[lit-ideas] On Being Offended (Re: Re: Link to "Mohammed" cartoons)
- From: Teemu Pyyluoma <teme17@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 22:17:53 -0800 (PST)
--- David Savory <dsavory@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> >
> > The problem is that real racism, which is
> certainly an
> > issue in Denmark (and Sweden, and pretty much
> every
> > else...) is magnified in the eye of its victim.
>
> This of course is true but it's also true that the
> victim rather than
> the victimizer ought to be the one given primacy in
> the decision to
> determine if an offence had occurred; if I want to
> know what we should
> learn from the Holocaust, I'm asking a Jew, not a
> Nazi.
>
Upon futher reflection, what I really wanted to say is
that racism leads to paranoia (in a non-clinical sense
of the word). Generally speaking, when ones fellows
are paranoid the last thing to do is to go a long,
while "I see how you could feel like that, but..." is
the sane response. The obvious caveat ofcourse is that
they may well not be paranoid in that particular case.
Following Godwin's Law, I'll take the liberty to
modify your example: When a veteran of one our wars
with Russians tells me that he finds Russian
immigrants in Finland offencive, I would argue in a
long and respectful way that he is wrong.
In general, what it is proper to get offended about is
a social convention. How mad can you reasonably be for
someone not showing up on agreed upon time is one
thing that varies greatly from culture to culture for
example.
Cheers,
Teemu
Helsinki, Finland
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