Serious Business
The Theory of Green Hair
“You have green hair,” he told me. “Did you know that?”
“No,” I said.
“Why not?”
“I look in the mirror. I see my hair is black.”
“That’s uh, interesting. I guess you understand that you have green hair about as well as you understand that you’re a terrible reporter.”
“What do you mean? What did I do?”
“That’s a very interesting reaction,” Fortuny said. “Why didn’t you get so defensive when I said you had green hair?” If I were certain that I wasn’t a terrible reporter, he explained, I would have laughed the suggestion off just as easily. The willingness of trolling “victims” to be hurt by words, he argued, makes them complicit, and trolling will end as soon as we all get over it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03trolls-t.html?pagewanted=3&ei=5070&en=0476497068bb6652&ex=1218513600&emc=eta1
Why not apply this theory to all manners of offense including racial and homophobic slurs? Especially when no offense is meant, none should be taken.
x-posted on facebook
“You have green hair,” he told me. “Did you know that?”
“No,” I said.
“Why not?”
“I look in the mirror. I see my hair is black.”
“That’s uh, interesting. I guess you understand that you have green hair about as well as you understand that you’re a terrible reporter.”
“What do you mean? What did I do?”
“That’s a very interesting reaction,” Fortuny said. “Why didn’t you get so defensive when I said you had green hair?” If I were certain that I wasn’t a terrible reporter, he explained, I would have laughed the suggestion off just as easily. The willingness of trolling “victims” to be hurt by words, he argued, makes them complicit, and trolling will end as soon as we all get over it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03trolls-t.html?pagewanted=3&ei=5070&en=0476497068bb6652&ex=1218513600&emc=eta1
Why not apply this theory to all manners of offense including racial and homophobic slurs? Especially when no offense is meant, none should be taken.
x-posted on facebook