That's the opinion of some folks: Republicans think it's true of Democrats, Baby Boomers think it's true of Millennials (a lot of Boomers think Millennials are all pimply-faced teenagers, while the oldest of them are approaching 40), straight White men think it's true of women, Blacks, Gays, Transexuals, and city dwellers, Trumpers think it's true of everyone who isn't a Trumper. But is it true?
I'm going to concede that some people take it too far, but I'm not going to draw the line for everyone else. That's a discussion for another day. Judging everyone in a certain category based on the outliers in that category is a logical fallacy. Something you hear a lot is how certain movies couldn't get made any more, because someone would find them offensive. You hear that no one has a sense of humor any more. That those people get offended too easily. You hear about "cancel culture", which supposedly is the mechanism by which "woke" (used ignorantly as a pejorative) people punish people who say (or even think) things that they don't like. Let's look at "cancel culture" first. It's undeniable that there are occasions when a public figure makes an offensive statement which is followed by calls from some quarters to boycott that person. Yes it happens, and sometimes the offending public figure finds their career has been wrecked due to the outcry. Those who support the "cancelled" person are shocked and outraged and call it censorship. But the thing is, no one is forced to participate in these boycotts or to join in excoriating the cancellee. The target of so-called cancelation is still free to perform, to play music, to tell jokes etc, but they aren't entitled to an audience. In many cases the record company, television or radio station or other employer chooses to fire them. This again is called censorship. And again, no one is forcing an employer to cut their losses and bow to popular pressure, but they certainly know how the free market works.
Okay, sure, "cancelation" only works if enough people are "offended" at you, (there's that pesky free market again) but what about all these people who get offended at every little thing? I'm not saying that there aren't people who are oversensitive, but those are the outliers. In general, people call out offensive words or behavior for several reasons. It may sound incredibly obvious, but it's because it's offensive. The people who deride those who call out offensive language emphasize the one doing the calling out, mocking them for being offended, when the problem isn't that someone is offended, but that someone is being offensive. It's a classic case of victim shaming, even though it may not be obvious that anyone is being victimized - so let's just say that it's similar to victim shaming. A favored tactic of those who oppose calling out offensive speech is to point out old television shows and movies that supposedly couldn't be made today. Two go-to examples are Blazing Saddles and All in The Family. Those who cite them seem to be oblivious to the way they poked fun at racists; All in The Family also mocked liberal Mike, who despite his disdain for Archie's right wing views, had no problem living rent-free under his roof. And the idea that comedians don't push boundaries today - have they never heard of Dave Chapelle or South Park?
The "good old days", when it was supposedly perfectly fine to say whatever came into your head, were times when Black people, women, and other minorities didn't have the power to speak up. It was legal to sexually harass an employee; it was legal to refuse to serve a Black person; and what passed as humor was often just punching down at people who couldn't punch back without serious consequences. These days, right or wrong, people feel that they can speak up. They feel that they can point out sexist, racist, ableist, homophobic language and insist that it change. They feel that they no longer have to put up with being the butt of jokes or being marginalized by hateful language.
So no. If we speak up about offensive language and actions, we aren't snowflakes, we're not the problem.
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