I just recently stumbled across microaggressions.com (it's a site where people can post careless non-PC remarks that other people made, which hurt them in some way).( abandon all hope, ye who enter here )
Hah, thanks for letting me know the correct term! :D Glad you enjoyed it.
What pisses me off is not so much that people say thoughtless things now and then (everybody does), but that
a) the internet gives a wonderful platform to people who get a kick out of being offended for the hell of it. Examples I read on microaggressions: "I'm Hawaiian. Someone said I looked exotic", or "I'm female, my female neighbour asked me if I plan to have kids any time soon". In real life, if you made a complaint like that, people would go "Don't you have any real problems?" and pay you no attention. On the internet, you meet enough like-minded people who will gladly support your narcisstic desire to play the injured party, over pretty much nothing. And I'm afraid that if that trend keeps growing, it'll start to take away attention from the important things that society (societies in general) still need to work on, like equal rights, equal opportunities, equal wages, and so on. You know, the ones where the offended parties have a very good reason to be offended.
b) quite simply, people think "discrimination sucks, I've experienced it", but just CAN'T make the mental link "hey, maybe I should stop discriminating against other people!" Simplest example: you see a lot of black rappers on TV who are also total misogynists. You watch them for five minutes, and suddenly you feel less sympathetic for the problems of African-Americans, because obviously these guys are no better than the asshats who are suppressing them. It turns you into a cynic against your will, about things that really matter.
What pisses me off is not so much that people say thoughtless things now and then (everybody does), but that
a) the internet gives a wonderful platform to people who get a kick out of being offended for the hell of it. Examples I read on microaggressions: "I'm Hawaiian. Someone said I looked exotic", or "I'm female, my female neighbour asked me if I plan to have kids any time soon". In real life, if you made a complaint like that, people would go "Don't you have any real problems?" and pay you no attention. On the internet, you meet enough like-minded people who will gladly support your narcisstic desire to play the injured party, over pretty much nothing.
And I'm afraid that if that trend keeps growing, it'll start to take away attention from the important things that society (societies in general) still need to work on, like equal rights, equal opportunities, equal wages, and so on. You know, the ones where the offended parties have a very good reason to be offended.
b) quite simply, people think "discrimination sucks, I've experienced it", but just CAN'T make the mental link "hey, maybe I should stop discriminating against other people!" Simplest example: you see a lot of black rappers on TV who are also total misogynists. You watch them for five minutes, and suddenly you feel less sympathetic for the problems of African-Americans, because obviously these guys are no better than the asshats who are suppressing them. It turns you into a cynic against your will, about things that really matter.
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