leave the problem hanging for everyone else to hedge around.

Why can't people say "Sorry pal, that's a bit racist. Sort yourself out" and move on?

Mike Newman | Homepage | 08.09.18 - 7:16 a.m. | #

It’s not the content, but the motive that can occasionally upset me.

Jimmy | 08.09.18 - 7:39 a.m. | #

As well as Jimmy's excellent point about motive, context is important too. How often do we hear "That was taken out of context"?

Jon Jones | 08.09.18 - 8:06 a.m. | #

I have been just been watching some of the alternative (conservative American) YouTube videos by the likes of Candace Owens, PragerU and Patrica Dickson, then I check out today's DG post, and I'm like wow.

Perhaps the real issue is the loss of power by makers of 'establishment' history and providers of 'establishment' media, now there are no gatekeepers, so Islamic State can spread their message just as easily as the Russians or the established political parties.

I have a couple of friends who have simply dropped out of the news cycle, so don't bother with papers, TV News, Twitter etc. - they find the world a better place because they aren't constantly being told about terrible things.

However others have reality inflicted upon them anyway, in your case DG it was in a minor way with the Russians at the hotel, but for others its being the next one 'decanted' out of London, or have a relative or friend represented by a bunch of flowers on the pavement.

Still Anon | 08.09.18 - 8:08 a.m. | #

It's what happens when a society is forced to change too quickly.

Blue Witch | Homepage | 08.09.18 - 8:22 a.m. | #

Interesting to apply this to jokes told about (and often by members of) certain global religions. Many a laugh and murder.

Tim W | 08.09.18 - 8:45 a.m. | #

And it's more complicated than that. The goalposts are constantly in motion, often being shoved sideways by groups to suit their own agendas.

Once upon a time, we called the French 'Frogs,' and they called us 'Bifteks.' No problems. And we called the Scots 'Jocks.' Now, I have to think before I call the Irish 'Paddys' or 'Micks,' in case it should cause offence.

And the Eykie Mo's seem to be leading the pack in being offended easily, accompanied of course by the LGBTs.

What next?

Temp | 08.09.18 - 9:21 a.m. | #

I'm not sure whether to be offended by your post today, DG. Does that put me in the green area or a grey area, to match my hair? 😉

Jo W | 08.09.18 - 9:45 a.m. | #

This is why I'm never going to attain Red status, isn't it? 😞

#AlwaysYellow

Geofftech | 08.09.18 - 9:51 a.m. | #

Temp - What's an 'Eykie Mo'? When I looked that phrase up on Bing the first entry was for Eskimos and I wouldn't consider that grouping to be easily offended.

As for the article itself I get offended by media sources constantly telling me who I should or should not vote for in elections so I've solved that problem by avoiding most national media websites. I don't have a TV and I don't listen to the radio.

milliem | 08.09.18 - 11:21 a.m. | #

Ah, I might have claimed to be rarely offended but, I know this not to be true. In person, and electronically, some people have either deliberately or accidentally offended me and I have, in general, responded (or not) dispassionately. That response has been a cover for extreme anger, annoyance and other emotions that burn into my consciousness despite my politeness. I own my own emotions. I don't deliberately upset other people but know that I occasionally do. Well, you can either own it or not.

B | 08.09.18 - 11:22 a.m. | #

I often think offensiveness is a multi-dimensional variable. The problem is, a statement is just a "point", while people's ruler can span across the "space of statements" as they see fit, so it can be a very complicated matter.

Patrickov | 08.09.18 - 11:49 a.m. | #

You often fall in the red camp.

Messiah | 08.09.18 - 12:24 p.m. | #

Interesting food for thought.
I am rarely offended by anything, but as a middle-aged white female I'm not usually on the receiving end of it.
I think the motive and context are both hugely important, and something that is often removed in media reporting in order to fuel their agendas.

I grew up in the heyday of Carry On Films and 1970s inappropriateness. My 20-something kids have a very different sense of humour from me, formed in a very different culture!
I will roar with laughter (and sometimes cringe!) at programmes I watched as a child while my kids look blank and wander off!

But then there are also some individuals and groups who become violent over perceived attitudes of disrespect from within their own ethnic/religious groups as well as (more understandably) from outside. I call this 'chip-on-their-shoulder' syndrome, where they expect to see everything as a personal slur, and so do.

Cornish Cockney | 08.09.18 - 12:32 p.m. | #

Temp / milliem, I think it's more commonly spelt "Ikey Mo".

I live in Spain, where the sense of humour is often considerably more, er, robust than in the UK. Tourists with delicate sensibilities should prepare to be offended by jokes, advertisements...

Suse | 08.09.18 - 12:41 p.m. | #

What I really detest is the use of "old white cis male" or some other irritating phrase as an excuse to exclude people from an important conversation about our society, also implying that we can never be trodden on by virtue of our birth. Ironically, they use it on me, a pansexual half-Jamaican half-Indian male who happens to be pale-ish skinned and speak very noticeably with a BBC accent. I am then subjected to a lecture on white privilege, grinning inwardly as my father was a fisherman and my mother a newsagent's clerk!

The trouble is opinions which conflict with the "official" woke TWITter views are shouted down as being WRONG. Search for "You've Triggered Us, Charlie Brown!" on YouTube for a good starting point.

Not Diamond Geezer | 08.09.18 - 1:15 p.m. | #

Suse - oh I see. So in other words they're sneery words for Jews.

https://lingomash.com/slang-meanings/7009/slang-meaning-of-ikey-mo

Eykie Mo/Ikey Mo is a repulsive name whatever your politics so, yes I'm offended.

milliem | 08.09.18 - 2:58 p.m. | #

Before the interwebs most most people just sucked their teeth, took a deep breath and got on with life if something upset them.

Now we spend hours unloading our pain into little gadgets to add it to the swirling e-vortex of international pain.

What strange critters we are.

drD | Homepage | 08.09.18 - 4:21 p.m. | #

Milliem: You see my point. It is all right to use Paddy as a slang word for Patrick, a common Irish name, but not all right to use Ikey, a pet version of Isaac. Yet this was in common usage between Jews themselves less than a hundred years ago.

Goalposts get moved all the time.

Temp | 08.09.18 - 9:10 p.m. | #

How changing times and context alter things: I happened across "Carry on Spy" on Film 4 today, during which a bungling duo infiltrates the enemy’s lair in Algiers by cross dressing, complete with a throwaway line about letterboxes. Well "that was then”… etc. I must say I guffawed at that, but only because of our ex-foriegn secretary. Having said that, there were quite a few nuances in that film about attitudes to foreign places and people that made glad that “this is now".

I'm pretty sure that political correctness has made countless people's lives easier, rather than causing anyone actual harm, as some careless talk can.

NickW | Homepage | 08.09.18 - 11:04 p.m. | #











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