From the Stuff White People Like blog, a new entry: "Being Offended." Excerpt:
To be offended is usually a rather unpleasant experience, one that can expose a person to intolerance, cultural misunderstandings, and even evoke the scars of the past. This is such an unpleasant experience that many people develop a thick skin and try to only be offended in the most egregious and awful situations. In many circumstances, they can allow smaller offenses to slip by as fighting them is a waste of time and energy. But white people, blessed with both time and energy, are not these kind of people. In fact there are few things white people love more than being offended.Naturally, white people do not get offended by statements directed at white people. In fact, they don’t even have a problem making offensive statements about other white people (ask a white person about “flyover states”). As a rule, white people strongly prefer to get offended on behalf of other people.
It is also valuable to know that white people spend a significant portion of their time preparing for the moment when they will be offended. They read magazines, books, and watch documentaries all in hopes that one day they will encounter a person who will say something offensive. When this happens, they can leap into action with quotes, statistics, and historical examples. Once they have finished lecturing another white person about how it’s wrong to use the term “black” instead of “African-American,” they can sit back and relax in the knowledge that they have made a difference.
White people also get excited at the opportunity to be offended at things that are sexist and/or homophobic. Both cases offering ample opportunities for lectures, complaints, graduate classes, lengthy discussions and workshops. All of which do an excellent job of raising awareness among white people who hope to change their status from “not racist” to “super not racist.”
Ahh, wonderful. Read the whole thing.
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You suggesting blacks are inherently less intelligent than whites? Not so much.
Huh?
We need a list things for which it is ok to express moral outrage. Also, should Christians ever be offended at the way others are treated? Which actions should offend Christians?
Steve
Thank you for the kind words, Eric K. Speaking for myself, though, I've often found Daniel's comments refreshing and enlightening. For me, they have a breadth of outlook that goes beyond the merely picky. Of course, that figures, since he shares my POV more often than he does yours! I think we all have occasionally to be forgiven for an outstandingly prickly or petty remark--yrs. truly included. ; )
Also speaking for myself, much of the outrage I express around here is for myself. I came here as a lifelong Catholic and conservative who was skiiing out of control down the valley of disillusion at rapidly increasing velocity. I hoped that here I would find a bastion of kindly, rational, compassionate, environmentally conscious conservatism that would convince me y'all were the chosen people after all. Errr . . . ahem. Well, I guess I still had a few small fragments of illusion lodged in my skull.
Yeah, it outrages me personally when I find that people who self-identify as Christians are behaving in what I think is an outrageously un-Christian way. That hurts me because you're screwing with MY childhood religion. What I consider injustice, to whatever group, outrages my abstract sense of justice, which is a very important part of my Weltanschauung. Bad behavior to homosexuals makes me mad not because I condescendingly pat gay people on the head and anoint them as saviors, but because they are my friends and family. Everybody gets mad when you diss their friends and family, don't they? And disrespect and prejudice against people of color makes me mad for personal reasons as well. I had the bad fortune to grow up with a family member who was a white supremacist and a Nazi. So I know personally how sick, perverted, creepy, and just plain wrong that is. I don't want it in my life. I've had enough of it. I don't appreciate having it stuck in my face by people who like throwing their non-PC weight around. Ya got a problem with that, pal? (Add smiley-face to indicate I'm kidding. Sort of. Or at least, I'm not really primed to punch anyone out. It's dinner time and my potato salad is tasty. ; ) But don't forget, I earned my black belt in 1994, and I was a black belt of the mind a heck of a long time before that. Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self-Control, and Indomitable Spirit forever!)
p.s. SWPL actually is quite funny--but if Rod thinks he's not included in the fun, he is suffering from illusion.
Eric K.,
As a guy who disagrees with Rod nearly as often as agree with him, here are a few things I've observed about this blog:
1) It draws traditional social conservatives because Rod is willing to poke at new ideas. Most of the other conservatives out there are same-old-same-old. Boring.
2) It draws modern social liberals because of the "crunchy environmental" aspect and it's hosted on Beliefnet.
But your question: why do the liberals keep coming back to a traditional, conservative blog merely to be negative and not to share and debate ideas is one I've wondered about. There are certainly plenty of liberal environmental blogs out there, so that theory doesn't wash.
My view, based on years of observation: often liberals here have some deep-seated anger at a past preceived wrong - say racism, or sexism, or even some bible-belt religous wacko overdose. Iow, this type of liberal desperately needs a conservative whipping boy for their psychological peace of mind. Critical commentary is often used to merely feel good about oneself, not to enlighten, merely to insult. Rod's a good sport. So.
But I wouldn't worry about it, or try to engage it. Why not engage posters who are truly interested in sharing ideas (there are plenty around of all political stripes) and ignore the meaningless jabs and straw men? I mean, if somebody constructs a dummy that they think looks exactly like you, and then proceeds to beat it to a pulp in a frenzy of liberal extacy, does it hurt anyone a bit? Naw. Besides, for a guy as crusty as Rod, I'm sure gratuitous insults are kind of a compliment, eh?
"My view, based on years of observation: often liberals here have some deep-seated anger at a past preceived wrong - say racism, or sexism, or even some bible-belt religous wacko overdose. Iow, this type of liberal desperately needs a conservative whipping boy for their psychological peace of mind. Critical commentary is often used to merely feel good about oneself, not to enlighten, merely to insult."
Amen.
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