Quote:
Originally Posted by Lord Carnage
I guess the question could be more like, "How far do we go to try and not offend anybody?"
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It's actually a tougher question than it seems at first simply because the instant that victimhood gains social currency, everyone wants some. We then devolve into a farcical oppression olympics now seen played out in some circles. Really, the answer has to be some sort of a cost-benefit analysis. It costs us basically nothing not to have sports teams with racial slurs as names or caricatures of minorities as logos. It costs you nothing not to use the word "fag" in a pejorative context. These are easy behavioural changes that really don't significantly detract from anyone's ability to enjoy their lives. Meanwhile, from the other side, some sense of perspective is important - if the Cleveland Indians change their logo tomorrow, as the probably should, and a year from now you go to a game and there's a guy wearing the old-logo jersey that he's had for 20 years... it's not the end of the world. He's probably not a racist.
It's a pretty tough line to draw, though, and it's not fixed... if you draw a line anywhere in stand up comedy, for example, you've probably already done too much to restrict expression in that medium.