Miss Manners on political correctness

[Mischief]

Dear Miss Manners: Is it my imagination, or is it the popular thing these days for some people to start off their hate-filled rants by bashing political correctness and then spew forth all manner of racism and misogyny and sexism and ageism!

How is one to deal with this venom? I agree with the idea that people should be careful not to use language or behave in a way that could offend a particular group of people. Does having good manners require me to sit quietly and say nothing?


No. You should run.

Miss Manners is adding denouncing political correctness to her list of conversational prefaces from which no good ever follows. Others include, “Do you want me to be perfectly honest with you?’’ and, “Would you like some constructive criticism?’’

When people announce that they plan to abandon the rules of civilized discourse, they should be taken seriously. The response should be, “Well, if you are in favor of being offensive, I’d rather not hear more.’’

Miss Manners: Avoid conversations that start by avoiding political correctness

I am going to memorize that response, so that I have it at the ready when appropriate.

 

[beancounter]

"When people announce that they plan to abandon the rules of civilized discourse, they should be taken seriously. The response should be, “Well, if you are in favor of being offensive, I’d rather not hear more."

So she advocates running to a "safe space", instead of engaging in a conversation?...

Sounds like passive-aggressive censorship to me. The person making such a statement is effectively setting the narrative that what is about to be said to be said is offensive and therefore will not be listened to.

Labeling someone before you've had a chance to hear them out...always a good practice.

"I don't want to hear anything that doesn't fit my narrative"....Fit's so perfectly with the SJW tactics of keeping their devotees ignorant of alternative views.

Yea, that's conducive to a free exchange of ideas and open discussion. Right...

 

[Mischief]

Well, is there actually anything that could be said to change YOUR mind, Beancounter?

 

[Tom L.]

Gotta (*mostly) agree with Mischief and Miss Manners on this one. I don't see why it's unreasonable to demand that someone make an effort to be civil when expressing an opinion. If someone can't manage that, then maybe they'll find that they have the right to free speech, but not the right to an audience- and they're frothing at the mouth all by themselves.

*(I say "mostly agree" because sometimes jerks need to be told that they're being jerks. If decent folks prefer not to deal with the jerks, they're not obliged to, but it might not be a bad thing to do that now and then.)

 

[Jeremy]

I've always taken people who **** and moan about how horrible political correctness is to really mean they want to be a total douche noodle without consequence for what comes out of their big bigoted pie hole. Not the sort I want to associate with... At the very least I try to tune them out.

 

[Joe]

"I don't want to hear anything that doesn't fit my narrative"....Fit's so perfectly with the SJW tactics of keeping their devotees ignorant of alternative views.

I beg your pardon, but what does SJW mean?

 

[Spang]

"Sounds like passive-aggressive censorship to me.

You're free to spew whatever backwards nonsense you want. If folks stop listening, that's not censorship. You're also free to continue speaking to yourself, or the wall, or a tree, or whatever.

If people routinely walk away after you open your mouth, the problem is you.

 

[Spang]

I beg your pardon, but what does SJW mean?

Social Justice Warrior. It's a disparaging term used to dismiss anyone who brings up social justice.

 

[Second Summer]

You're free to spew whatever backwards nonsense you want. You're also free to continue speaking to yourself, or the wall, or a tree, or whatever.

Having good manners isn't just about not offending groups of people. It also means showing civility towards individuals.

No. You should run.

Miss Manners is adding denouncing political correctness to her list of conversational prefaces from which no good ever follows. Others include, “Do you want me to be perfectly honest with you?’’ and, “Would you like some constructive criticism?’’

I can see how these conversational prefaces could be an indication that what is to follow could be interpreted as offensive. However, the truth is neither pretty nor simple to explain, sometimes. So therefore, it can be challenging to explain some things if you must also adhere to the sometimes complex and ever-changing rules of 'political correctness'. I can see how being able to express oneself without this added complication might feel liberating, and might ease the communication, assuming no parties involved are likely to take offense.

As for "running away" from these sorts of conversations, that is not the liberal tradition. The liberal tradition is to engage with dissident views as much and as far as is possible. The other option, to turn your back on these views, to shut down debate, and so forth, without any discussion, is the illiberal solution.

 

[Joe]

Social Justice Warrior. It's a disparaging term used to dismiss anyone who brings up social justice.

Thank you for explaining this.

 

[beancounter]

Thank you for explaining this.

And here is an alternative definition:
Urban Dictionary: SJW

And a favorite tactic used by SJW's to silence anyone they disagree with:
define doxing - Google Search

Doxing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Joe]

And here is an alternative definition:
Urban Dictionary: SJW

And a favorite tactic used by SJW's to silence anyone they disagree with:
define doxing - Google Search

Doxing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thank you.

 

[Spang]

And here is an alternative definition:
Urban Dictionary: SJW

The Urban Dictionary is a crowd-sourced website that regularly defines fabricated terms for gross sex acts.

You didn't add in your own commentary, so it's difficult to know which of the 14 SJW Urban Dictionary definitions you agree with. Some of these definitions are sexist and misogynist, dismissing feminists. Definition 12 defines SJW as a "perverted sex act". The top definition, the one with the most up votes, dismisses online activists, ignoring people who can't easily leave their home for any number of legitimate reasons. The definition with the most down votes was the only positive one.

 

[Freesia]

And here is an alternative definition:
Urban Dictionary: SJW

And a favorite tactic used by SJW's to silence anyone they disagree with:
define doxing - Google Search

Doxing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have seen doxing done by SJWs and it tends to be situations like.. a girl posting on social media about how she wants to run all african american people out of her town (ie she boasts that her town is a Sundown Town and she likes it that way)..

and then the SJWs look to her profile and then contact her workplace and inform them of her social media posts.. if her workplace is on her profile then it gets her into trouble...fired even.

But apart from that I always thought doxing was more of a4chan or Reddit thing... that is who started the tradition of doxing people.. not the SJWs...

People on 4chan and Reddit turn doxing into an absolute sport. Once I saw a case where this girl who was a SJW activist once went to a sports event where she was performing and a man from Reddit who had belonged to a group mocking her blog, he lived in her town, and he showed up at her event and said all this nasty stuff to her before her performance,

and then he started actually stalking her, went on for several months... All she did wrong was be as "SJW".

Dont forget it is these same dodgy men who came up with the concept of "revenge porn". I dont see a lot of men who condemn "SJWs" criticising things like this.